Vegas was spot-on in the Spartans’ Week 1 win over Toledo, posting an opening line of around 10.5 and, of course, it ended up being a 10-point win for Pat Fitzgerald and Co. Now, the opening line for Michigan State vs Eastern Michigan has been set, and it’s exactly what you’d expect.
Although Chris Creighton is a fantastic coach and has done a great job at Eastern, the Eagles aren’t quite on the same level as Toledo despite being led by a veteran quarterback in former Spartan Noah Kim.
Vegas agrees.
The opening line for Michigan State vs Eastern Michigan is out and it’s not going to be an easy game to bet on because the line is right where it should be.
Note: Odds courtesy of DraftKings as of Sept. 8.
Line: Michigan State -17.5
Over/Under: 49.5
Moneyline: Michigan State -850 | Eastern Michigan +575
If you were to ask me right after the Toledo game ended how big of favorites I’d expect Michigan State to be against Eastern Michigan, it would have been in the ballpark of 17.5 to 20.5 points.
Kim’s return to East Lansing isn’t expected to be all that close, but crazy things can happen when players are motivated by revenge. That’s not saying that Kim feels slighted by Michigan State, but losing his starting job during the Mel Tucker era and being replaced by a couple of freshmen probably didn’t make him feel all that great about his time in East Lansing.
Why is the line as lopsided as it is despite what we saw from another in-state battle between a Power Four program and a directional in-state school this past weekend? Eastern isn’t exactly impressing early with a 1-1 record and a home loss to San Jose State.
Michigan State, on the other hand, won the Toledo game more handily than the final score showed.
Initial prediction for Michigan State vs Eastern Michigan
The line is right where it should be and that’s kind of what the expectation is for Michigan State’s Week 2 battle with Eastern, but it’s going to be even more lopsided than the opening line predicts.
The old cliche states that the biggest improvement a team makes is between Weeks 1 and 2. For Michigan State, that’s going to hold true because the Spartans didn’t look completely polished in the opener against Toledo. They controlled the game, for the most part, but two big plays made it look a lot closer than it felt through three quarters.
Michigan State is going to clean some things up this week and Fitzgerald will have the Spartans ready for Saturday’s afternoon showdown with Eastern.
Kim is going to struggle in his return home as he’s picked off twice and one is returned for a touchdown. Cam Edwards is going to have a nice bounce-back game, posting over 100 yards for the first time in his Spartan career. Michigan State wins this one rather comfortably to start the season 2-0.
Final score: Michigan State 34, Eastern Michigan 13
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