WELCOME! Since 2001 - the oldest college FB blog in the Big Ten and among the oldest in the nation - this is the 13th annual Enlightened Spartan Football Preview, featuring your favorite opines: Big Bob, ChiSpartan (now Swiss Spartan), Chock, SpartyMSU, and of course the ES.

To see what the pundits think about Michigan State University football across the nation (a consensus pick at #23 and #3 in the B1G Legends), link to Chris Stassen's website and his excellent history of pre-season magazines.

Below, the ES leads off with his own discussion and predictions before guest opinions. Each of the following questions were asked of guests, and their answers follow.

1.  How many wins by MSU overall, and in the Big Ten?
2.  How many games will State win by less than 5 points?
3.  Who is better at QB?  A. Andrew Maxwell; B. Connor Cook; C. Your Mom.
4.  Will we beat ND in that dump of a town in Indiana? Score?
5.  Will we beat Michigan here in EL? Score?
6.  Is the Spartan defense better this year than last?  Why or why
not?  Name names....
7.  Other than QB, which player is the key to MSU season?
8.  If we win more than lose, name our bowl and who we shall play... why?
9.  Your overall grade (A, B, C, D, F) of Dantonio as head coach since
he took over:  and why?
10. Best spot to tailgate in East Lansing????


ENLIGHTENED SPARTAN

Coach Mark Dantonio (the Doctor, Mr. MD) has a philosophy that is true to his "game of inches" speeches.  He isn't conservative, but is rather a minimalist who plays to the margins.  His emphasis on defense keeps his Spartans in close games. His pro style offense, with a power running game, is highly dependent on playmakers in skill positions for any success.
 
As we have found out, a Cousins-Cunningham-Bell trio put plenty of points on the board and outmaneuvered errors.  Quite simply, with so much talent, the offense could find and cross the margin even if they screwed up.

But, we have also witnessed what happens with a lack of talent.  Anointed starter Andrew Maxwell, an East-West quarterback, lacks confidence, leadership, and can't make the extra play needed to win close games provided by the defense.  It did not help last year that MSU wideouts couldn't separate from defenders, and when they could, they often dropped passes. But, let the ES rate the QBs from the official roster:

1.  Damion Terry
2.  Connor Cook
3.  Your Mom
4.  Andrew Maxwell
5. Tyler O'Connor

Even with wideout errors... we need more risk from Maxwell to make plays.  Our team, and the Dantonio philosophy, depends on it.  It is a game of inches, and Spartan QB's need to get us those inches.  That takes risk and play-making ability.  Unless MSU can find that play-making ability on offense, they will have an average season.  Or, as Swiss Sparty told the ES: "really, our punter can be the MVP like when Greg Montgomery was at State.  Punt that shit so far back that it gives our offense a chance by making their offense travel such a long field against our great defense."  WARNING:  IF YOU PLAY DEFENSE FOR MSU, you may have a lot of long games this fall.

Where Dantonio has played to the margins is where he uses his bag of tricks on offense - in the right situation, at the right time.  The tricks did not work so well in 2012; a lack of confidence and talent put the opportunities to rest.  Will there be the talent in 2013?  God only knows, and hopes.

The ES #1 Prediction?  By the time the Spartans play at Notre Dame, MSU will be trailing by 20 points at halftime.  It will be then that the reality will hit the Doctor, Mr.. MD, straight in the face, and Connor Cook (or Damion Terry) will be named the starter from that point forward for the rest of the year. 

I'm with Sloth last year:  it is worth going to Spartan Stadium just to watch this great defense play.  But expect many games 17-16, 13-12, or lower in scoring.  It will be like watching the Germans and Russians fight in the trenches every single week:  hardnosed, bloody, and a shark-fight over a piece of meat.  In other words: FUN. 

1.  How many wins by MSU overall, and in the Big Ten?
ES: 8-5, 4-4.  (Wins: WMU, USF, YSU, @Iowa, Purdue, Michigan, Minny, Gator Bowl.   Losses: @ND, Indy, @Illinois, @Nebraska, @NW)

2.  How many games will State win by less than 5 points?
ES: Five.

3.  Who is better at QB?  A. Andrew Maxwell; B. Connor Cook; C. Your Mom.
ES: Your Mom.

4.  Will we beat ND in that dump of a town in Indiana? Score?
ES: No.  ND 27-13

5.  Will we beat Michigan here in EL? Score?
ES: Yes.  MSU 17-16.

6.  Is the Spartan defense better this year than last?  Why or why not?  Name names....
ES: Yes.  Because it has never been so deep and so well schooled at every position.  Can't we have them play offense, too?

7.  Other than QB, which player is the key to MSU season?
The receiving corps.  They just need to catch more balls.  Arnett,  Burbridge, and Mumprhey MUST find separation deep, and they are are key and need to hang onto the ball in tight quarters.  But, maybe the TE is just as key - we have no starters returning in this area, and as an outlet (or savior) for the QB when pressured, we need these folks to move the chains.  Look for either  #92 Andrew Gleichert (6-5, 256, Jr) or # 83 Paul Lang (6-5, 247, So) to make an impact here.

