The Michigan State Spartans and Jacksonville State kick off their 2014 NCAA college football season on Friday night and the game is live on the Big Ten Network starting at 7:30 pm ET as MSU tries to make a run at the playoffs and they come in ranked in the top 10 to start the season and the matchup on the BTN is live from Spartan Stadium as Connor Cook tries to lead his team to a win.
Michigan State was one of the best teams in the nation last season and they return the highly ranked defense they have and they come in after winning the conference title over Ohio State. The team was able to beat OSU at Lucas Oil Stadium in one of the best games of the season and now the Spartans have the chance to do it again. The team is returning its top two players in Connor Cook and Jeremy Langford and those two will be relied upon to keep things going for MSU this season.
Last season the team went 13-1 and they were 8-0 in the Big Ten and the team also was 5-0 in their division and an impressive 3-1 against top ranked teams. Cook comes back after leading the team with nearly 2500 passing yards and he also had 20 touchdowns on the season. Langford was also impressive and he had over 1300 yards with 17 touchdowns to be one of the leaders in the conference.
The team has a tough schedule this season and they have a target on their backs and that makes MSU one of the most interesting teams to watch. The team actually has manageable first half schedule, but it includes a massive game next week against Oregon and that will be in Eugene and should be one of the top matchups of the season. It's very hard to play at Autzen Stadium and after that the team has tough games ahead, including a home game against Nebraska and two road games with Purdue and Indiana.
Those games come ahead of the real toughies, as they play against Michigan and then against Ohio State in consecutive weeks. Luckily for the team both of those are at home and then the team finishes with two of three on the road, playing at Maryland, home against new conference team Rutgers and then on the road against Penn State to end the season.
Michigan State plays in a very tough conference, but they open with an easy game before the tough matchup with the Ducks and that could be one of the best of the year. The team has experience coming back with Cook and Langford and that should give MSU some advantages over the teams in their conference, including OSU after they lost Braxton Miller to injury and also to the Wolverines, who are unranked to start the season.
Check here for the Michigan State Spartans and Jacksonville State college football live coverage.