Michigan State Football: Final score predictions vs. Western Michigan
Michigan State football faces a tough Western Michigan team Saturday and the Spartan Avenue writers predict the final score.
Saturday’s Michigan State football game against Western Michigan might be the biggest contest against a MAC opponent in quite some time. The Spartans are 9-0 all-time against the Broncos, but some experts believe that undefeated record will be no more in East Lansing this weekend.
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Michigan State is coming off a convincing 35-10 win over Bowling Green a week ago in which the defense didn’t allow a single touchdown. In fact, the only score was on a fumble return for a touchdown.
Western, on the other hand, lost to mighty USC after keeping pace for over three quarters. The Broncos looked more than capable of pulling off the massive upset.
Let’s take a look at what our writers believe this week’s score will be.
Connor Muldowney: Michigan State will get off to a strong start — quite the opposite of the Bowling Green game. The Spartans will take an early 14-0 lead before Western scores 10 straight. Michigan State will head into halftime with a 17-10 lead and add a touchdown on their first drive of the second half on an LJ Scott 25-yard scamper. Western’s Darius Philips will return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, making it a game again. However, both defenses will step up. Michigan State scores late in the fourth to seal it.
Prediction: Western Michigan 23, Michigan State 34
Stephen Robb: Western Michigan showed fight and grit last week against USC. However, it is tough to get a read on this Broncos team. I watched that game and USC appeared as if they did not even want to be there. The Broncos have a run-heavy attack while their quarterback, Jon Wassink, only passed for 67 yards on 22 attempts.
The Spartans will load the box and attempt to make Wassink beat them with his arm. Wassink may not be able to do that at this point in his young career. Darius Philips is back and ready to challenge the Spartan special teams. However, MSU did well last week and I am optimistic that they were able to correct the missteps of the past. Brian Lewerke will have another huge day in the passing game with over 250 yards passing and two touchdowns. Albeit the Spartan running game will continue to find it’s footing. Lewereke will again lead MSU in rushing.
Prediction: Western Michigan 13, Michigan State 38
Adam Zdroik: Western Michigan kind of came out of nowhere and battled with USC in its opener, but still lost. The Broncos were supposed to drop off a bunch from their 13-1 season, but that may not be the case. Still, the Spartans are better suited to beat up on WMU than USC was. With Jon Wassink at quarterback, Western couldn’t throw the ball and expecting to find the same room on the ground against the Spartans would be a mistake. On the other side, Brian Lewerke and the running backs will move the ball enough to end up covering this game fairly easily.
Prediction: Western Michigan 13, Michigan State 31
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Ian Olsen: Brian Lewerke will take a promising first step in his season-long improvement. LJ Scott will come back determined and run for 100 yards to go with a solid game from Madre London. The defense will improve its pass rush from last week but show its clear weakness to be pass defense.
Prediction: Western Michigan 24, Michigan State 35