Florida Atlantic traveling to Michigan State this is a game where I'll tell you right now I'm picking Michigan State to win but you'll have to see if I pick them to cover or not because Florida Atlantic's coached by Tom Herman they've brought in some transfers they have played teams semi- competitively I remember with Clemson last year they were playing them competitively I think for a quarter or two then I think Casey Thompson got injured and Clemson was going to Outlast him anyway but it just is what it is okay so let's take a look let's observe Florida Atlantic traveling to Michigan State the Michigan State Spartans host the owls on Friday it's another night game they're currently favored by 14 points the last time these two teams met in 2011 the Spartans won 44 to nothing they had a shut out Michigan state that year w 11 and three they made an appearance in the Big 10 championship game losing to Wisconsin and it was one of the better seasons of the 21st century for Michigan State and one of the many great Seasons under Mark dantonio Mark dantonio is gone he's retired he's living his life Jonathan Smith is in after a meltu Tucker regime that was one of the least efficient and most Preposterous in college football recent memory I was almost going to say in college football history and I think that wouldn't necessarily be inaccurate with the whole you know sexual harassment scandal with the mismanagement of the roster by Scotty Hazelton by Jay Johnson poor strength and conditioning poor assistant coaching everywhere except for Courtney Hawkins who was retained by Jonathan Smith and his staff which I thought was a very very good move he's recruited well he's developed well I can't wait to see what he can do with the receiver room that honestly looks I would say weak if I'm being honest tight end will probably be stronger than wide receiver and I wouldn't be surprised if Ving led the team in receptions and even receiving yards and receiving touchdowns this year this is a nice opener for the Spartans and I say that because Florida Atlantic well they have Tom Herman as their head coach and they're not the worst group of five team they're not Memphis they're not Boise State they are not to Lane they are not Liberty they're not at the top of the group of five hierarchy I would say they're more so in the middle maybe below average maybe above average I don't know the nitty-gritty of FAU of the owls but I know that they're not they're not up there they're not an FCS school either they're somewhere in between I think the biggest question for Michigan state is not even about Aiden childes because I think Aiden childes has proven himself at Oregon State and while you want to see him do well at Michigan State in year one this is a rebuild and Michigan State offensively was far worse off last year and in 2022 when any State fan will tell you this compared to the defense the defense particularly the defensive front I actually thought had Talent on it it was just the secondary that was an abysmal disaster that you didn't even want to watch the secondary for Michigan Michigan State context was richrod caliber the front was often dantonio caliber or at least had it had that potential to be when healthy I think the defense is the area to pay attention to because the offense is in a bad spot I think that they will need another year of transfers and their own exclusively by exclusively I mean all the recruiting in the 2025 class is done by Smith the 2026 class and his staff the defense I think has enough pieces both returning like Maverick Hansen Dylan Tatum Cal Halliday Jordan Hall and enough incoming transfers and a great enough defensive coordinator in Joe rosi to where I think right out of the gate they could be a good good defense not great not Elite but good they can be top 50 they can be even good by Big 10 standards and maybe top 40 or top 30 because middle of the road or even a below average Big 10 defense in terms of standings is a good Big 10 defense Big 10 defenses even when you adjust for how porous the offenses are they are good and they're respected nationally this unit allowed 28.3 points per game in 2023 was outside the top 75 the offense meanwhile was outside of the top 125 so I want to give the offense a little more grace and I also think that Ean Chiles Jack velling Tanner Miller Luke Newman Nathan Carter um KRON Lynch Adams and many of the players they have in that side of the ball are very proven very proven and with Jonathan Smith and Brian lindgren's coaching I do think the offense will not necessarily being consistent all the time or playing at a good level on an average basis you are going to see moments from them out of the gate because that is Jonathan Smith's Mo that is his identity the defense is what I'm very curious about what do they do against Tom Herman who by the way is more of an offensive coach himself how does the defense perform at home opening game with a roster that has a lot of new pieces and some familiar faces and a much better defensive coordinator than Scotty Hazelton how does that work out I'm very very curious to see that I think Mike McDonald is going to have this team ready their strength and conditioning coach I think he is in fact the secret weapon to Michigan State in the same way that I think Ben Herbert was the secret weapon to Michigan I'm I'm very excited to see this team I think that they will be better conditioned better TR trained better coached more focused they'll just be better all around and that is why I'm picking them to obviously win but cover and I think cover big time I think that with the talent on offense that Michigan state has with Aiden Chiles with Nathan Carter with KRON Lynch Adams Lynch Adams was a guy who rushed over a thousand yards at UMass last year Nathan Carter had four rushing touchdowns didn't have any in Big 10 play but he nearly had 900,000 rushing yards and ran for four yards per carry behind an offensive line that was just it wasn't atrocious but it was bad and then Michigan state had no passing game to speak of so he had no help and he'll have a lot more help with Tanner Miller and Luke Newman coming in from the transfer portal and Michigan State does return some offensive linemen that I think can be better coached and utilized and put in a better position to win this season so I think the offense is going to score I do think the defense will show up and I think have a good game as well they won't be perfect I mean this defense is not going to be top 10 I'm just going to tell you that right now if they somehow are then Joe rosi is like de he's deanan Lynn and at that point then a top 10 perhaps top five defensive coordinator nationally and I don't well I think he's great I don't think he is at that caliber but with very little recruiting Talent he did feel the defense with Minnesota in 2021 that finished the year in the top five of numerous statistical categories and I think it was top 10 by ESPN's football power index efficiency ratings it did a respectable job against Ohio state for a half that year and then as the year went on that defense just started winning them games outright and dominating opponents and then in 2022 they also had a defense that was very respected and that was in the top 10 of scoring and other categories so Joe rosi I think has it I think last year was really just a loss of production and starters at a school where you just can't reload because of the recruiting and also because they don't have the nation's best staff so that was a culmination of things it was a Snowball Effect effect and that's why Minnesota didn't have a good defense the Joe rosi hire was good I think the defense will show up the offense will show up and I think this game will show that Michigan state is better than their preseason win total indicates they'll beat Florida Atlantic 45 to 10 and cover the 14o spread thank you for watching this cut of touchdown talk remember to 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