Michigan State Football: 5 reasons to remain optimistic about 2018

2. The Big Ten is extremely winnable

If you’ve been following the rest of the Big Ten, you’d realize the conference hasn’t been nearly as strong as believed to be prior to the season.

OK, Ohio State is the exception as the Buckeyes look virtually unbeatable.

Wisconsin is coming off a home loss to unranked BYU which was arguably the worst loss of Week 3 from around college football. Maybe the Badgers aren’t as good as everyone expected, though the Spartans don’t have to face them in 2018 unless they both make the Big Ten title game.

Michigan looked shaky against Notre Dame in the opener, bounced back against Western Michigan in Week 2 and then had some weaknesses exposed against SMU in Week 3.

Penn State was awful against Appalachian State, rebounded against Pitt and blew Kent State out. Still, Trace McSorley has had an up-and-down start and this team looks very beatable, especially when he’s not on his game.

Indiana has been solid, so the Hoosiers could give MSU a tough time in Week 4, but two weeks later, the Spartans will face a regressing Northwestern team. Purdue hasn’t won a single game, Maryland was just demolished by Temple, Nebraska lost to Akron at home and Rutgers is Rutgers — the Scarlet Knights were beaten by Kansas handily, and that’s all you need to know about them.

Ohio State is the lone team that has looked great through the first three weeks and they’ll be the Spartans’ toughest test, but this looks like a down year for the conference and that translates to winnable for anyone.