REPORT: Can Michigan State Finish the Deal, Reach a Bowl Game?
Although they are on a three-game losing streak, the Michigan State Spartans continue to receive love from college football experts’ bowl game projections. After starting the season 3-0, many who doubted Michigan State began to notice what Coach Jonathan Smith and the Spartans were building in Michigan State.
However, Michigan State has not been as fortunate lately, as the level of opponents they were facing drastically increased and did so quickly. The Spartans went from facing Prairie View A&M and Boston College in consecutive weeks to facing Ohio State and Oregon in successive weeks. Those are two vastly different sets of matchups for the Spartans, and they have faired about as well as most college football experts would have predicted.
Luckily for Michigan State, most of the experts releasing bowl projections have considered this and have not penalized the Spartans much over the last few weeks.
Between the competition Michigan State has faced and the fact that it has already won three games, there is an optimistic outlook for the Spartans’ remaining schedule. After the next two games, Michigan State’s schedule gets significantly easier, which could help them get the additional wins they need.
Brett McMurphy of the Action Network recently released his updated bowl projections. Once again, those projections included Michigan State, as it has for the last few weeks. McMurphy has projected the Spartans to play in a few different bowl games over the early part of this season. However, this week, he projected the Spartans to play in the Armed Forces Bowl against TCU.
Michigan State is halfway to the required six wins to be invited to a bowl game. The Spartans head into their bye this week after consecutive double-digit losses to Ohio State and Oregon. They will return next weekend to take on Iowa at home.
Smith hopes to turn things around, as Iowa is undoubtedly a challenging opponent. While Iowa will be difficult for Michigan State to handle, they are not unbeatable. The Spartans will likely be an underdog against Iowa, which only makes a potential upset that much sweeter for Michigan State.
No matter what happens against Iowa, Michigan State is in a prime position to make it to a bowl game this season. They simply need to finish the season strong.
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Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.