Ahead of the upcoming matchup, The State News’ football beat writer Alex Faber spoke with Ethan Kilbreath of The Daily to get a preview of MSU’s trip to Seattle:

Q: Just a couple of games into the Kalen DeBoar era, how has the program changed from a year ago?

A: "It’s cliché to say the culture has changed, but that’s really what it is. That’s evidenced by the fact that last year, in the first game of the season, they lost to Montana. They came out, they were ranked 20 in the country, and they lost 13-7 at home to Montana. So from the start last year, you knew that things were just not going to pan out very well. So this year, they haven’t played anyone great (until Michigan State), but they took care of business against Kent State and Portland State -- two teams that you need to beat. That’s what they did. It’s definitely a lot more exciting to have a fresh coaching staff -- every single coach is different, except for the offensive line coach from last season. Everyone is really glad to just sort of have a fresh start. They like Kalen DeBoer, everyone likes his personality, the players are bought-in. We’ll see how it pans out, but as of right now, people are just glad that last year is way, way in the rearview mirror."

Q: I want to talk about a guy who’s kind of familiar in Big Ten country: Michael Penix Jr. What have you seen from him in those two starts?

A: "I know he’s played Michigan State twice, went 1-1 in those games, so it’ll be interesting to see how does in his rubber match against them. He did pretty much all he needed to do in the first two games, again, Kent State and Portland State are obviously not amazing opponents, but when you look at last year, and you look at the quarterback play against Montana, three interceptions were thrown. So, he has looked really great. He had a play against Portland State where he rolled out to his left and then threw it on the run, throwing a dot down the sideline. His arm strength has been really good. He knows the Kalen DeBoer system pretty well, because DeBoer was the offensive coordinator at Indiana in 2019. Penix has been exciting -- he’s a fifth-year junior, so he has that experience. He has experience playing tough teams like he did in the Big Ten. Really, when you look at what Penix has done, it was never that he wasn’t good, it was that injuries were kind of derailing his career, so we’re hoping that if he can stay healthy he can put together a really good season." 

Q: Outside of Penix, on offense, are there any other players that Michigan State’s defense is going to be honing in on?

A: "Really, with U-Dubs offense, it’s the wide receivers that, from the start of the offseason, have been the group that people have been the most excited about. You have Jalen McMillan, who’s a former four-star, and now he’s one of the top receivers at U-Dub. He had an 84-yard touchdown catch last week, so he’s a really shifty, fast receiver that plays with a lot of swag. You have Rome Odunze, who’s kind of their other top wide receiver. He did not play against Portland State, but he will be back against Michigan State. So those two are kind of their most established wide receivers that carried over from last year. People were worried they were going to hit the transfer portal, they came back, and so people really like the playmaking wide receivers. Giles Jackson, he was at Michigan a few years ago, and now he’s at U-dub. He’s having a pretty good season. He’s a kick-return specialist, he’s really fast. So, with wide receivers, they like to get a lot of guys involved. There’s six or seven guys that they say can get into the game. You have Taj Davis, you have a couple other guys. I won’t go into every wide receiver, but really Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze are the two that are the top two receivers, and then Giles Jackson has been having a solid start to his season with his big play ability. In terms of running backs, it’s a little bit less clear. It’s sort of a running back by committee. They really have guys that spread out their touches, and their top two running backs so far have been transfers. Wayne Taulapapa who transferred from Virginia and Will Nixon who transferred from Nebraska. So, with running backs, there’s a little bit more uncertainty than the wide receivers. The playmakers that are more established come from the wide receiver room". 

Q: What’s the strength of this DeBoer defense?

A: "It comes from the defensive line, specifically the edge rushers. You have Zion Tupuola-Fetui, nicknamed ZTF, there on the edge. In 2020, he had seven sacks with just three games that he played in. He was hurt in 2021, but healthy in 2022, people think that ZTF is arguably the most talented player on the roster out of anybody. Those edge rushers are good. Bralen Trice has 2.5 sacks so far this season, and Sav’ell Smalls is a homegrown kid who went to high school near Seattle. He was a five-star recruit and was kind of struggling to gain his footing the first couple years. So far he’s had a good start to this season, so Sav’ell Samlls is a guy that people really want to break out. So definitely the defensive line and specifically the d-ends are the strong point." 

Q: Do you have a score prediction for the game?

A: "We put out a game day newspaper where we put out a score prediction, and in there I said why not pick the Huskies. U-dub, 31-26."