Preseason AP Top 25 spells trouble for Michigan State football

The first edition of the college football AP Poll was just released on Monday, and I’ll spare you the drama and let you know that Michigan State football did not make the cut.

Now that we’ve got that shocking development out of the way, we can now look and see which opponents on Michigan State’s schedule did make the AP preseason poll.

Six teams from the Big Ten are included in the preseason AP Poll with four of them making the top 10. And unfortunately for Michigan State, four of those teams are on their schedule including three of those that made the top 10.

But to make matters even worse, all four of the ranked opponents Michigan State is set to face all occur in consecutive weeks.

Beginning in Week 5, the Spartans have potentially the most difficult four game stretch in the country this year. This includes back to back games against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon. Both teams also received some first place votes from AP voters as well, which is very intimidating as well.

After Week 6, the Spartans head home for the “easiest” game of these four against No. 25 Iowa. MSU then hits the road once again to wrap up this stretch with their annual rivalry game against Michigan, who is the No. 9 team in the country.

Penn State and USC are the final two Big Ten teams to be ranked this season at Nos. 8 and 23, respectively.

While this stretch of games is very difficult, Michigan State is fortunate that their other eight games are against opponents who aren’t even close to making the top 25. So hopefully Michigan State will be able to rattle off some wins in those games in their quest to make a bowl game.

Expectations against the four ranked teams

I think we all remember how pitiful the games were last season against Michigan State’s four toughest opponents, so what should we expect this season?

It’s hard to expect a win against the top three opponents, so at the end of the day I just hope each game is competitive. If Michigan State plays hard and keeps the game somewhat close into the second half then I won’t be too upset if they lose all three. But you never know, maybe Jonathan Smith will shock the world and win one of these games this year.

Iowa however is very intriguing to me this season. For as elite as their defense is, I’m just not a believer in them as a team. Their offense is horrendous year in and year out, and Michigan State almost beat the Hawkeyes on the road last season.

So while I’m not guaranteeing a win in this game, as of now I do predict a home victory over the Hakweyes this year. And when looking at this four game stretch, a 1-3 record really isn’t all that bad.