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Indiana's schedule is ridiculously front-loaded.  In their first six conference games they are going to play, according to our Power Rankings, the top five teams.  Then in their last three they play the two worst teams.  

Can Indiana go bowling?  They currently have three wins and three "good" losses.  They need three more wins.  They should beat Illinois and Rutgers and that would get them to five.  They probably should make it by winning at Maryland but nothing is guaranteed.  A win here would help a lot.  

Can MSU go to Indy?  They are undefeated in the league and have a good win over Michigan but the question is whether or not they can keep up with the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions.  The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers by 28 on the road and the Nittany Lions beat them by 31 at home.  If MSU wins by around 30 points in Bloomington this weekend then it looks like the Spartans are every bit as good as the other two contenders.  If not, well, we'll have to see.  

After three night games and a bye week over the past five weeks, just having a Saturday afternoon Michigan State game feels like an anomaly.  What isn't an anomaly is Indiana facing a ranked opponent, their 4th in 4 games.  Throw in their non-conference game against a suddenly impressive 5-1 Virginia team, and it's tough to argue Indiana hasn't had the toughest Big Ten slate.  The back half is easier, but still includes a visit from Wisconsin, so at some point the Hoosiers need to pull an upset, or their margin for error against Illinois, or trips to College Park, Champaign or West Lafayette if they want to get to a bowl.  Michigan State's defense is arguably playing as well as it has since 2013, but the back end still creates cause for concern, and in a rarity for this year, they are facing a team that can exploit it.  Bowling Green and Michigan have no quarterback; Western Michigan's quarterback didn't have the deep throw to stretch them; and Minnesota didn't figure out who their quarterback should be until it was too late.  Brandom Wimbush torched the Spartans, but they did hold Nathan Stanley in check, namely because their run defense was so dominant, they weren't forced to overcommit their linebackers.  But they clearly have not faced a receiver as good as Simmie Cobbs.  Cobbs put on an absolute show in the opener against Ohio State, but has been uneven since then while going through the ups and downs with freshman quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who clearly became THE guy last week against Michigan.  Ramsey got absolutely battered in that game, but still hung around, and brought the Hoosiers back from a late 10 point defecit to force overtime.  What we are slowly seeing out of Ramsey is a development in his ability to read his progressions.  Michigan overcommitted on Cobbs, so instead he found Luke Timian 7 times for 95 yards and Mike Majette 5 times for 49 yards, both career highs.  The Spartans, after struggling all year to get sufficient run blocking may have figured something out last weekend, running toss sweep after toss sweep as L.J. Scott piled up a career high 194 rushing and 220 offensive yards.  Was that something the Spartans figured they can do well, or was it a major defensive deficiency for Minnesota?  With film on it now, we may figure that out quickly.  Brian Lewerke is just happy to see that the weather forecast Saturday in East Lansing is 70 and sunny.  He was completing 63% of his passes, averaging 241 yards per game, and totaling 8 touchdowns to 2 interceptions through 4 games.  In a pair of rain soaked games the past 2 weeks, he had 107 ypg on 50% completions with a touchdown (on a screen pass) and a pick.  Probably could have had a couple more picks against Minnesota if not for defenders struggling to catch a wet ball.  Michigan State needs him to prove that the last two weeks were a product of the weather, and have him pick up where he left off in September, because this is the best offense they've faced since Notre Dame.
MICHIGAN STATE 28, INDIANA 17

Trishton Jackson has been cleared to play this week after missing the Minnesota game.  Second straight week a starting skill position player was injured and missed the game after hearing literally nothing about it all week, after Scott was too hurt to play against Michigan the week before.

LJ Scott arrested for a 7th time for driving with a suspended license, which shows both a high level of stupidity, and a worrysome lack of driving ability to be pulled over that many times.

What the hell, how dumb can you be?
February 2016: Driving with a suspended license in EL
March 2016: Speeding in Ashland, OH
April 2016: At fault accident in Cleveland, OH
July 2016: Open container in car in EL, passed DUI test though
March 2017: Driving with suspended license in EL
July 2017: Driving with a suspended license in Hubbard, OH
October 2017: ?

Yeah, like I said two different issues.

One, what a horrible driver he has to be to have been pulled over 7 times in 19 months.

Two, how stupid to keep driving anyway with so much on the line.

I thought Indiana was going to get someone, but it's looking less and less likely. 

MLive article says he got a temporary permit in August (how?), which was suspended 10 days later for failing to pay a previous traffic ticket.