* indicates not a per game stat, which obviously impacts rank this season
History vs. Michigan:
Michigan leads all-time series 71-36-5
Last meeting: 2019 at Michigan - 44-10 Michigan
This Season:
vs Rutgers - L 27-38
Quarterback: Rocky Lombardi 6'4" 225 lbs (RS Jr.)
Lombardi was 31/43 (72%) with 319 yards, 3 TDs and 2 INTs last week. For his career he's completed 49% of passes with 6 TDs to 7 INTs on 218 attempts.
Running Backs: Elijah Collins 6'0" 220 lbs (RS So.) & Jordon Simmons 5'11" 195 lbs (Fr.)
In 2019 Collins had 222 rushes for 988 yards (4.5ypc) and 5 TDs with a long of 58. He also had 15 catches for 99 yards. Against Rutgers last week however, he finished with 3 yards rushing on 9 attempts (0.3ypc) with a long of 4 and 1 catch for 3 yards. True Freshman Simmons saw the most work in the MSU backfield last week with 14 carries for 43 yards and a long of 14 as well as one reception for 13 yards.
Wide Receivers: Jayden Reed 6'1" 185 lbs (RS So.) & Jalen Nailor 6'1" 185 lbs (RS So.)
Reed, the Western Michigan transfer who had 56 receptions for 797 yards and 8 TDs for WMU in 2018 debuted with the Spartans with a game high 11 catches, 128 yards and 2 TD. Nailor had 6 catches for 84 yards and a TD vs Rutgers. The rest of the Spartans receivers were non-existent last week and not worth mentioning.
Tight End: Matt Dotson 6'5" 240 lbs (Sr.)
Dotson had 5 catches for 50 yards with a long of 15 in week 1. Has never been anything special receiving with only 2 TD and under 400 yards receiving in his career.
Left Tackle: AJ Crcuri 6'7" 300 lbs (RS Sr.)
6 career starts.
Left Guard: J.D. Duplain 6'4" 310 lbs (So.)
6 career starts.
Center: Matt Allen 6'3" 300 lbs (RS Sr.)
16 career starts.
Right Guard: Kevin Jarvis 6'6" 325 lbs (RS Jr.)
21 career starts.
Right Tackle: Mustafa Khaleefah 6'5" 320 lbs (RS Jr.)
1 career start.
Defensive Tackles: Naquan Jones 6'4" 340 lbs (RS Sr.) & Jacob Slade 6'4" 310 lbs (RS So.)
Jones had 4 tackles with 1.5 for a loss and a recovered fumble against Rutgers. 3 career sacks in 40 games. Slade totaled 14 tackles with 2.5 for a loss, a sack and a pass knock down last season. Did not record a stat against the Scarlet Knights.
Defensive Ends: Jack Camper 6'5" 250 lbs (RS Jr.) & Drew Beesley 6'2" 260 lbs (RS Sr.)
Camper had 2 tackles against Rutgers. Career total of a half sack in 19 games. In 2019 Beesley had 14 tackles with 6 for a loss, 1.5 sacks, an INT, 2 pass deflectiosn and a fumble recovery. He's started this year with 6 tackles with 2.5 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and a sack.
Outside Linebackers: Antjuan Simmons 6'0" 225 lbs (Sr.) & Chase Kline 6'4" 235 lbs (RS So.)
Simmons totaled 90 tackles on the season last fall with 15 for a loss, 3.5 sacks, an INT, 4 pass breakups and a forced and recovered fumble. He had 11 tackles with 3 for a loss and a recovered fumble against Rutgers. Kline had a total of 12 tackles including a sack last year and recorded 2 tackles with a forced fumble last week.
Middle Linebacker: Noah Harvey 6'4" 240 lbs (RS Jr.)
Versus Rutgers, Harvey finished with 9 tackles with a half tackle for a loss. He had 49 tackles with 5 for a loss, 3 sacks, a forced fumble and 4 pass breakups in 2019.
Cornerbacks: Kalon Gervin 5'11" 190 lbs (RS So.) & Shakur Brown 5'11" 190 lbs (RS Jr.)
Gervin has 4 tackles after one game. He had 8 tackles as his only statistics last season. Brown finished with 23 tackles with 2 sacks, an INT and 6 pass breakups last year and had 5 tackles with an INT and pass break up last weekend.
Safeties: Tre Person 5'11" 170 lbs (Sr.) & Xavier Henderson 6'1" 210 lbs (Jr.)
Person totaled 6 tackles with a pass breakup and 1 sack thus far this year and has 38 total tackles and 6 pass breakups in his career in 29 games plyed. Henderson concluded 2019 with 83 tackles with 2 for a loss, 2 INTs and 7 pass breakups. After one game he sits at 6 tackles with 1 for a loss.
Punter and Kicker: Tyler Hunt 6'2" 235 lbs (RS Jr.) & Matt Coghlin 5'9" 195 lbs (RS Sr.)
Hunt has a 40.1 yard punt average in his career on 36 attempts with a long of 63, 2 touchbacks, 10 fair catches and 15 punts inside the 20. Coghlin is 39/57 (76%) in his career with 2019 being his worst season (12/22). He's had a career long of 49 yards with 2 blocked kicks. He was 2/2 against RU.
Returners: Jayden Reed 6'1" 185 lbs (RS So.) & Jalen Nailor 6'1" 185 lbs (RS So.)
Reed returned 4 kicks for an average of 16.3 with a long of 29 last week. Nailor returned 2 Rutgers punts for 18 yards with one of them being for 17 yards.
Players to watch:
Jayden Reed - WR
Antjuan Simmons - OLB
Jayden Reed - WR
Antjuan Simmons - OLB
Prediction:
I would just like to note that Michigan State's current offensive efficiency sits at 101st. 102 FBS teams have played at least one game so far this season. They played Rutgers. They're beating out UMass. Now most of this is due to turnovers but it's still a sight to behold.
I really don't have much insight to add here. Michigan State is the worst they've been in probably 20 years or more. Had they actually had a full season with out of conference games against BYU and Miami.. I think this team would have gone 2-10, 3-9 at best. They simply are not a good team. They have no strengths. Their only player that would probably see the field at Michigan right now is Antjuan Simmons. To be fair, Michigan State still is a better team than Rutgers. Turning the ball over 7 times (9 if you count on downs) and giving your opponent the ball with an average starting field position of an arena football field will probably see most bad teams lose by at least 50. Rutgers is just so terrible, this is still only a 11 point win. Michigan State wins that game by at least two scores if they don't completely self destruct on offense like they did.
That said, not self destructing isn't going to help them against most teams not named Rutgers, especially the better teams such as ourselves. If MSU performs like they did against Rutgers this game should be no less than a 60+ point defeat. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they actually make an attempt of not turning the ball over tomorrow. It still won't be pretty.
Michigan wins 52-13
This years predictions:
34-17 vs Minnesota (49-24 actual).
