Michigan State football 2019 season preview: Best and worst-case scenario
By Ethan Lee
Mark Dantonio and the Michigan State football team are hoping to bounce back after a down season. Can the Spartans find a spark on offense to help with that?
The Michigan State football team really could have been special last season. That’s not an exaggeration. The Spartans had a remarkable defense last season that was one of the best in the country.
But, thanks to an offense that was offensive for Spartan fans to watch, Michigan State struggled through most of 2018 and finished the year at 7-6.
Entering into 2019, head coach Mark Dantonio’s solution was to give everyone in charge of his offense a new job. Rather than clearing out his assistant coaching staff, Dantonio stuck by guys that were loyal to him and he decided to shuffle things around on the offensive side of the ball.
Brad Salem, previously the quarterbacks coach, is now the offensive coordinator. And now, heading into 2019, it’ll be interesting to see if all of those changes can pay off. Considering Michigan State only scored 18.7 points per game last season, things certainly can’t get much worse.
Having a better season in 2019 means that Michigan State will need to at least have a competent offense. Otherwise, Spartan fans will see more of the same. So, what are the best and worst-case scenarios for this coming season?
Michigan State football best-case scenario
- Aug. 30 – vs. Tulsa – W
- Sept. 7 – vs. Western Michigan – W
- Sept. 14 – vs. Arizona State – W
- Sept. 21 – at Northwestern – W
- Sept. 28 – vs. Indiana – W
- Oct. 5 – at Ohio State – L
- Oct. 12 – at Wisconsin – L
- Oct. 26 – vs. Penn State – W
- Nov. 9 – vs. Illinois – W
- Nov. 16 – at Michigan – L
- Nov. 23 – at Rutgers – W
- Nov. 30 – at Maryland – W
Record: 9-3 (6-3 Big Ten)
Michigan State, more than likely, will have a stout defense that will keep the Spartans in just about any game that they get into. That was the case in 2018 as, even in losses, MSU forced its opponents into errors and kept the score low. And Michigan State should be able to do that again.
But if Michigan State is going to reach its ceiling in 2019, the Spartans need a spark of life on offense. Thankfully for MSU, the offensive side of the ball features plenty of experience.
Quarterback Brian Lewerke is back and showed plenty of potential during the 2017 season, during which he threw for just under 2800 yards and 20 touchdowns against 7 interceptions. That season he also ran for 559 yards and 5 more touchdowns.
If new offensive coordinator and former quarterbacks coach Brad Salem can find a way to get Lewerke back to being a decent quarterback, then this best-case scenario starts to look more and more realistic.
But, even with an improved Lewerke and a decent offense, Michigan State probably doesn’t beat Ohio State, Wisconsin or Michigan on the road.
Michigan State football worst-case scenario
- Aug. 30 – vs. Tulsa – W
- Sept. 7 – vs. Western Michigan – W
- Sept. 14 – vs. Arizona State – L
- Sept. 21 – at Northwestern – L
- Sept. 28 – vs. Indiana – W
- Oct. 5 – at Ohio State – L
- Oct. 12 – at Wisconsin – L
- Oct. 26 – vs. Penn State – L
- Nov. 9 – vs. Illinois – W
- Nov. 16 – at Michigan – L
- Nov. 23 – at Rutgers – W
- Nov. 30 – at Maryland – W
Record: 6-6 (4-5 Big Ten)
The best-case scenario for Michigan State is based on Lewerke’s ability to bounce back and lead the Spartans’ offense as he did in 2017. The worst-case scenario is, well, built on the assumption that Lewerke doesn’t improve, the shuffling of assistants forces the offense to regress, and Michigan State can’t find a way to work around any of that.
It’s possible that the Spartans might be able to focus in on a running game and use that as the foundation for their offense, but it’s not like the results from 2018 should instill a lot of confidence in this plan working out either. Michigan State ran for just 124.8 yards per game last season.
And, with a struggling offense, there’s only so much that a team can rely upon any defense to win a game.
Games against Arizona State, Northwestern, and Penn State are all toss-ups that could be decided by whether or not Michigan State has any life offensively. And if the Spartans don’t, then it’ll be difficult for them to win these games, let alone games against teams like Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin.
If Dantonio’s experiment in shuffling his staff around doesn’t work, then a 6-6 season is what MSU fans should expect.