Michigan State Football: Way-too-early 2018 preview vs. Arizona State
By Stephen Robb
Michigan State is taking on Arizona State in Tempe this fall. The Spartans will be facing a new-look Sun Devil team led by Herm Edwards.
This is a way-too-early preview of the Michigan State versus Arizona State game in September. Much can happen between now and the fall, though. There could injuries, departures, and depth chart changes. However, MSU will be itching for this one.
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Brian Lewerke returns to his home state where he held offers from Arizona and the Sun Devils, among many others. It will be Herm Edwards’ return to coaching and first year of college ball. While the Sun Devils hired Edwards to be more of a CEO than coach, it’ll be interesting how this new concept of a head coach will pan out for ASU.
Edwards raised eyebrows when he suggested in the spring that if players aren’t playing up to his level that they could be cut from the team. They would still have their scholarships, but no longer on the team. Edwards is attempting to jump-start a program that has struggled in recent years.
This will be an interesting game for the Spartans, because the kickoff time will be 10:45 p.m. ET — adjusting to this time zone change will be tough. For a team used to playing mid-day it’ll show how prepared they are. The late start could affect ASU more due to how young the Sun Devils are.
Arizona State was thin at running back in the spring, but was able to get four backs in the recruiting cycle (three freshmen and one junior college transfer). This is ultimately a young team and while Edwards has raised the expectations they will have a learning curve.
The Spartans should be concerned with junior Sun Devil quarterback Manny Wilkins. He tossed 17 touchdowns and accounted for over 2,900 yards through the air. He has progressively gotten better each season. Albeit MSU will counter with an experienced, talented secondary. The Arizona State offense, like most of the Pac-12, is a wide open spread attack. This contest will come down to which team has the better quarterback. Advantage: MSU.
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Prediction: It’ll be a high-scoring game. The Spartans will get some stops on defense and win, 52-31. The kickoff time of the game will make this one a wild and entertaining game. There will be mistakes on both sides of the ball, but ASU will lose the turnover battle.