Spring opponent review: Michigan State

With spring practices now wrapped up around the country, HuskerOnline.com will take a look at where each of Nebraska’s 12 opponents in 2018 currently stands coming out of spring ball and heading into the summer.

We continue today by taking a look at Nebraska’s final home game of the year vs. Michigan State, which comes to Lincoln on Nov. 17.

The Spartans are coming off a 10-3 campaign and Holiday Bowl victory in 2017, but they’ll be looking for even more with a reloaded roster in their 12th season under head coach Mark Dantonio.

We caught up with SpartanMag.com publisher Jim Comparoni to learn more about what the Huskers can expect in their latest meeting with MSU this fall…

After a strong finish to 2017, Michigan State returns 19 starters this season and looks poised to make another run in the Big Ten East Division.

Along the way, all eyes will be on quarterback Brian Lewerke, who took over as the starter last year and threw for nearly 2,800 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore.

The Holiday Bowl MVP will have plenty to work with around him, as the Spartans return running back L.J. Scott and only lose one starter on the offensive line.

Wide receiver depth might be a bit of a concern after losing two players to transfer, but MSU feels good about the talent coming up the ranks in Felton Davis, Cody White, and Darrell Stewart.

MSU returns almost everyone on defense but did suffer a major loss when co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Harlon Barnett took the full-time DC job at Florida State.

Mike Tressel, who was the other co-coordinator with Barnett the past three seasons, will take the reigns of Michigan State’s defense in 2018.

Lewerke will run the show for Michigan State’s offense, but Scott might be the next most important piece entering the season.

The senior has led MSU in rushing the past three years, but he has yet to put together a 1,000-yard campaign. He and sophomore Connor Hayward will handle the bulk of the running game duties.

The Spartans do bring back four starters from an offensive line that got progressively better in 2017, but it has a big void to fill in the middle at center following the departure of three-time All-Big Ten selection Brian Allen.

The defensive line will be anchored by potential all-league tackle Mike Panasiuk, while end Kenny Willekes is back after posting a team-high seven sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss last season.

A loaded linebacking corps and secondary should make Michigan State once again one of the premier defenses in the conference.

It took some time for Lewerke to find his groove last year, but once he got going, there weren’t many quarterbacks better in the Big Ten.

After setting a school-record with 445 passing yards vs. Northwestern, Lewerke came back and tossed for 400 yards the following week vs. Penn State.

Those outings made him just the third Big Ten player ever to post back-to-back 400-yard games, joining only Purdue’s Drew Brees and Northwestern’s C.J. Backer. They also marked the top two single-game passing totals in MSU history.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior also runs a 4.6 40-yard dash, giving him a “throwback dual-threat” element, as Comparoni put it.

Expectations are soaring for Lewerke in East Lansing, as Comparoni said his play as a sophomore was better than where either Kirk Cousins or Connor Cook were at that point in their careers.

Panasiuk might not put up the stats as some of the other elite defensive tackles around the league, but a closer look at the film shows he could be as valuable as anyone at the position.

At 6-4, 296, Panasiuk can play either the nose or the three-technique and commands double teams on nearly every snap.

Not only does he take up two blockers, he eats up the middle of the line to help make MSU one of the best run defenses in the country.

He ended up with 25 tackles and 2.5 TFLs last season, but he ranked third on the team’s “production points” with 121 on the year. If he can make a few more plays in the backfield this year he could be in line for much more conference recognition.

Michigan State lost just one player from its offensive line this offseason, but that one departure was a good one in Brian Allen, who was a fourth-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams.

Coincidentally, the likely replacement this season is Allen’s younger brother, Matt Allen, marking the third straight Allen brother to play center for the Spartans.

There’s not much concern of whether Matt Allen will be capable at the position, but he does fill some big shoes at a position that is the most difficult to master on the o-line.

The Spartans travel to Arizona State in Week 2 and then to Indiana the next week for their Big Ten opener, leaving little time for the youngest Allen to acclimate.

Comparoni: “I said this on a local sports talk show the other day that the Nebraska game is a potential trap for Michigan State. Nebraska is going to want to plant a flag on somebody in Year One. They’re going to want to beat a so-called ‘power’ somewhere along the line. I’m not sure if Michigan State is a power, but a first-year coach could sell it that way.

"They play Nebraska late, it’s on the road, it’s the week after a big game against Ohio State - yeah, that could be a trap situation. I assume Nebraska is going to get better as the year goes along, and I’m not the only who thinks that. There are Michigan State fans on our message board that are concerned about that, because Michigan State has gone to Nebraska before and for whatever reason has not even played their B+ game.

"This could have the ingredients of being similar. The other thing is that will be Michigan State’s ninth straight week of football. It’s many months from now, but there are some trap dynamics there without even looking at Nebraska.”

Comparoni: “I’m looking at 9-3, 10-2. I think it’s going to be hard to win at Penn State, and it’s going to be hard to beat Ohio State, so there are two possible losses. You’ve got a home game against Michigan, a road game at Nebraska, and who knows what other kinds of obstacles might come around in there. It might be hard to run the table on all those others. So I think 9-3 or 10-2 is what I’m looking at.”