Around the Horn: Spartans - Wildcat previews; Pick a BCS Bowl: Orange, Sugar, or Rose? MSU Schedules Convicts

Previews are trickling out for the Spartans' road game to Chicago to take on Northwestern...

• TheSpread.com preview
• ESPN official game preview
• Accuscore predicts a close game (MSU)
• Belmont sides with the home team (NU)
• CFN predicts a Spartan 34-26 victory, with the Spartans steamrolling the Cats on the ground (MSU)

Meanwhile, though it is early, ESPN is projecting a MSU Spartan New Year's Day trip to BCS land, to either the Orange Bowl vs Virginia Tech or a Rose Bowl vs TCU... meanwhile CBS Sports is projecting a [gulp] Sugar Bowl stint vs Alabama!

CBS Sports mid-season All-America teams includes three Spartans on the first team: LB Greg Jones, OL Joel Foreman, and PK Dan Conroy. And, Dennis Dodd calls the Spartans' this year's college football "cinderella" - can't argue with that.

SPARTANS VS CATHOLICS AND CONVICTS
Finally... bring on the Hurricanes. Nice job to AD Mark Hollis scheduling a home-and-home with the University of Miami in 2020 and 2021. The Spartans will kick off the two-game series with Miami on Sept. 26, 2020, in East Lansing, Mich., and make their first-ever appearance in the 74,916-seat Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Sept. 18, 2021. We've got the Convicts filling the two-year void in the schedule left by the Catholics (Notre Dame).

10 days to MSU vs TTU shootout in Alamo Bowl. Preview time!

Really? Just 10 days to kickoff vs. Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl? It seems anti-climactic to play in a lesser bowl the day AFTER the Rose Bowl. Strange, but 'tis our bidding. We earned strange.

Need some tickets? Try here.

Here are some early previews:

• "Texas Tech vs MSU in Alamo Bowl: Do past results tell us anything?" Rivalry, Esq.
• "MSU seeks win, redemption." San Antonio Express
• "Alamo Bowl preview." The Bleacher Report
  
• "Texas Tech Solid Favorite." USA Players
• "Tech to Play Michigan State." Daily Toreador
  
• "Caper is what is right about MSU." Battle Creek Enquirer
• "Michigan State coach turns attention to Texas Tech." AP/SI.com
• "Spartans faced with Texas (Tech) - sized task." Freep
• "Cousins says Spartans embrace challenge." Mlive.com
• "Red Raiders coach wary of talented Spartans." San Antonio Express
• "Dantonio faces his biggest challenge." Freep
• "Spartan suspensions lead to musical chairs." Detroit News
• "Alamo Bowl Odds" BetFirms.com,

Give it up for Jones & White; More MSU vs. Iowa previews

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN gives the Big Ten's mid-season defensive MVP award to Michigan State's Greg Jones, who leads the nation in tackles. And, if you saw his dominating, sideline-to-sideline and in-Kafka's-face performance vs Northwestern, you'd have to agree. He gives MSU's offensive team MVP award to Blair White, and sez MSU has already had "two seasons crammed into one through the first seven games."

Here are some more predictions and previews: Sports Network (Iowa 23-20); MSU - Iowa from ESPN; all the jokers at Rivals/Yahoo are picking Iowa over MSU; two of six pundits are picking MSU over at CFN/Scout;

Both ESPN and Rivals are projecting an Alamo Bowl matchup of MSU - Oklahoma/Nebraska. CBS Sports predicts a MSU - Clemson matchup in the Champs Sports Bowl. CBS Sports 120 ranks MSU at #41 overall... CMU is at #23 on their power rankings.

Here is a Michigan State-Iowa preview from the Big Ten Network:

Michigan State v. Iowa previews

OK, so you're reading all the articles and YES, them Ugly Bird Hawkeyes are a 1-point favorite according to the MGM Mirage, Stations, and Leroy's Casinos in Vegas... but in the eyes of Caesars and the Hilton, its still an even spread. The national pundits are giving Iowa plenty of fodder to beat our ass, stating that they've got no respect. Thankfully, they aren't Spartan media, who respect the Hawkeyes just plenty. There is still some good HATE of Iowa to go around, let alone to buy. But, the ES figures it is tough to hate a team with nothing between it and 750 miles to the West (Denver), and 250 miles to the East (Chicago); rather, they're just boring but corn-fed tough.

Here's a preview from Fat Boy Hondo, Big Ten Network, and - the LSJ's Barry Kiel and Joe Rexrode with a nice preview of MSU-Iowa, with some bonus skinny of Spartan basketball: