2019 Michigan State Spartans College Football Odds and Expert Betting Picks

2018 Record: 7-6

2019 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 8.0

2019 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Over'

Ohio State is the toughest kid on the Big Ten block. Michigan is a wounded animal ready to strike. Penn State is the dark cloud lingering over the division. And then there is Michigan State.

The Spartans won the Big Ten championship in 2015. Since then they have vacillated between very good and very bad. They got humiliated in the 2015 playoff against Alabama and then threw up on themselves in a 3-9 season in 2016. They rebounded with 10 wins (including two wins over Top 10 squads) in 2017 before slogging through a perfectly mediocre 7-6 season last year.

So where does that leave the Spartans heading into 2019? That's the million dollar question for anyone trying to handicap the Big Ten East this year.

Last year's Spartans had a National Championship-caliber defense. They finished in the Top 10 in scoring defense, rushing defense and total defense. However, the Spartans offense was absolutely pathetic. They averaged just 18.7 points per game (No. 126), and they were No. 117 in total offense. The Spartans scored a touchdown or less in four of their final seven games, and they averaged just eight points in their final four games, including a 7-6 loss in their bowl game against Oregon.

The key components of last year's offense are back. It starts with senior Brian Lewerke. He was outstanding as a sophomore but then awful for most of last season. The team's two leading rushers and top three receivers are all back, as are all five starters along the offensive line. This also puts a lot of pressure on new offensive coordinator Brad Salem, who was the quarterback coach here the past six seasons.

The defense could be even better this season. They have eight starters back, including a defensive line comprised of two three-year starters and a four-year starter in Raequan Williams. The secondary is experienced and decorated, and the ringleader is fourth team All-American Joe Bachie.

This is one of the most experienced rosters in the country. Michigan State has 13 three-year starters - all of whom were on the 10-3 team in 2017 - and they have 11 senior starters. All told, they have 17 returning starters this year after having 19 last year.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, while the talent and experience are there, the schedule is not.

All three of Michigan State's nonconference games are at home. None of them are pushovers. Then they open league play with three of their first four Big Ten games on the road. That includes trips to Ohio State and Wisconsin in back-to-back weeks. The Spartans have to play seven straight weeks to open the year.

They also have a road game at Michigan in November. That means that the Spartans have to play their three toughest games on the road.

Regardless of the difficult schedule, I have Michigan State as a major factor in the East. They have six games that I think they have a chance to lose. They would need to lose nearly all of them in order to come up short of this number. I don't see that happening. I think they will beat Arizona State and Penn State. And I can see them winning one of their three marquee road games.

Give me the 'over'. And I feel like this one is low-risk because if it misses it will likely only miss as a 'push'.

Robert Ferringo has been the top football handicapper in the country the past nine years, earning nearly $40,000 in total football profit (average profit: +$4,400). He has also posted 7 of 9 winning seasons (including three straight winning years) and produced an amazing 50 of 76 winning football months over the past 12 years. Robert has eight of 10 winning NFL preseasons and he is at nearly 60 percent winners over his last 1,000 totals picks. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System has posted three of five winning seasons. Robert is looking for a fourth straight winning football year and wants more profit this fall. SIGN UP HERE TODAY AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR 3-FOR-1 FOOTBALL SPECIALS!

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