#8 Michigan State Spartans

I’d like to have a moment of silence to mark the firing of John L Smith. We will all miss him on the side line in East Lansing. We will miss his kookiness, his explosions, his self flagellation, his freaky answers during the post game news conferences, his second half of the season implosions and most of all his ability to saw defeat from the jaws of victory.

First year coach Mark Dantonio (via Cincinnati and Ohio State) will not be the exciting court jester that that Smith was and his teams won’t suffer from year end collapses. However, I don’t think there is all that much to work with talent wise as the new coach will be breaking in a lot of new players.

Projection: 5-7 (3-5)

Worst Case: 3-9 (1-7)
The curse of JLS causes losses to Indiana and Penn State for a nice 0-6 2nd half after a tempting 3-3 start.

Best Case: 8-4 (4-4)
Mark makes an immediate impression on the young team and Spartan fans get to go bowling.