We are still 24 hours (or so) until the Ohio State versus Michigan State game is supposed to kick and we cleared this hurdle last week before the Illinois game was canceled, so we are not going to take anything for granted here.
It certainly would be odd if the only Michigan team that Ohio State had the chance to play this season was Michigan State. But if we are being honest with ourselves, the Spartans have two more wins against the Buckeyes since the last time that the Wolverines took down Ohio State (both teams beat Ohio State in the 6-7 2011 season).
The Buckeyes are still a big favorite in this game but we don't know for sure who will and will not play as we do know that Ryan Day will not be on the sidelines for the Buckeyes as Larry Johnson will assume head coaching duties for this one.
As all Ohio State focus (from a fan's perspective) has been on just getting to the finish line this week to actually play this game and what might be in store next week and beyond, there has not been a whole lot of talk about the Spartans who await them on Saturday afternoon (12:00pm EST - ABC).
We have touched upon a few things as the week has gone on but let's head behind enemy lines with Paul Konyndyk of SpartanMag.com to get some more intel on Ohio State's next opponent.
BuckeyeGrove: Which Michigan State team is a closer representation of this squad, the team that beat Northwestern and Michigan or the other team?
Paul Konyndyk: With the performances against Northwestern and Michigan, I think we are seeing what this team could have been if Mel Tucker and his staff had had an opportunity to install their system during spring football.
Learning a new offense and new defense with completely different terminology is hard enough with traditional spring installation. But trying to overhaul the program virtually and repping it for the first time in pads during the restart, creates a lot of issues during a year when there was a considerable amount of roster turnover.
What you’re seeing now is a team that is just starting to develop some muscle memory within the schemes they are playing. If Michigan State can avoid self-inflicted wounds – turnovers, drive-killing penalties, bad run fits on defense – I think you’ll see the team that beat Michigan and Northwestern.
It doesn’t take much, however, for that other Michigan State to rear its ugly head. We’ll know pretty quickly on Saturday, which Spartan team came to play.
