As the NCAA Football 2015 Season moves on into Week 7 we have some interesting match-ups, and one that is always a fan favorite is the Big Ten game between 2 interstate rivals as the Spartans of Michigan State 6-0 (Big Ten East) playing at the Wolverines of Michigan 5-1 (Big Ten) with the game being played on the Saturday the 17th of October at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor Michigan with kick-off scheduled for 3:35 PM ET.
In this 7th Week of the season this is 1 of the biggest games as the rivals No. 4 Spartans of Michigan State take on the No. 18 Wolverines of Michigan and each team has had a recent win streak, as the Spartans are 6-0 and unbeaten while the Wolverines lost their opener, but have won 5 straight game since and are now 5-1.
For the fans the Bet on College football at an Offshore betting site and are fans of the unbeaten Spartans of Michigan State, your team had an unpleasant win over Rutgers 31-24 by scoring with a late game TD after making a lot of errors in the 1st half of the game. It may have been a bit ugly, but it still was a victory as the Spartans move forward into this Week 7 still undefeated.
QB C. Cook performed when he had to as he completed some 23 of his 38 pass attempts for 2 touchdowns and 357 yards, a high for this 2015 season. One of his completions was on 3rd down as his receptor went for some 29 yards and kept their drive in motion late in the final quarter of the game.
The top receiver for the Spartans was their senior WR A. Burbridge who had 9 receptions for some 146 yard, and 4 of those were for more than 20 yards on each reception. That could be different against the Wolverines who for the season in their 6 games have only allowed 5 receptions to opponents of 20 or more yards, and that is tied for 1st in NCAA Division I-A. Yes the Wolverines rank as the bet team in pass defense in 2015, as they have only allowed opponents to gain 115.6 yards in each game. For the Spartans to challenge that defense their QB Cook needs some strong support from his running back to take pressure off the passing game.
In their last game against Rutgers, the Spartans had a tough time to get the game going without the presence of RB L. Scott in the 1st half, as they only average 3.5 yards of each rushing attempt. In the 2nd half with RB Scott in the game he scored 2 touchdowns on 9 carries for a total of 42 yards. The Spartans defense is also strong against the running game as they have allowed their opponents only 66 yard rushing each game. In their ultimate 7 games against the Wolverines the Spartans have won six times.
On the other side the fans of the Wolverines know their team has been routing their opponents as of late, while the rival Spartans have had to struggle to win the close game and stay undefeated. In this past week the Wolverines completed their 3rd consecutive shutout as they defeated the No. 13 Wildcats of North Western 38-0. In Week 4 they shut out Maryland 28-0 and in Week 5 they shout out BYU 31-0.
Those shutouts came about because of the great performance all-around on both offense and defense. They scored touchdowns on returning kick-offs, interceptions and offense. J. Clemson had a kick-off return for a TD of 96 yards, while J. Lewis got a pick six, and RB D. Johnson scored on a 1 yard drive, while their QB J. Rudock scored a TD on a scramble of 3 yards. Their star RB D. Smith carried for 8 times and gained the team high of 59 yards rushing. They played RB Smith on a limited basis to be sure he was healthy for this game against the Spartans, as he can help the Spartans offense to break through the Spartans strong defensive front 7, a defense that has only allowed 3.8 yards per carry to their opponents.
The Wolverines QB Rudock should perform well in this game like he did against Northwestern as he completed some 17 of his 23 passes for 180 yards without an interception. That was against a Northwestern defense that ranked 7th in the nation in pass defense. In the Spartans case they are somewhat vulnerable on pass defense as they have allowed some 243 yard per game on passing to the opponents this season. In their game against Rutgers the Spartans allowed them to score 3 touchdowns via the pass. In the last 9 home games against the Spartans, the Wolverines have won 9.
The prediction for this Big Ten rivalry game is that the Spartans will win this game as the squeak out another win to be the Wolverines and remain undefeated.