Michigan Football: Behind enemy lines with a Michigan State expert

Is Kenneth Walker III a legit Heisman candidate or the beneficiary of soft competition?

I have a hard time saying that Kenneth Walker III is the beneficiary of soft competition because he made a preseason AP Top 25 Miami team look silly for 60 minutes. Plus, he only ran the ball seven times against Youngstown State and didn’t really do a ton against Western Kentucky, yardage-wise.

Sure, the soft competition helps, but when your offensive line is as inconsistent as Michigan State’s, you have to look at what he’s done and just respect it. He’s a legit Heisman candidate and if he had a better line, he might be the favorite. There’s a reason he leads the nation in yards after contact — he gets hit immediately a ton.

How do Spartan fans view Michigan’s season to date?

I think you’ll see a faction of Michigan State fans who hate giving Michigan football any credit so they’ll say the Wolverines haven’t played anyone, but the same can be said for the Spartans. But fair and logical Michigan State fans have been impressed with Michigan to this point.

They look like a completely different team than the one from a year ago and there’s a level of respect for what Jim Harbaugh has done this season.

What is your confidence level heading into the game?

You could probably ask me this before any game and my answer would be almost the exact same: I never feel good about any matchup.

I’m the kind of fan who likes to expect the worst so when it doesn’t happen, I’m elated. But if I had to put a realistic number on it out of 10, I’d say it’s about a 4-5. This is going to be a toss-up. Michigan is good. Like really good.

Michigan’s offensive line and run game scare me. Their defensive line is going to eat against the Spartans, and safety Dax Hill is elite.

Michigan scares me so I’m not super confident, but I’m also expecting a great game.