ES Preview: Spartans at U-Dubb

#9/#11 Michigan State University at University of Washington
September 16, 2022. 4:30 pm. PT.
Husky Stadium, Seattle.

TV: ABC

Weather:  63 and cloudy

Sagarin Ratings:  UW #21, Michigan State #24

Line outta Vegas:  UW by 3-1/2

The ES is in town for the MSU-UW tilt, and visited his friend (a professor at UW) yesterday.  Walking the streets, going up to the rooftop at the Graduate hotel, lots of GO GREEN GO WHITE!  My friend said “what if I just say GO WHITE”?  I said “it would fall on deaf ears, you gotta say GO GREEN and the other says GO WHITE!”  She was impressed by the enthusiasm of us Spartoonies. Right on!

View from the Graduate Hotel, UW District

UW has Michael Penix, the former Indiana QB that torched us for a few years before transferring.  UW is averaging a whopping 571 yards per game on offense.  That will test the Spartan secondary.  Expect Penix to put up some points. Wait, who have the Huskies played?  Nobody, just like Michigan State.  There’s plenty of API talent on the UW roster with names I can’t pronounce.  

But, MSU has its pair of RBs: Wisconsin transfer Jalen Berger, runs hard and fast and leans forward; Colorado transfer David Broussard dances through tough traffic to find yards. The pair make a good duo, averaging 5.7 ypc and 228 ypg, good for 24tth in the country.  Payton Thorne has underperformed, throwing off his back foot and overthrowing receivers; he needs to be solid.  Thorne is a fourth-quarter QB, and improves as the games go along.  He's a gamer.  Let’s hope Jaylen Reed returns for MSU after the injury vs. WMU. Expect points on this end.

This game will come up to turnovers and possibly the kicking game.  The ES was telling his dad our punter, the bespectacled Bryce Ballinger, can flip a field and drop a punt inside the 10; he’s ranked #21 in net punting at 43 ypg.  That might bode well for the Spartans in this game and help the defense by giving UW a long field.  Washington’s net punting, with Jack McCallister, is ranked #79 at 39 ypg.  MSU’s kicker, Jack Stone, is fresh outta high school, an 18-year-old, and is 1-2 on the season.  Untested, indeed.  UW has an advantage here, with senior Peyton Henry 2-2 on the season.  Last year, he was 11-14, but only with a long of 38 yards (0-3 beyond 40 yards).  

I'm guessing 20,000 Spartans will fill the 73,000-seat Husky Stadium.  Watch a back-and-forth game, momentum back and forth, with the game hinging on a turnover and field position.  That gives MSU an advantage.  Despite the 0-13 history regular season out west dating back to a win over Cal in 1957, expect the Big Green TD Machine to notch a win.

Prognostications:

College FB HQ/Fan Nation:  UW 31, MSU 25

CFN: UW 27, MSU 23

MLive: MSU 30, UW 27

LSJ:  MSU 31, UW 24

The Only Colors: MSU 24, UW 27

Sporting News: MSU 28, UW 23

ES Sez:  James Caan 31, Bruce Lee 27. 

Time to get a win out west: MSU 0-8 regular season vs Pac-10 since 1970

UW calls themselves the "Dawgs"

The last (only) time the Spartans visited Seattle to play the University of Washington was in 1970.  It was a different era; Duffy Daugherty was the Spartan coach, nearing the end of his Hall of Fame era.  Jim Owens was the coach at UW, nearing the end of his 17-year career.  UW won this game, 42-16, to begin a 6-4 season in 1970.  The Spartans won the previous year, 1969, 27-11 in East Lansing in an unforgettable season for both schools (MSU 4-6, Washington 1-9).  The ES was one year old the last (only) time the Big Green beat UW. The last time the two played was at the Aloha Bowl in 1997, where #21 U-Dubb beat the #25 Spartans, 51-23. 

A warning about the West Coast during the regular season

In the last 50 years, the regular season on the West Coast (Pac-10, not Pac-12) has been unkind to the Spartans on the gridiron.

In 2018, the Spartans lost to Arizona State in Tempe, 16-13, in a terribly coached game by Dantonio. They also lost to ASU in 1986, 20-17 in Tempe under coach Perles.  In 2014, Oregon defeated MSU 46-27 as both teams were ranked in the top 10.

The ES attended MSU’s thumping by Cal in Dantonio’s first game of his second season, 2008, losing 38-31 in Berkley.  Cal’s Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen (future NFL RBs), ran all over MSU for 268 yards on the ground.  Nick Sabin got whacked at Oregon, 48-14, in 1998; the ES walked out of Autzen Stadium at half-time and had to take his shirt off as to not be laughed at.  So did Muddy Waters, getting his butt kicked 35-17 in 1980 at Oregon; the ES was just getting exposed to MSU and was living in California as a 12-year old, making the trip to Eugene. The ES is 0-3 watching MSU out west.

Way back in 1974, Dick Vermeil led UCLA to a 56-14 win in LA over Denny Stoltz and MSU. 

That’s 0-8 vs Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington since 1970. Time for a W over UW!