MSU national stats: great pass offense, crappy pass defense

Here is your national stat picture so far, with three games under the belt. If anything is the most surprising, it is that Michigan State is leading the conference in passing offense. It's no shock that our pass efficiency defense is ranked next-to-last and our pass defense is ranked ninth.

MSU Stats	Nat'l Rank	Actual	Nat'l Leader	Actual	Conf Rank	Big Ten Conference Leader	Actual
Rushing Offense	81	127.00	Air Force	344.33	10	Michigan	270.67
Passing Offense	14	295.67	Texas Tech	444.33	1	Michigan St.	295.67
Total Offense	38	422.67	Texas A&M	589.50	6	Purdue	440.33
Scoring Offense	35	33.67	Houston	50.00	5	Michigan	38.00
Rushing Defense	25	87.00	Oklahoma	40.67	4	Penn St.	46.33
Pass Efficiency Defense	94	140.36	Arizona St.	64.46	10	Iowa	85.87
Total Defense	59	338.33	Arizona St.	149.50	7	Penn St.	212.33
Scoring Defense	T-54	21.67	Oklahoma	4.67	6	Penn St.	6.67
Net Punting	7	41.90	Georgia	47.36	2	Iowa	42.86
Punt Returns	24	14.17	Louisiana Tech	45.50	1	Michigan St.	14.17
Kickoff Returns	58	22.08	Arizona St.	50.75	5	Indiana	27.33
Turnover Margin	63	.00	Arizona St.	4.00	6	Indiana	1.00
Pass Defense	94	251.33	Eastern Mich.	78.00	9	Iowa	162.67
Passing Efficiency	15	161.60	Notre Dame	186.14	2	Northwestern	164.90
Sacks	29	2.67	TCU	5.50	3	Penn St.	3.33
Tackles For Loss	87	4.67	Oklahoma	11.33	9	Penn St.	9.33
Sacks Allowed	T-3	.33	Kentucky	.00	1	Michigan St.	.33

ES Game Day Preview: Michigan State 23, Notre Dame 21

Michigan State (1-1, #67 Sagarin) at Notre Dame (1-1, #32 Sagarin)

Saturday, September 19. 3:30 pm noon EST.
TV: NBC
Weather: 74, sunny.

Injuries: Michigan State — WR Mark Dell (shoulder), probable; C Joel Nitchman (knee), questionable; RG J'Michael Deane (leg), questionable; Notre Dame — WR Michael Floyd (knee), probable; FB James Aldridge (shoulder), doubtful.

ES predicts Michigan State 23, ND 21. MVP of the game: Brett Swenson. Why? This will be a back and forth game, with the Spartans needing three clutch FGs from Swenson to come away with the victory. The ES isn't yet cashing in his chips on MSU, and he ain't sold on ND. MSU faces a more traditional offense, as does ND. Both these teams have many of the same players as last year, and enough talk out of MSU that the Spartans will be aggressive on defense. Expect the TEs on both teams to be involved: ND will combat the Spartan aggressiveness with RB screens and outlets to TEs. This means that Spartan LBs need to honest and tackle solid... which is their forte. ND wideout Michael Floyd had 15 stitches behind his knee... will that reduce his effectiveness? We shall see how the tall Spartan DBs stand up to the long ball. A good pass rush, and MSU will be fine because it will reduce pressure on all the others. This may mean blitzing is in order.

On offense, MSU needs to find a running game, and hopefully the return of Joel Nitchman and Mark Dell will lead to a more effecient MSU offense. Expect Kirk Cousins to see more playing time at QB... and better hands out of Spartan receivers when it matters (on 3rd down). MSU will involve their capable TEs after giving them a rest last week (and, subsequently, criticism for bad playcalling). I'm not convinced the Spartan running game will get any better this week even though the Irish are giving up boat loads of yards on the ground so far. But, it won't matter as much, because the game will turn into a defensive battle as the two teams dig in.

A concern is MSU not allowing long returns by ND kick returners: watch MSU make some adjustment to minimize this risk. MSU needs to reduce the stupid penalties and play aggressive. It will. MSU will be ready, and I'm getting the sense that MSU has the focus to get it done. This is the biggest test yet of the Dantonio era, and it can also be a defining test by showing Weis how to rally the troops and get it done.

Game Day Analysis on ND: USA Today, Bleacher Report (ND 34-23), Midwest Sports Fans (ND), NBC Sports (ND 30-24), Irish Sports Daily, UHND.com,

What do you think? What will be the game's biggest surprise? Comment Below -

ND favored by 11 over MSU

Notre Dame is favored by 11 over MSU; this has to be the widest point spread between the two in years; and, that's no surprise after MSU's collapse last week. Methinks the game will be closer, or else the wheels will fall off the Doctor's bus, with an MSU team a la the highly-touted 2002 team of Bobby Williams.

Northwestern is favored by 4 over Syracuse; Purdue by 14.5 over N. Illinois; Michigan by 23 over EMU; JoePa by 28 over Temple; Iowa by 6 over Arizona; Akron by 3 over Indiana; Ohio State by 21 at Toledo; and, Cal by 12 at Minnesota.

Oh, and here's your AP Top 25. Funny, CMU wins at MSU and doesn't even get an "also receiving votes":

1	Florida (56)	2-0	1491	1
2	Texas (1)	2-0	1404	2
3	USC (1)	2-0	1396	3
4	Alabama (2)	2-0	1328	4
5	Mississippi	1-0	1145	6
5	Penn State	2-0	1145	7
7	Brigham Young	2-0	1122	9
8	California	2-0	1058	10
9	LSU	2-0	951	11
10	Boise State	2-0	945	12
11	Ohio State	1-1	840	8
12	Oklahoma	1-1	835	13
13	Virginia Tech	1-1	749	14
14	Georgia Tech	2-0	683	15
15	TCU	1-0	609	16
16	Oklahoma State	1-1	445	5
17	Cincinnati	2-0	407	23
18	Utah	2-0	405	17
19	Nebraska	2-0	365	22
20	Miami (FL)	1-0	364	20
21	Houston	2-0	341	NR
22	Kansas	2-0	271	24
23	Georgia	1-1	260	21
24	North Carolina	2-0	250	19
25	Michigan	2-0	169	NR

Dropped from rankings: Notre Dame 18, Missouri 25

Others receiving votes: Missouri 93, Pittsburgh 87, Oregon State 64, Texas Tech 54, UCLA 44, Notre Dame 40, West Virginia 30, Auburn 26, Iowa 23, Boston College 19, Baylor 15, Clemson 10, Oregon 5, Arizona 4, Arkansas 3, Colorado State 2, Florida State 1, Minnesota 1, South Florida 1