Michigan State Football: 5 reasons Spartans will shock the Big Ten in 2019

Michigan State football may not be a popular pick to win the Big Ten in 2019, but here’s why the Spartans will shock the rest of the conference.

Listening to the national media claim 7.5 wins might be generous for Michigan State in 2019 and others overlooking the Spartans as contenders even in their own division has to boil some blood in East Lansing.

Mark Dantonio has basically built the program from scratch and it took him just four years to win his first Big Ten title. He has gone from taking over a team with no future to building a consistent winner that is well-respected by his peers — and never taken lightly.

Sure, he’s fallen on some hard times in recent years, going 3-9 in 2016 before a 10-win season in 2017 but a 7-6 finish in 2018 was a major disappointment. He had all the talent in the world, but injuries played a factor and so did a lack of adequate coaching on the offensive side of the ball — looking at you, Dave Warner.

Now that Warner has been shuffled back to his natural position as quarterbacks coach and Brad Salem is the new offensive coordinator, there’s some optimism in East Lansing again.

Since there hasn’t been enough of it, I’m here for some more optimism, talking about why the Spartans will shock the rest of the Big Ten and become serious contenders for the title in 2019.