Michigan State Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2017

The college football season is getting closer with Michigan State playing its first game the first weekend in September. Here are the predictions for every game for the upcoming 2017 season.

It’s been an up-and-down offseason for Michigan State football, but the first game is less than a month away and it’s time to look at the schedule.

A few months ago, the Spartans were a prime bounce-back team, but in mid-August, after a season full of headlines, those predictions faded until recently. So, now with summer out of the way, can Michigan State beat expectations and reach at least seven wins?

If Michigan State loses this game, well, it could be a long year. This isn’t the same Bowling Green team that won 10 games in 2015, beating both Maryland and Purdue. The Falcons aren’t expected to be much better than last year’s 4-8 record in which they lost huge to the only power conference teams they played (Ohio State 77-10, Memphis 77-3).

A bad defense brings back five starters so LJ Scott and company should start the campaign on a good note. This should also be a good welcome to the season for Brian Lewerke with a defense that he should carve up. If the Spartans don’t reach 30-plus points against Bowling Green, fans will have plenty of reason to doubt the team going forward.

The Falcons will start sophomore James Morgan at quarterback, who took over in the third game last year. As the season went along, he gained more confidence as seen in the three-straight wins late, but none of those defenses were Michigan State’s. Expect the Spartans to win through their ground game, with their defense too much for Morgan to handle.

Michigan State opened as 20-point favorites, but that dropped to 18 points as seen at Sports Book Review.

Score Prediction: Bowling Green 21, Michigan State 42 (1-0)