Florida Atlantic returns eight starters on defense. It was great against the run last season. The offense was not good last year (106th in Offensive Success Rate), and lost two quarterbacks, top three rushers and top five receivers. It should struggle against a Big Ten defensive front. MSU's defense will be stout, as it brought back talented players and added quality veteran players via the transfer portal.

MSU is starting from scratch with new HC Jonathan Smith. He likes to run the football and hopes to establish that with Nate Carter/Kay'ron Lynch-Adams, but MSU returns only two o-linemen and doesn't have the experience up front you'd like to see from that unit. It also starts an 18-year-old at QB, Aidan Chiles, who played sparingly for Smith last season at Oregon State (35 passing attempts).

This projects to be a low-scoring, defensive game that could be close for two or three quarters. I like the under at 45 tonight.