The first battle of Top 10 teams in college football this season will feature the Michigan State Spartans hosting the Oregon Ducks on Saturday. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ABC. Currently the college football odds for the game have the Spartans favored to pick up the win over the visiting Ducks.
Michigan State is ranked inside the Top 5 and Spartan faithful believe they should be here every year. While they probably need to pump the breaks after only being an exceptional program for a short time, Mark Dantonio is making all the right moves.
Oregon, which played and was hammered in the national title game last year, is looking to rebound without Marcus Mariota, arguably the best player in the school’s history. The Ducks still have the impressive offense and they’re going up against a Michigan State team that believes it has a great defense. In recent years the Spartans have been dominant on that side of the football, but without defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi the defense will probably take a step back.
Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. looked great before he was injured and Royce Freeman found the open lanes necessary to put up a ton of yards on Eastern Washington last week. Oregon’s 61 points is no surprise, but giving up 42 is. The Ducks gave up 21 points in each half, giving up that many points to Michigan State might end up in a loss.
This is the first Top 10 matchup inside Spartan Stadium since 1966 when No. 1 Notre Dame played to a 10-10 tie with the second-ranked Spartans.
Michigan State has been solid in home games in recent times, winning their home opener 16 straight seasons. Connor Cook will look to have a big game through the air against the Ducks, a team that surrendered 438 yards and five touchdowns to a pair of Eastern Washington QBs last week, despite also intercepting two passes. MSU threw for 256 and two scores last week against Western Michigan.
The Ducks are dogs in this one, but Michigan State’s defense did not look great last week against the Broncos.
Free Pick: Ducks and the points
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