The Game Seven Preview: Indiana Hoosiers vs. Michigan State Spartans

Who, Where, When: IU plays host to Michigan State this Saturday at 3:30pm in Bloomington. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, brought to you by Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, and sideline help from Jeannine Edwards. MSU leads the battle for the Old Brass Spittoon 43-12-1 (43-15-2 overall), and won the meeting last year 42-28 in East Lansing.

Tevin Watch: The 100+ yard rushing game streak continues (8), as does the games with a rushing touchdown streak (15). His career rushing yards are now 2,243, though exact information about where that places him all time at IU was not available as of this writing (he has at least moved into 10th, passing Lonnie Johnson and Ric Enis).

News and Notes about MSU, courtesy of OTE's own Andrew Kraszewski: Until last week, MSU's troubles closing out games could have been attributable to the quality of the opponent (no offense, Purdue); Nebraska and Oregon have the ability, after all, to make you pay for blown assignments or taking plays off. But after last week's could-have-been-a-Purdue-Harbor, it feels fair to say this team should probably work on sealing the deal in the 4th quarter a little better. Still, other than Oregon, MSU's put forth spurts of dominating play long enough to endure those swoons. It might not bode well for a team with big goals, but until it turns into an actual loss it's hard to be too upset about it. What fun is sports without a little drama, anyway?

/cuddles with emergency whiskey

As for the #HAWKPTOOEY game, Nate Sudfeld's absence changes the tenor a bit. Priorities one, two, and three are now named Tevin Coleman, which perhaps they should have been anyway given the beastly (and beyond the footprint, disappointingly ignored) campaign he's having. I won't be surprised if Coleman creases a long run or two against this defense; he did it against a better one last year, after all. I also wouldn't be surprised if the game is nonetheless less competitive than last year because the rest of the offense suffers in Sudfeld's absence. And then, well, there's the whole matter of IU's defense. Still don't have one, eh. Well, between some early-season OL injuries and Cook's inconsistency, it still feels like this offense hasn't hit its peak yet- and they're averaging 45.5 points nonetheless. Like most online football fans, I'd love to see Dave Warner run until a theoretically overmatched opponent proves they can stop it. So...be ready for Cook to throw on first down with a two- or three-score lead in the second half is what I'm saying, I guess.

Notable Michigan State Alumni: Sam Raimi ("Evil Dead" movies, did not actually graduate), Jemele Hill (sportswriter), Chris Hansen (Dateline), Dan Gilbert (owner, Cleveland Cavaliers; chairman and founder of Quicken Loans), Scott Skiles (former NBA player and coach), Tyrone Willingham (former college football coach)

Predictions:

AK: MSU 38-21

C4B: Though the semi-recent news that Zander Diamont is starting has given me a little more hope for this game, I still think we're going to have an offensive struggle, which is why I think MSU wins 42-21. Another year in East Lansing for Ol' Brassy.

Next week: Indiana is on bye week #2, but I have control of the Power Poll for the week, so keep an eye out for that.