Michigan State Football: Way-too-early Week 1 preview vs. Tulsa

Michigan State football is coming off a disappointing 7-6 campaign, however, the Spartans are primed and ready for Tulsa to come to East Lansing.

Tulsa is coming off a disappointing 3-9 season. Phil Montgomery is the Golden Hurricane head coach after being a long-time Art Briles assistant coach. He ran the high-powered Baylor offense before becoming Tulsa’s coach since 2015 where he has a 21-29 record.

Montgomery had an outstanding 2016 season but has since gone 2-10 and 3-9 in consecutive years.

Tulsa used two quarterbacks last season with junior Luke Skipper and sophomore Seth Boomer. However, Baylor transfer quarterback Zach Smith is the favorite to start the 2019 season. Tulsa has been plagued by turnovers the previous two seasons and having a talent like Smith under center could help the offense to get going. The last time Smith started a game was in 2017 against Oklahoma where he went 33-of-50 and 463 passing yards and four touchdowns.

If Smith is able to beat out Skipper and Boomer, he’ll have senior Keenen Johnson and junior Keylon Stokes to toss the pigskin to.

The Golden Hurricane were able to pound the rock last season with Corey Taylor II gaining 846 on the ground with 11 touchdowns. They also used speedy back Shamari Brooks who earned 967 yards with seven touchdowns.

This is a pivotal season for Tulsa and Montgomery. The Golden Hurricane could finally have their quarterback in Smith and they run the ball well. However, MSU has a tremendous front-seven and starting corner Josiah Scott will take away half the field.

Tulsa will likely go with tempo on offense and attempt to use a short passing game that many other teams have used against the Spartans.

Michigan State struggles in openers and Tulsa could be that team that like Utah State will surprise people in 2019 after disappointing in previous seasons.

Final Score: Tulsa 13, Michigan State 21