It's Penn State-Michigan State week: Game time, spread, channel, storylines, and more

Penn State goes on the road for the penultimate time this season when it travels to Michigan State on Saturday. The Spartans are coming off a bye week. They are 3-6 like the Lions, and one team will end a six-game losing streak in East Lansing. Interim head coach Terry Smith’s team, meanwhile, is coming off a 27-24 loss to Indiana.

Our early preview gets you ready to start game week below.

Time and TV info

Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET. CBS will televise the game.

What is the Penn State-Indiana point spread?

Penn State opened as a 7-point at BetMGM. The betting total over/under is 50.5 points.

Game week schedule for the Lions

Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith will kick off game week with a news conference at Noon ET on Monday. You’ll be able to watch it on the Blue-White Illustrated YouTube channel by 12:45 if you click here.

Tuesday will feature player interviews with reporters via Zoom. Wednesday will likely feature some, as well, before a practice viewing availability for the media, followed by Smith and some players speaking in the evening. Thursday features an assistant coach media call and the weekly coaches radio show. Then, the talking is done until after the game.

As for Michigan State, head coach Jonathan Smith will meet the media on Monday afternoon.

What’s up with the Hoosiers?

Michigan State is struggling mightily. The Spartans lost their last game in overtime, 23-20, to Minnesota. Before that, they had lost five straight contests by double digits. Alessio Milivojevic replaced Aiden Chillies under center against the Golden Gophers. It’s unclear who will start against the Nittany Lions.

“It started on Sunday, all the way back to the start of this week, and verbalized to both of them that we’re gonna (split) 50-50 reps (in practice), let them work,” Smith told reporters about the change two weeks ago. “But the last three weeks offensively, we felt like we needed to look at a spark, changing things up, and some of that was splitting the reps throughout the week. End of the day, both of them had good weeks of practice. End of the day was, look at what we had done the last three weeks, we had been playing two quarterbacks anyways trying to find a spark for the offense. That really separated him on our decision.”

Here’s where Michigan State ranks in various statistical categories:

Scoring offense: No. 82 (25.6 points per game)

Rushing/passing offense: Nos. 106 and 79

Scoring defense: No. 116 (31.4 points per game)

Rushing/passing defense: Nos. 63 and 78

Weather report

Per Weather.com, a typical November day is on tap. The forecast is as follows: “Mainly cloudy. High around 50F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.”

Early Penn State-Michigan State storylines

–These are two struggling teams that are set to meet. Both are winless in the Big Ten and amid long losing streaks. Which side will have more resolve at Spartan Stadium?

–What changes will Michigan State make coming out of the bye week with two weeks to prepare for Penn State?

–Will Chaz Coleman be back in action for the Lions? The defensive end was out against Indiana.

–What’s your top storyline to start the week? Tell us inside The Lions Den forum!