Michigan State Football: 5 reasons Spartans will beat Arizona State

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EAST LANSING, MI – AUGUST 31: Joe Bachie #35 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates a late fourth quarter interception while playing the Utah State Aggies at Spartan Stadium on August 31, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 38-31. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

2. Michigan State’s defense will be the difference

While Michigan State’s offense is something that has shown plenty of improvement since last year, outside of that offensive line, the defense will be the main difference in this one.

Arizona State did a solid job, especially against the UTSA run, in the opener and that will be the main difference in the outcome on Saturday night.

The Sun Devils didn’t face one of the nation’s toughest defenses on Saturday as the Roadrunners were porous, to say the least. Michigan State isn’t going to allow the type of big down-field plays that UTSA did and that’s why the result will be much different.

Sure, Arizona State’s defense looked much better than it did last season, but we have to remember who the opponent was.

Conversely, Michigan State is going to learn from its mistakes against Utah State and come out aggressively on defense and put pressure on Manny Wilkins, shut down the run game and hold N’Keal Harry in check.

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