College Football

Michigan State Football: 5 bold predictions vs. Indiana

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:56 p.m. ET

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Sep 2, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans wide receiver Donnie Corley (9) carries the ball against the Furman Paladins during the first half at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Here are our five bold predictions for Michigan State football’s game Saturday against Indiana.

Michigan State football is gearing up for one of the more important games of this young season, traveling to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. While it might not seem like a heavyweight bout, which it’s not, this game certainly hold importance for both sides.

The Spartans are coming off a 30-6 defeat at the hands of Wisconsin while Indiana just lost a home game, 33-28, to Wake Forest. Both teams are in desperate need of a victory, but only one can come out on top.

Playing under the lights against one of the best offenses in the conference could pose a major problem for the Spartans while the Hoosiers have yet to play a defense like Michigan State’s. Indiana is putting up over 500 yards per game, but that shouldn’t be the case this week.

Here are our five bold predictions for Michigan State’s game against Indiana on Saturday night in Bloomington.

5. Richard Lagow gets sacked 4 times

Sep 1, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Richard Lagow (21) drops back to attempt a pass against the FIU Golden Panthers during the first half at FIU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State hasn’t exactly been getting major pressure on opposing quarterbacks this season, but the Spartans are going to have a big game against Indiana in the trenches. Besides the fact that I believe the offensive line will finally step up against the Hoosiers, the defensive line is going to have a big day with four sacks.

Richard Lagow is one of the better quarterbacks in the conference and he even passed for 496 yards against Wake Forest last week. However, it was obvious how inaccurate he can be when he’s under pressure as he threw five picks.

Wake Forest got pressure on him and he toss the ball into coverage. Expect the Spartans to either send the blitz or find the right personnel — true freshmen — to put some extra pressure on the Hoosiers quarterback.

Lagow has been sacked eight times this season with five interceptions, expect both of those numbers to grow quite a bit.

Sep 17, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Michigan State Spartans wide receiver Donnie Corley (9) celebrates after MSU defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 36-28 at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

4. Donnie Corley reaches the 100-yard mark

Word is circulating that Tyler O’Connor is going to need to bounce back in the first half against Indiana in order to avoid being benched for Brian Lewerke. That shouldn’t be much of an issue against a lackluster Indiana defense which has been suspect for the entirety of Kevin Wilson’s reign in Bloomington.

O’Connor had one of the worst games a Spartan quarterback has had in recent memory against the Badgers and part of it had to do with the blocking. The offense line struggled to pick up blitzes and even the running backs were failing to finish their blocking assignments.

Still, he will be fine against Indiana and his new favorite target, Donnie Corley, is going to benefit from the new-look quarterback. He has watched film and he realizes how many times Corley was open deep down the middle of the field. It’s pretty obvious he’s the Spartans’ No. 1 deep threat.

Corley has caught eight passes for 172 yards and a touchdown over the past two games, and I would expect him to add at least 100 yards to that total against the Hoosiers.

Donnie is going to catch a career-best six passes for 107 yards and another touchdown.

Sep 24, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans running back LJ Scott (3) runs the ball during the first quarter of a game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

3. LJ Scott has a career game

Sophomore running back LJ Scott is believed to be the next Le’Veon Bell for Michigan State. He has already accounted for 264 yards and two touchdowns through three games this year and he’s on pace to smash last year’s total of 699 yards and might even surpass 11 scores.

Scott, however, had a slow go of things against the Wisconsin Badgers in Week 4, rushing 14 times for 61 yards and coughing the ball up on the Spartans’ first drive of the second half. His fumble was returned about 60 yards for a touchdown, giving Wisconsin a 20-6 lead which was, at that time, seemingly insurmountable.

The run game was shut down and O’Connor was forced to pass for the rest of the game.

Fortunately for Michigan State, that won’t happen against Indiana. The Hoosiers defense is going to allow a ton of passing yards to O’Connor which will, in turn, open up the run game for Scott, Gerald Holmes and Madre London. The trio combined for over 250 yards, along with O’Connor, against Notre Dame.

Indiana’s defense is even worse than Notre Dame’s, despite the Irish’s struggles, and the Spartans will have running room all day long.

Expect Scott to have his best career game, rushing 20 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Sep 10, 2016; Bloomington, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers running back Devine Redding (34) dives while being tackled by Ball State Cardinals safety Martez Hester (21) during the second half of the game at Memorial Stadium. The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Ball State Cardinals 30 to 20. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

2. Devine Redding, Indiana run game stymied

With LJ Scott having a big game on the other side, I don’t see the same happening for Devine Redding and the Indiana run game. Redding has 64 carries for 313 yards and no touchdowns this season, and I expect that trend to continue against the Spartans.

Redding picked up over 100 yards in his first two games of the year, but was stymied by Wake Forest’s defense and it’s going to be the same against Michigan State. Yes, Michigan State is going to shut down the junior running back even without Riley Bullough and Jon Reschke at the linebacker positions.

The Spartans have one of the best run defenses in college football, holding opponents to just 88 yards per game on the ground. That’s impressive seeing as Michigan State has played Corey Clement, Tarean Folston and Josh Adams through three games this year.

Redding is probably the second or third-best running back the Spartans will see to this point in the season and he’s going to be held in check. The front seven has been strong against the run and even the secondary has stepped up to make some impressive stops on the outside.

The Indiana running back will finish with 50 yards on 17 carries.

Oct 24, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans wide receiver R.J. Shelton (12) is tripped up by Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Tyler Green (3) during the 2nd half of a game at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

1. Game will be decided by one score

People have already predicted a close game between the Spartans and Indiana, but I’m saying it’s going to be decided by one score, one way or another. Predicting a winner will be tough, but I say the Spartans come out on top in this one, 34-31.

Must Read: MSU Football: 5 players who need to step up vs. Indiana

Indiana’s offense should make the Spartans nervous. The secondary is going to have to hope that the defensive line and linebackers add a little pressure and force a couple of sacks, turnovers.

It was evident that when Alex Hornibrook of Wisconsin was given time to throw, he picked apart soft coverage. He threw for nearly 200 yards and converted seven third downs. Heck, Wisconsin was even 2-for-2 on fourth down.

Michigan State’s defense needs to be able to get off the field after third downs and not allow the Hoosiers to rack up a ton of time of possession.

This one is going to come down to the trenches and whichever offensive line wins the battle, their team will win the war.