REPORT: Michigan State Football's Trap Game for the 2024 Season
In every sport, there is always a “trap” game that is on every team's schedule. A trap game is a game that usually has a superior team that doesn't play up to standard against a team that isn't as good.
Michigan State football isn't going to be very good next season as they are in a transition period with new head coach Jonathan Smith.
247Sports' Carter Bahns listed all the Big Ten teams' trap games for the 2024 season. With the top teams like Ohio State and Oregon projected to be in the Big Ten championship next year, they still have to face a team which can be considered a trap game. Oregon's trap game is against Purdue, and Ohio State's trap game is against Michigan State.
“Few spots on the Buckeyes' schedule offer as much of an opportunity for that kind of showing than the Sept. 28 game at Michigan State, which marks the team's first road game of the year and is a significant step up from the Group of Five competition it will have faced thus far," Bahns said. "There are also bigger games straight ahead (Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska, Penn State) which could drive attention away from the task at hand."
For Michigan State, Bahns has the Spartans' Week 4 game against Boston college as their trap game. Boston College is also in the same situation as the Spartans -- a new head coach who is trying to bring in his culture to make Boston College compete for the ACC championship.
“Boston College is a program in transition as Bill O'Brien takes over as its head coach, but standout quarterback Thomas Castellanos is still on campus and figures to give Michigan State a run for its money in this September battle," Bahns said. "The showdown of first-year coaches is already Jonathan Smith's second road game of his young tenure, and it comes with a murderer's row of Big Ten showdowns on deck. This is a sneakily tough game that the Spartans could lose anyway, but it would be all the more likely if Smith's staff and roster have their eyes on the following weeks' game against Ohio State.”
Michigan State vs. Boston College should be a good game to watch as they are in very similar situations. It's going to be a game that Michigan State will most likely be favored in, but it should not overlook the Eagles because there will be an incentive to start the season 3-1 before going into a brutal four game gauntlet.
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LUKE JOSEPH