Know Your Minnesota Football Foe: Michigan State Spartans

Before each Minnesota football game, GopherIllustrated asks five questions of an opposing beat writer. This week, they asked Stephen Brooks of SpartanTailgate about the Gophers' game against the Michigan State Spartans.

After winning two laughers against MAC teams, Michigan State couldn't complete the comeback in Washington on Saturday. The offensive line and secondary play are real problems. MSU's defensive backs got lit up by Washington's passing game. The team finished last nationally in passing yards allowed per game in 2021. It's a flawed approach. They had more challenging practice periods in practice when throwing against air.

SB gives his opinion on the pass-catching trio of Coleman, Mosley and Reed. He also gives a view on quarterback Payton Thorne. He thinks the trio is a strong trio with the potential to get better. SB also talks about MSU's team, including the players they play against. They are a team that he thinks would be good against anybody outside of Ohio State. The team is also a foe of Minnesota. It's called the Michigan State Spartans. Their team won the game against the Gophers. MSE's players are: Reed, Tre Mosly, Coleman and Thorn.

MSU was able to stay fairly healthy last year, but this year two starters went down in the first half of Game 1. Darius Snow, a converted safety, suffered a season-ending injury, while starting strong safety Xavier Henderson left that game on crutches. Kendell Brooks, from Division II North Greenville, has filled in for Henderson. Jacob Slade and Jeff Pietrowski are injured. The status of both players is unknown heading into the game. The Spartans have good depth at defensive tackle, like at receiver. They have enough talent on the perimeter to avoid losing firepower if Reed is out again.

Jacoby Windmon transferred from UNLV to Michigan State in January. He was playing as a linebacker, but he was moved to defensive end during training camp. WindMon impressed in the opener against Western Michigan and then against Akron. SB believes the Washington game was a flashback to the worst moments of 2021.   The secondary played poorly against Washington. The defensive line played well against the first Power 5 opponent. It's not clear how effective the pass defense is. They need to play against Big Ten competition. There were schematic issues in Washington's game. MSU's secondary didn't play well.

SB gives his prediction for the game between Michigan State and Minnesota. He likes the team's pass-catchers and its run defense. The key for MSU is to improve their offensive line and secondary. Minnesota will be able to do enough on the ground to keep up with MSE's passing game. It might not be the full-scale aerial assault Washington put on last week, but it doesn't have to be. Minnesota is going to score at least a score of 20. Michigan will win the match. They are going for their fourth consecutive victory in East Lansing. MSUP will score a maximum of 30 points.