1. Michigan State’s handling of expectations

This is a real thing, and it’ll show up early. MSU has never been this favored, with this much to lose. For the first time, a blowout is the expectation. Blowouts don’t happen all at once, and they don’t happen at all for teams that are impatient.

MSU has to balance ferocity and calmness, and be itself. Itself is better than Michigan — on both sides of the ball. But if MSU’s defenders try to be heros, if Connor Cook tries to do too much, if the Spartans deviate from who they’ve been, they could find themselves in a tight ball game. - Read more at LSJ.com