OGS Spotlight Game Of The Week: Michigan State At Michigan

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Sure Alabama's game at South Carolina looks like a dandy, but Michigan State-Michigan appears, on paper at least, to be more evenly matched.

Sparty and Big Blue are both 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten, but neither squad plays exceptional defense. In fact, Michigan's pass defense is ranked last in the FBS, allowing 308 yards per game through the air.

The Wolverines, however, have perfected the ever-baffling formula to overcome a porous D, and it's called Denard Robinson. As long as he stays healthy, which will become an increasingly larger if as the Big Ten season wears on, Michigan has a chance to win every game it plays. Every game.

Michigan State passed its first true test with a 34-24 victory over Wisconsin last week, and with a win on the home field of its hated rival Saturday, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think the Spartans could take an 8-0 record into Iowa City on Oct. 30.

Looking ahead, though, is what gets teams burned. If veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins can manage MSU's balanced offense, play within the game plan and not get too greedy against UM's moth-eaten T-shirt of a pass defense, then Saturday's fourth quarter will be an exciting one. The Spartans' rushing offense is 20th in the country, averaging 220 yards per game, so if young backs Edwin Baker and Le'Veon Bell can continue to run the ball effectively and not turn the ball over, thereby keeping Robinson on the sidelines, I like Michigan State's chances.

But as long as No. 16 is suiting up for the maize and blue, it's hard to pick against the Wolverines. Robinson is the nation's finest offensive player and he is a legitimate dual-threat. Sure we see his incredible runs on the highlight reels, but folks forget that he completes 70 percent of his passes, boasts a 7-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a quarterback rating of 180. Lastly, in the four games that he's finished — he got dinged early in Michigan's Sept. 25 rout of Bowling Green — he's averaging 237 yards passing.

Though Michigan hasn't faced a test like the one the Spartans passed last week, the Wolverines are playing at home against their in-state little brother, and I can't imagine the visitors beating a team with Denard Robinson playing all four quarters.

Michigan wins it, 33-30.