Big Ten Preview Countdown: #9 Michigan State Spartans

MSU finally has a real coach in former Buckeye defensive guru Mark Dantonio, and they have some talented players on both sides of the ball. But a brutal schedule and lack of star power will be their undoing in 2007. Mark Dantonio comes over from Cincinnati with a reputation for being a tough-minded, discipline-preaching coach. In other words, he's the exact opposite of John L. Smith, and he's exactly what the Spartans need to play competitive football in the Big Ten again.

MSU would often get off to fast starts in recent years only to crumble once the Big Ten season heated up and fall out of bowl contention most years.

Optimism is fairly high this season because of the Dantonio hire, and while MSU had the perception of being a talented but braindead team in the past few years, the graduation of QB Drew Stanton and WR Matt Trannon have left them without enough weapons to make a move to the top part of a competitive Big Ten conference, at least for 2007.

The offense returns starting RB Javon Ringer, who's fast and elusive, albeit injury-prone, as well as goal-line bruiser Jehuu Caulcrick, forming a nice one-two punch in the backfield. MSU will probably try and establish the run game and be balanced on offense, but the offensive line is merely average so that will be rough going on quite a few Saturdays.

MSU will try and use a fullback more often to generate rushing yards but they don't have anyone proven at that spot right now.

Brian Hoyer was Stanton's backup the last two years and played pretty solidly overall, having completed a shade under 60 percent of his passes for 1,030 yards in 11 games in his career. He is pretty smooth in the pocket, deceptively athletic, and a good decision-maker, and he should be able to keep the offense out of trouble and moving nicely in 2007.