Purdue At Michigan State 2013: H&R Staff Predictions

The Only Colors already has their predictions out, and they are, predictably, very Spartan-friendly. The staff of Hammer & Rails is in agreement:

Juan Crespo: That one guy who used to write about that one sport where they hit a ball around and try to get it over the net to the other team.

Part of me is wondering, why the hell am I going to this game? Purdue sucks, they'll be lucky to score, and it might even rain during the game.

Then I realized that it is mostly to reunite with some of my Purdue friends, as a good friend and classmate, who is now a grad student at MSU, got us a great deal on tickets. I get to see the Purdue band for the first time this year, and I can add Spartan Stadium to my very short list of stadium's visited. So there are some positives. And I have an excuse to drink (as if grad school hasn't given me enough reasons...), and no one really wants to watch Purdue football sober.

Will MSU score more than 26 points? Probably, but it won't be excessive like our opponents outside of the state of Indiana. Will Purdue score at all outside of garbage time? I doubt it, as Purdue decided to fix Nebraska's okay defense last week. Maybe they can move the ball far enough down the field to let Griggs make a field goal. Other than that, it's going to be ugly.

I just hope they don't wear white pants anymore. They probably weren't able to get the shit stains out of them from the NIU game.

Michigan State 30, Purdue 3

Rachel Van Gessel:

This game is going to be ugly. That’s the only way I see it going. Michigan State stops good offenses and our offense is definitely not good. Danny Etling will play better than last week but it won’t be enough against the Spartans. Our run game will continue to put up pathetic numbers. Michigan State is way too good to give up a lot of rushing yards to us. Our O-line will need to have a big game if this game is even going to be respectable.

Our only hope is that Michigan State does not have a high powered offense. They’re still finding their identity, although last weekend against Indiana things began to click on offense with Connor Cook. If our defense can start strong and set the tone it will make the game easier to watch. It certainly won’t hurt if our defense puts some points on the board. No matter how well our defense plays Michigan State’s D is going to control the game…

Purdue 6 Michigan State 38

Paul Branham, Pilot, Boilermaker Special VII

I'll be at the game with the Boilermaker Special this week supporting the team, but even an unhealthy amount of optimism isn't enough to convince me that this doesn't have the potential to be one of the worst losses in program history. Michigan State's #1 defense is going to devour our bottom-feeding offense like a pigeon stuck with a ring of bread stuck around its neck (http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll105/David_A_Burgess/screwed-pigeon-bread-helpless-fail-owned-demotivational-poster-1246373711.jpg).

I normally hate fact that I only get to see half of the game when I travel with the Special since we split up our personnel to keep an eye on the mascot during the entire game, but that may be a blessing in disguise this time. On the bright side, Purdue's All-American Marching Band will be there too, so I'm calling it a win for Purdue on the weekend, if you break it down to individual battles between football teams, bands, and mascots. Let your imagination run wild with which two battles Purdue wins.
Purdue 2, Michigan State 1

T-Mill:

If Ricardo Allen is going to get his fifth career interception returned for a touchdown it will be in this game. I say that because all four of them have come against a school beginning with the letter M (Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Marshall). MSU is the only "M" school we play this season. The Spartans have also given him one before.

Unfortunately, I fear he is going to need a lot of pick-sixes to keep this one close. I like that Greg Hudson is changing up the defense and it should be effective in the long run, but we do not have any kind of an offense that can move against an MSU defense like this. Their offense can bide time to figure things out if they struggle. Our offense barely gets out of its own way. Shilique Calhoun has as many touchdowns this season as Purdue has rushing TDs as a team, and Calhoun is a defensive end.

We're in for a very long day in East Lansing. Michigan State 45, Purdue 0