How Difficult is Michigan State's Remaining Schedule Following Bye Week?
At the start of the season, Michigan State undoubtedly had one of the country's most demanding schedules.
Few teams, if any, have had as difficult a four-game stretch as the one Michigan State is currently in. Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith and the Spartans recently faced two of the best teams in the country in less than a week and still have multiple challenging teams remaining.
Austin Meek of The Athletic recently ranked the Big Ten teams with the least and most demanding remaining schedules at the season's halfway mark. Meek ranked Washington’s remaining schedule as the most difficult of any team in the conference.
Meek ranked Michigan State’s remaining schedule as the fourth easiest in the conference. However, it is important to emphasize the the rankings are from this point in the season forward. This means the Spartans’ matchups against Ohio State and Oregon do not play a factor in Meek’s ranking.
“Jonathan Smith’s return to the Pacific Northwest wasn’t especially memorable,” Meek wrote. “The Spartans lost 31-10 at Oregon on Friday and have an off week to regroup for the second half of the schedule. The good news is that the final six games should allow Michigan State to find three more victories and make a bowl game in Smith’s first season.”
Meek noted the remaining teams on Michigan State’s schedule and the fact that many of them are beatable. Michigan State also plays a large portion of its remaining games at home, which should work in its favor. However, that will require quarterback Aidan Chiles and Michigan State’s offense to begin limiting the turnovers.
“The Spartans have home games against three offensively challenged teams — Iowa, Purdue, and Rutgers — though the Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights play tough defense and are capable of exploiting Aidan Chiles’ turnover tendencies,” Meek wrote. "If you’re looking for a place where unbeaten Indiana might stumble, a trip to East Lansing on Nov. 2 is worth circling. Aside from the Hoosiers, Michigan State doesn’t play any of the Big Ten’s other CFP front-runners and leaves the state of Michigan only once in the final six weeks of the season, though the trip to Ann Arbor is never easy.”
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Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.