Just my 2 cents as an Illinois fan and alum.
I would not recommend Illinois in this game by any stretch of the imagination. BUT I think the best move is a no-play.
McGee has shown both flashes of brilliance and also a propensity to make catastrophic mistakes in the few games he's gotten quality playing time over the past couple years. This is the first game where he's going out there knowing that he's the guy. That makes it a pretty big unknown.
Illinois has been embarrassed by 3 superior teams. The fact that they lost those games wasn't a surprise but how non-competitive they were was. But Michigan St. is certainly a step down in class from either OSU or PSU (and probably Missouri). Betting on mediocre-to-bad teams to cover on the road in the Big Ten is usually a losing proposition in the long run.
Finally, it's homecoming weekend in Champaign so the Illini will have probably their biggest crowd of the season behing them tomorrow.
Put it all together and there are just too many variables for me to think that MSU is a solid play. I won't be surprised in the least if Illinois comes out and gets steamrolled, but I also won't be surprised if they gear up and are competitive the whole way.
Anyway, it's a no play for me but BOL to you.
Michigan State is a "step down" from OSU & Penn State. You better chech your facts . Michigan state isn't a lock but look at these numbers and you tell me if MS is a step down for the crying ILLIN. oh more more thing big ten suks
TOTAL OFFENSE G Rush Pass Plays Yards Avg/P TD Yds/G
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1. Michigan State...... 5 668 1503 342 2171 6.3 19 434.2
2. Wisconsin........... 5 1086 1080 349 2166 6.2 22 433.2
3. Purdue.............. 5 768 1291 330 2059 6.2 20 411.8
4. Penn State.......... 5 847 1165 335 2012 6.0 18 402.4
5. Northwestern........ 5 609 1369 383 1978 5.2 18 395.6
6. Michigan............ 5 989 951 339 1940 5.7 21 388.0
7. Ohio State.......... 5 936 910 330 1846 5.6 16 369.2
8. Indiana............. 5 655 1166 337 1821 5.4 13 364.2
9. Iowa................ 5 698 1113 334 1811 5.4 14 362.2
10.Illinois............ 4 706 730 270 1436 5.3 9 359.0
11.Minnesota........... 5 480 1157 308 1637 5.3 13 327.4
TOTAL DEFENSE G Rush Pass Plys Yards Avg TD Yds/G
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1. Ohio State.......... 5 417 846 310 1263 4.1 8 252.6
2. Penn State.......... 5 432 896 306 1328 4.3 5 265.6
3. Iowa................ 5 611 902 316 1513 4.8 5 302.6
4. Indiana............. 5 589 1098 330 1687 5.1 14 337.4
5. Michigan State...... 5 482 1220 342 1702 5.0 14 340.4
6. Northwestern........ 5 590 1133 310 1723 5.6 17 344.6
7. Wisconsin........... 5 640 1175 324 1815 5.6 14 363.0
8. Minnesota........... 5 873 1012 368 1885 5.1 15 377.0
9. Michigan............ 5 765 1195 358 1960 5.5 13 392.0
10.Purdue.............. 5 797 1200 403 1997 5.0 16 399.4
11.Illinois............ 4 735 936 268 1671 6.2 14 417.8
PASS OFFENSE G Att Cmp Int Pct. Yds Avg TD Yds/G
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1. Michigan State...... 5 176 105 6 59.7 1503 8.5 13 300.6
2. Northwestern........ 5 181 126 4 69.6 1369 7.6 7 273.8
3. Purdue.............. 5 170 104 7 61.2 1291 7.6 11 258.2
4. Indiana............. 5 168 106 6 63.1 1166 6.9 5 233.2
5. Penn State.......... 5 161 98 6 60.9 1165 7.2 9 233.0
6. Minnesota........... 5 161 92 6 57.1 1157 7.2 7 231.4
7. Iowa................ 5 156 91 7 58.3 1113 7.1 8 222.6
8. Wisconsin........... 5 131 86 3 65.6 1080 8.2 9 216.0
9. Michigan............ 5 134 75 6 56.0 951 7.1 9 190.2
10.Illinois............ 4 120 70 6 58.3 730 6.1 2 182.5
11.Ohio State.......... 5 124 71 5 57.3 910 7.3 8 182.0
FIRST DOWNS G Rush Pass Pen Total
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1. Michigan State...... 5 39 68 9 116
2. Northwestern........ 5 36 70 9 115
3. Penn State.......... 5 48 55 6 109
4. Wisconsin........... 5 46 54 5 105
5. Ohio State.......... 5 56 36 8 100
6. Iowa................ 5 43 48 6 97
7. Michigan............ 5 51 40 5 96
8. Purdue.............. 5 31 61 3 95
9. Indiana............. 5 28 60 4 92
10.Minnesota........... 5 26 53 2 81
11.Illinois............ 4 36 33 7 76