Ahead of the upcoming matchup, The State News’ football beat writer Alex Faber spoke with Sam Harrigan to get a preview of what Michigan State can expect Saturday afternoon.

Q: What have you seen from the players after Paul Chryst was fired?

A: "It was weird at the start. There were a ton of the big-name players — Graham Mertz, Braelon Allen, Nick Herbig just to name a few — all posted a lot of stuff on Twitter and Instagram, things like 'I hate to see this' things like that. They just didn’t seem real thrilled early in the week. I was on the field at Northwestern before the game on Saturday and got to see a lot of those guys run up to Jim Leonhard and give pretty big hugs and handshakes and just showing that pregame support. They were very clearly happy for him towards the end of the week. Leonhard has been kind of a career-long Wisconsin guy. I think the bad taste in their mouth early in the week about Paul Chryst being fired had less to do with Leonhard and more so to do with missing Chryst. It seems to be nothing but positive. It seems like those guys really trust him and support him. There were guys jumping all over him as the game went final Saturday just to show a little bit of happiness and pride in Leonhard being the head coach. I think they support him, they support their guy. Leonhard has been a fantastic DC for Wisconsin for a handful of years now, and I don’t think that’s lost (especially on the defense) that that’s their guys, the guy that recruited them. I think they definitely are still showing that support for him, even though maybe the initial reaction wasn’t as pleasant."

Q: Did you see anything different about the team under Leonhard in last week’s win over Northwestern?

A: "The offense was really different. It was a lot more pass-focused. Leonhard talked in his post-game on Saturday about the necessity of establishing the passing game. He said something that I never heard Chryst say, which was essentially admitting teams were going to stop the run and that they had to be willing to get off of that. That’s not really something Wisconsin has really done a lot ever, but especially more recently with the struggles of Graham Mertz. They came out throwing early and often. The first two plays of the game were passes, which is not something I can remember seeing in recent memory. They passed their way all the way down the field, all through the first quarter and the first half primarily. It was different and it was weird, but it worked. Hard to argue with the results. Mertz was great — which, again, rare in recent years. The identity was different, but Braelon Allen still got his. He still ran for (135) yards, so he still got his, but it definitely seemed to be more pass-first early in the game to set up those runs a little bit more later into the second quarter and the early second half.

Q: Graham Mertz has been shaky at best throughout his career, but he had 299 yards and five touchdowns against Northwestern. Have you seen a lot of progression from him this season?

A: "He was really kind of actively bad at the start of last year. Wisconsin had a really tough opening schedule — Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame just to name a few. They were terrible to start the year and Graham Mertz was a big reason they were terrible. Towards the end of the year, as that schedule started to lighten up a little bit, he started to look a little bit more comfortable and confident in his decision making. It seemed like that transitioned a little bit more early into this year, but they haven’t really had a semblance of a successful running game, at least early in the year, especially against Illinois and Washington State in their two losses. Any time that has happened throughout Graham Mertz career, he has not been able to overcome that. But for the most part, he has looked better. The decision making has been better, he’s been more willing to throw the ball more than two or three yards, especially without an experienced group of receivers. He lost Jake Ferguson, who was one of the best tight ends, best overall players Wisconsin has had in the 2000s. He lost him and Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor, his big receiving targets last year. It was going to be interesting to see how he started the year, but he’s been pretty good. I’m not going to say great, but he’s been better. Better decision making, less interceptions, less turnovers, hanging out in the pocket a little bit longer. Especially with an underwhelming offensive line (for Wisconsin standards), he’s been pretty good, and last week kind of showed that. That was the first breakout game where the stats backed up the better play."

Q: Are there any weapons on offense that MSU is going to have circled?

A: "Obviously, you would say Braelon Allen who’s been one of the best running backs in the country for two years, but that gets to be a little bit more interesting. Chez Mellusi was kind of the one-two punch in the backfield, but he’s now out for the year, got hurt late in the Northwestern game. So, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with the run game. Isaac Guerendo is going to step in there most likely as the RB2. He’s extremely fast, has a lot of big play potential. He broke an 85-yard touchdown last year against Eastern Michigan. Granted, that’s Eastern Michigan, but he broke a long one against them. In the passing game, Chimere Dike went for three touchdowns and a (185 yards) last week, he was awesome. Skyler Bell is another guy who’s a younger receiver who’s been really solid. I’m not going to say good or great, but he’s been solid and getting open a lot. He’s more of a smaller slot guy, who I think Mertz is starting to find a bit more comfort with. Outside of the big names of Braelon Allen and Chimere Dike, Skyler Bell is always seemingly a candidate for a bigger game, although he could also have one catch for seven yards and not show up at all. Chimere Dike is that big guy that MSU is going to have circled." 

Q: Wisconsin has always had good defenses, is that the same this year? If so, what’s the strength of the defense?

A: "It’s not the same. It’s not as good. The defense last year was unbelievable, arguably best in the nation. Hard to compete with Georgia, but right there with them. This year, it has not been the same. They haven’t been bad, but they really haven't been good. That really starts with the secondary, specifically the corners have been pretty below average. They got a couple of transfers, most notably a guy named Jay Shaw, but they just have not been good. The pass rush has not been as good as they would’ve liked either to help with that. To add onto that, Keeanu Benton, who’s a possible first or second rounder coming into the year, he was a little banged up late in the game last week against Northwestern. Not exactly sure what his playing role will be this week. It’s not been the same Wisconsin defense, there are definitely holes in it. There are definitely holes for a quarterback like Payton Thorne, who has some experience in the Big Ten, to take advantage of. The strengths of the Wisconsin defense, as it has been for a quite a while, is that linebacking room. Nick Herbig in the middle is as good as it gets in college football, as far as linebacking goes. Another big player is Kamo’i Latu, who transferred in from Utah. He’s a safety, he’s kind of the lone bright spot this year in that backend. He had two picks last week and has been pretty solid to start the year."

Q: Score prediction?

A: I’ll lock in a 17-13 Wisconsin win. I think ultimately, the offense for Wisconsin at the moment is a little bit better talent wise than the Michigan State defense.