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Newsstand: Michigan a two-touchdown favorite over Michigan State

Anthony Broomeby: Anthony Broome9 hours agoanthonytbroome
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The Michigan Wolverines are sitting at 5-2 (3-1 Big Ten) heading into their final game of October, this time a rivalry showdown with the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing on Saturday night. Vegas has U-M with the upper hand in the meeting of in-state foes.

According to the odds at BetMGM Sportsbook, Michigan is a 14-point favorite over MSU with the over/under for total points scored set at 48.5. So far, 66% of the spread bets have come in on the Wolverines, with 64% on the side of the over 48.5.

Michigan’s wins this season have come against New Mexico, Central Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Washington, while its losses were both on the road at Oklahoma and USC. The Spartans, who sit at 3-4 on the year, are riding a four-game losing streak after starting the year 3-0 with wins over Western Michigan, Boston College and Youngstown State. Its losses have come at USC, at Nebraska, at home against UCLA and last weekend at Indiana.

Despite the rough month of play, Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith thinks his team will get up for its game with Michigan.

“100 percent, 100 percent,” Smith said. “Listening to that locker room, the opportunity in front of us. Yeah, we’ve taken some body blows the last few weeks out and all of that. 100 percent confident in this group being galvanized, ready to go next week.”

Saturday night’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on NBC from Spartan Stadium. It will be the fourth-straight night game in the series, and U-M is looking for its fourth-straight win over its in-state rival.

Tweets of the day

Michigan quote of the day

“Tunnel screens, better route trees, sequencing … even when plays didn’t work, they were there to be made, and that’s with an average line and backup tight ends, a second-string running back.  The Wolverines should have had more points on the board — they need to get better in short yardage situations, especially, but we’ve lamented in the past how they never seemed to have “wide open receivers like you see from other offenses,” etc. The Zack Marshall touchdown was a thing of beauty — ditto Michigan receiver Andrew Marsh’s — and it’s unpredictable and keeps defenses guessing. RPO usage, too, stresses defenses, and we expect to see more.  The next step … being able to execute it against better teams. Part of that’s going to come when they have better personnel, especially up front, but we like the plan, especially with a true freshman quarterback.”

– The Wolverine’s Chris Balas on the offensive play calling under Chip Lindsey

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