Michigan State Football: 3 early predictions for the 2020 season

With a new system in East Lansing, Michigan State football fans and players don’t have the same expectations as the last decade.

The deeper we go into the offseason, the more delusional football fans become. Because of how few games there are in the season and the length of the offseason, it’s not easy to keep your expectations realistic.

I actually had a thought the other day where I truly believed that Mel Tucker could win a national championship in his first year. It’s been that long since I’ve watched organized sports. I think for each month we go without football, my brain adds one more win to Michigan State’s win total in 2020.

For a moment there, I had already chalked it up as another national title season in East Lansing. Theo Day throws for 4,000 yards, Eli Collins wins the Heisman Trophy with over 20 rushing touchdowns. The defense re-cements itself as the best defense in college football. Yeah, none of this is going to happen, but isn’t it nice to think about?

Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with a little optimism and anything is possible, but we likely won’t have any new hardware after the 2020 season with the exception of a Cheez-It Bowl trophy. The expectation is average next year. As I’ve said in the past, this could mean anything from 4-8 to 8-4, but we’re almost guaranteed a finish somewhere in that range.

And in order to further temper the expectations of myself and others, I’ve decided to make a list of realistically attainable predictions for the 2020 football season.