Why Northwestern will/won’t beat Michigan State

Every Thursday during football season, we'll be presenting reasons why Northwestern will or won't come away from its Saturday game victorious. It's not so much an argument for or against either result as it is envisioning the scenarios in which the Wildcats come away from the game with a win or a loss.

This week, the Wildcats travel to East Lansing, Michigan to face off with 2-3 Michigan State. The Spartans—the defending Big Ten Champs and a team many thought would compete with Ohio State and Michigan for the crown this season—enter this matchup on the heels of their first three-game losing streak since 2009, most recently falling 31-14 to BYU. Though many fans fans pegged this game as a…