Michigan State football comes in at No. 20 in preseason 2019 Coaches Poll

The first Coaches Poll has been released and Michigan State football came in at a healthy No. 20. Is this too high or too low for the Spartans?

The first official rankings have been released for the 2019 season and Michigan State drew a decent amount of respect from the preseason Coaches Poll.

The poll is based on votes by all head coaches and the Spartans are one of seven Big Ten teams to make the Top 25, joining Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State.

Penn State is listed relatively high at No. 14 despite losing some truly key pieces such as Trace McSorley and Miles Sanders, Iowa is one spot ahead of Michigan State at No. 19, Wisconsin is at No. 17 but the Badgers don’t have a quarterback just yet, Northwestern is at No. 25 and both Michigan and Ohio State are the favorites to win the Big Ten East.

Michigan State will face five of the other six teams that made the Coaches Poll in 2019.

The schedule isn’t going to be easy for the Spartans, but they return just about everyone from a team that went 7-6 last season but had one of the top defenses in college football. If the offense can be even average, the Spartans should coast to 9-10 wins. If the offense is like it was in 2018, the Spartans will be lucky to win 6-7 again.

So what should we make of the ranking? It’s fair given the fact that no one knows what to expect from Michigan State’s offense. If the Spartans are vastly improved, we will see them rise up the rankings quickly. If not, well, it’ll be a long season.

Michigan State opened practice on Thursday and the excitement level is growing heading into this critical 2019 season.