8.  If we win more than lose, name our bowl and who we shall play... why?
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl:  MSU vs. South Carolina. 

9.  Your overall grade (A, B, C, D, F) of Dantonio as head coach since he took over:  and why?
B.  Dantonio needs to get over the hump. 

10. Best spot to tailgate in East Lansing????   Behind Morrill Hall. 

CHOCK

Another fine D will keep us in every game, but our O will be even worse than last year so I put us at a 7-5 overall record and 4-4 in the B1G.  Why will the O be worse?  No one to run the ball, the same receivers that dropped balls left and right last year and a starting QB who has already hit his ceiling (he’s a senior for crisssakes, it’s not like he’s going to take a magical Fr to So season leap).  Reports are our OL should be good.  But for us, that simply means we’ll be able to get 5 people on the field who don’t have cancer, a broken ankle, or some other injury that will force them to “retire” from football at the ripe age of 19.  But the real kicker for why our O will be worse? Absolutely no Tight-End.  When was the last time MSU did not have a decent TE?  Even in the crappiest of seasons for our O (see 2012) we could still count on a good chunk of our first downs coming from our TEs.  The only positive about the O from this year to last: at least our play calling can’t get worse.

Western_Mich, W for MSU by less than 5
So_Florida, W for MSU by less than 5
Youngstown_St, W for MSU by more than 5
at Notre_Dame, L
at Iowa, L
Indiana,  W for MSU by less than 5
Purdue, W for MSU by less than 5
at Illinois, W for MSU by less than 5
Michigan, L
at Nebraska, L
at Northwestern, L
Minnesota, W for MSU by less than 5

2.  How many games will State win by less than 5 points?

chock>>>  all of their wins, except Youngstown St., will be by less than 5 points.  When the offense can barely score more than 5 points in a game, you can’t have a lot of wins by more than 5.

3.  Who is better at QB?  A. Andrew Maxwell; B. Connor Cook; C. Your Mom.

chock>>>  chock nailed it last year when he said that we were going to miss Cousins a lot more than we realized.  We’ll still be missing a top notch QB this year and it will show in the W-L columns.  As the season goes on Connor Cook will earn the majority of reps.  In fact, the only reason Maxwell will see reps late in the year is because Cook will do some bonehead play like taking a sack for a 20 yard loss or fumbling the ball deep in our territory which will force coach to put Maxwell back in.  Our QB situation won’t improve until 2015 and Damion Terry coming off a redshirt Fresh year starts to get some serious reps.

4.  Will we beat ND in that dump of a town in Indiana? Score?

chock>>>  Unfortunately not.  We’ll lose 17-10, our offense will score no TDs (defense gets a pick 6) and we’ll long for the days of Bob Davies and Charlie Wiess.  Brian Kelly is the real deal.

5.  Will we beat Michigan here in EL? Score?

chock>>>  We lose another close one:  13-14.  UM’s D gets TD off a Conner Cook mistake and we can’t overcome that because it’s hard to win when you don’t have an offense.

6.  Is the Spartan defense better this year than last?  Why or why not?  Name names....

chock>>> About the same. Which is to say, they’ll be very good.  Want names as to why they’ll be good?  Here goes:  Jones, Gordon, Worthy, Robinson, Pickleman) … but you’re saying hey, these guys aren’t on the team any more.  They left already.  Right, that’s the beauty of it.  Nardog and Coach D are in the process of building a program based on D.  Athletes, depth, and attitude at each level.  You don’t even need to don’t need to name specific player’s names to prove why the D will be good.  They’re ALL good on D, even in the second and third strings.

7.  Other than QB, which player is the key to MSU season?

chock>>>  The as of yet unidentified starting running back and tight-end.

8.  If we win more than lose, name our bowl and who we shall play... why?

chock>>>  My pick last year (MSU vs. LS coached Arkansas in the Outback Bowl) was actually a fantastic selection.  Too bad our O wasn’t good enough to get us enough wins to make that bowl and I should have guessed a JLS coached team couldn’t get enough wins to get there … although, to my defense, they started the season ranked in the top 10.  Thankfully we don’t have JLS as HC any more.  That said, an interesting thought – how about bringing slappy back to run the offense?

This year’s pick will follow in the same vein:   MSU vs. Brett Bielema’s Arkansas Razorbacks in the Gator Bowl.

9.  Your overall grade (A, B, C, D, F) of Dantonio as head coach since he took over:  and why?

chock>>>  B+.  He gets his A when he wins the B1G Championship.

10. Best spot to tailgate in East Lansing????

chock>>>  Since I’m three time zones away from EL, I’ll be doing my tailgating and game watching at the Pittsburgh’s Pub a block and a half down the street here on the west side of SF.

SWISS SPARTAN (FORMERLY CHI SPARTAN):