Michigan State Football: 5 bold predictions vs. Northwestern

Sep 2, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans running back Lj Scott (3) carries the ball past Furman Paladins linebacker Carl Rider (55) during the second half at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Here are five bold predictions for Michigan State football’s tough Week 7 matchup versus Northwestern in East Lansing.

Michigan State football will be playing a Week 7 matchup with Northwestern in East Lansing, hoping to prove that its still worthy of a bowl game. Sitting at 2-3 after five games, the Spartans have been struggling to gain confidence and they look like shells of their 2015 selves.

Luckily, Northwestern is also struggling at 2-3. The Wildcats have had some of the same issues, including a couple of bad losses, and are looking to put that behind them. They’re coming off a big win over Iowa and hoping to take down another top Big Ten foe.

Mark Dantonio isn’t ready to give up on the 2016 season and he’s gone as far as to make the quarterback situation a three-man race yet again. Tyler O’Connor wasn’t getting the job done and the head coach finally acknowledged that.

Coming off a loss to BYU at home and three weeks removed from a loss to Wisconsin in East Lansing, Michigan State is looking to avoid three straight defeats at Spartan Stadium and four consecutive overall.

Here are our five bold predictions for the matchup.

5. Justin Jackson has a big game

Oct 1, 2016; Iowa City, IA, USA; Northwestern Wildcats running back Justin Jackson (21) runs the ball for a 58 yard touchdown against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the second half at Kinnick Stadium. Northwestern won 38-31. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Jackson is yet another talented running back being thrown the Spartans’ way on Saturday. For the fourth time this season, Michigan State is facing a top-tier back who could pose a problem on the ground.

The Spartans held Notre Dame’s Josh Adams, Wisconsin’s Corey Clement and Indiana’s Devine Redding in check before getting gashed by BYU’s Jamaal Williams last week. The Cougars’ running back finished with over 160 yards on the ground and made the Spartan defense look silly in the second half.

You know the defense has worked on stopping the run this week, but if Riley Bullough is out again, along with Jon Reschke and Raequan Williams, the Spartans could find themselves chasing Jackson down the field.

The Northwestern running back will finish with over 100 yards and a touchdown against the Spartans.

Oct 8, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans running back Gerald Holmes (24) runs the ball during the first half of a game against the Brigham Young Cougars at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

4. Run game gets back on track

Two times in three weeks. That’s how many times Michigan State has failed to reach the 100-yard rushing mark as a team. That’s kind of shocking for a program that has based most of its success over the past decade-plus on the ground.

The old ‘Pound Green Pound’ adage has gone by the wayside because of these recent struggles and fans are hoping for a ‘Pass Green Pass’ game plan. With the quarterback situation in flux, the Spartans are likely going to keep running the ball at a high rate until something works.

Michigan State’s offensive line has been shuffled around a bit with Kodi Kieler moving to left tackle, Benny McGowan and Brian Allen rotating at right guard and center and redshirt freshman Tyler Higby getting his shot to start at left guard this week. Those changes could prove to be the fix this line needed.

If the line improves as much as I believe it will with these changes in place, I can see the run game getting back on track. No more missing the 100-yard mark as a team, but rather recording over 200 rushing yards for the first time since the Notre Dame game.

LJ Scott will finally take back his starting job with a 100-plus yard performance and Gerald Holmes will get a handful of carries as well. Damion Terry will add a rushing element at the quarterback position, too.

Sep 24, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers running back Corey Clement (6) is tackled by Michigan State Spartans defensive back Demetrious Cox (7) during the second half of a game at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

3. Michigan State secondary allows just 150 passing yards

For the second straight week, the Michigan State secondary will be the defense’s strong point. In fact, the Spartans allowed just 138 passing yards on 18-of-27 completions to BYU’s Taysom Hill. The only reason he completed two-thirds of his throws was because of the non-existent Spartan pass rush.

You can knock the secondary all you want because of third-down mishaps, but the truth is that it’s not the fault of the defensive backs, but rather the defensive line for not getting any pressure on the quarterback. These backs are forced to cover receivers for 5-6 seconds each play, which is unheard of.

Playing a young quarterback in Clayton Thorson who is still trying to gain confidence in Big Ten play is the ideal situation for this secondary. He has thrown for less than 200 yards three times this season and is coming off his lowest production, yardage-wise, of the season.

Darian Hicks returns to full health and he has been a pleasant surprise this season along with Montae Nicholson and Vayante Copeland. Demetrious Cox has been struggling, but the senior captain will turn things around in this one.

Michigan State will hold Thorson to just 143 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-28 completions.

Sep 2, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans defensive lineman Malik McDowell (4) hits Furman Paladins quarterback P.J. Blazejowski (7) during the first quarter at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

2. Michigan State finally records a few sacks

It’s been three weeks since Michigan State last recorded a sack on an opponent. Dating back to Wisconsin, Michigan State has gone sack-less over the past two games and has just five total on the season. That’s the exact opposite of what you’d expect from a Mark Dantonio-coached team.

This week will change that, though. The Spartans are going to find their way into the backfield against Northwestern and put some added pressure on Clayton Thorson and the passing attack.

Malik McDowell missed the first half of last week’s game against BYU and it was evident there was no pass rush in sight. Taysom Hill sat in the pocket for days and got to pick and choose which receiver to throw to. This put added pressure on the secondary and that’s why they were worn down in the second half.

Raequan Williams was also out for the game. McDowell will be back this week and Williams could, too, making the defensive line that much stronger. If those two can play to potential and the ends can finally step up, there might be some hope for the defensive line against the Wildcats.

Michigan State will close out the game with three total sacks and, yes, at least one of them will come from McDowell.

Sep 17, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Tyler O

1. Damion Terry leads Michigan State to victory

I could see Tyler O’Connor trotting onto the field for the Spartans’ first drive of the game Saturday, and if he feels like his job is on the line, that’s because it is. That added pressure and incentive could either drive him to make a huge impression early or cause him to make some mistakes and miss open receivers.

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My guess would be the latter, leading to the insertion of Damion Terry into the offense for the second quarter and beyond. The junior dual-threat came into the game against BYU in the fourth quarter and sparked the offense, ever so slightly.

Although the Spartans lost 31-14, he led Michigan State down the field into BYU territory a couple of times in limited action — something O’Connor struggled to do in three-plus quarters. He threw an interception on a potential scoring drive, but he still managed to look solid coming off the sidelines ice-cold.

Terry finished the game 6-of-10 for 63 yards and a rushing touchdown.

The junior will take over against Northwestern and lead the Spartans to a couple of second-quarter touchdowns, going into halftime with a 14-7 lead.

Coming out in the second half even stronger, he will lead a couple of long drives, one ending in a touchdown and one a field goal. The Spartans will end up winning with the offense looking more alive than it has since the Notre Dame victory.

Terry finishes with 170 passing yards and 45 rushing yards with three total scores.