They spend the first 45 minutes trying to justify (to themselves and their fans?) why the media is wrong and why MSU will overachieve and do better than what Comp sees as 7 "expected" wins as his baseline. Comp and Paul K see 8-9 wins as the upside for this team.
I see a Spartan team with 6 returning starters. The critics of UM, including little Jimmy Comparoni, see our 5 returning starters and therefore our inexperience as a huge issue. Yet somehow, MSU's inexperience is not. The most important point, in my opinion, is that MSU's young talent was gutted in this last off-season losing their top WR, top DBs, top LB and several of their top DL/DEs.
The talent level of the new starters up in East Lansing simply does not measure up to the talent level of Michigan's new folks. While we back-fill with extremely talented and athletic 4 stars players, MSU has had to back-fill its DTs for instance, with 2 WALK-ON LBs who were moved up to the DL. REALLY?!? Walk-on LBs? And they have zero ... ZERO depth on the DL. Injuries will take a poor DL and make it a complete dumpster fire.
IMO, the position comparisons between our two teams are as follows:
UM DL >>>> DL MSU (and that is generous as we have possibly the nations best DL starters)
UM LB >> LB MSU (McCray is a All B1G and the younger UM LBs are phenoms)
UM DB > DB MSU (UM DBs are more talented, both team's DBs are very inexperienced)
UM QB > QB MSU (I will give Brian Lewerke the benefit of the doubt otherwise it is worse)
UM OL >> OL MSU (Ours is more athletic and talented, both are young)
UM WR >> WR MSU (MSU is more experienced but UMs talent level is >>> vs the Spartans)
UM TE >> TE MSU (Our are more talented and more experienced
UM RB << RB MSU (LJScott is a beast and their depth is as good as ours)
Summary:
The MSU running game and talented young QB will provide some solid offense but their defense will continue to be a huge problem.
I see a Spartan team with 6 returning starters. The critics of UM, including little Jimmy Comparoni, see our 5 returning starters and therefore our inexperience as a huge issue. Yet somehow, MSU's inexperience is not. The most important point, in my opinion, is that MSU's young talent was gutted in this last off-season losing their top WR, top DBs, top LB and several of their top DL/DEs.
The talent level of the new starters up in East Lansing simply does not measure up to the talent level of Michigan's new folks. While we back-fill with extremely talented and athletic 4 stars players, MSU has had to back-fill its DTs for instance, with 2 WALK-ON LBs who were moved up to the DL. REALLY?!? Walk-on LBs? And they have zero ... ZERO depth on the DL. Injuries will take a poor DL and make it a complete dumpster fire.
IMO, the position comparisons between our two teams are as follows:
UM DL >>>> DL MSU (and that is generous as we have possibly the nations best DL starters)
UM LB >> LB MSU (McCray is a All B1G and the younger UM LBs are phenoms)
UM DB > DB MSU (UM DBs are more talented, both team's DBs are very inexperienced)
UM QB > QB MSU (I will give Brian Lewerke the benefit of the doubt otherwise it is worse)
UM OL >> OL MSU (Ours is more athletic and talented, both are young)
UM WR >> WR MSU (MSU is more experienced but UMs talent level is >>> vs the Spartans)
UM TE >> TE MSU (Our are more talented and more experienced
UM RB << RB MSU (LJScott is a beast and their depth is as good as ours)
Summary:
The MSU running game and talented young QB will provide some solid offense but their defense will continue to be a huge problem.
