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2018 Preseason Michigan State Spartans Rankings

Main Poll Voters

User	Rank	Reason
52hoova	4	(DISCLAIMER: Probably going to be higher than most people on Michigan State, I am aware of that) They went 10-3 last season, finishing ranked #15, and they return 92% of last year's production, more than any other team in the country. Mark Dantonio has proven his coaching ability, finishing with 10+ wins 6 of the past 8 seasons. 
brobroma	6
Helifino	6
itsabearcannon	6	With Ohio State possibly out of the picture in the near future and MSU playing UM and OSU at home, I think they legitimately have a shot at a B10 title, assuming they can get past Wisconsin.
BallSoHerd	7
DarkLegend64	7
hokies220	7	Fully buying the Spartans this year
I_am_bot_beep_boop	7
monkeymatt1836	7
RiffRamBahZoo	7
BlueFalcon89	8
boxman151515	8	Yet again, I think Mark Dantonio's Spartans are being overlooked. Do people not realize this was a 10-win team last year that returns pretty much everybody? Lewerke will prove to be one of the best QBs in the country, and they're solid-to-great across most position groups. They're a dark-horse Big Ten/playoff contender.
ChickenTaco	8
dicky_________seamus	8
Extra_Excrement	8	They return everyone. I think it's actually 19 total returners this season? I was tempted to place MSU above OSU simply because of returning experience and Dantonio is a fine coach himself. I'm kind of feeling a flashback to the 2015 season when OSU was hyped up to be THE Big Ten team to beat and although everyone understood MSU would be good there was still a level of disrespek. MSU gets OSU at home this year and if Dantonio does his rain dance I expect a low scoring affair where MSU would be favored.
Harmbert_	8
mickeyquicknumbers	8	Michigan State's "rebuilding" year last year ended with them having a borderline top-5 defense in the nation, which returns the vast majority of its starters and 2-deep. They lost Harlon Barnett at DC, but Dantonio will not let this team's defense fall off from the loss of a DC as Narduzzi's departure showed. Lewerke's emergence and and OL maturing this year = a step forward for the offense as I think MSU moves from being just outside of the top-10 to just inside of it.
Plneapple	8
PureCFR	8
Wurst_Law	8
ya111101	8
CertifiedSheep	9
dabul-master	9
Feral_Squirrel	9
Hey_Its_Roomie	9
JeromesNiece	9	Sparty returns a scary amount of talent, avoids Wisconsin in the regular season and hosts Michigan and Ohio State. They should probably be the favorites to come out of this stacked Big Ten East.
nemoran	9
puffadda	9
SSJRoshi	9
teddythe3rd	9
TheReformedBadger	9
alextoyalex	10
Blooblod	10	After a 3-9 season in 2016 it was easy to write off the Spartans and say that their incredible run was coming to an end. But then Mike Dantonio engineered one of the most impressive turnarounds in recent memory to get the Spartans back to double digit wins; and they return most of last year's team too. Brian Lewerke will look to build on a promising first year as a starter and a spectacular WR trio should help him do that. The o-line loses Brian Allen, but the other four starters all return. What's crazy is that MSU will have ANOTHER Allen starting at center this year in Matt Allen. That makes SEVEN STRAIGHT YEARS of having an Allen brother start at center. The defense should be one of the best in the country. Kenny Willekes was quietly dominant last year and the Spartans have a quartet of dangerous DTs on the interior of the line. At LB, Joe Bachie is a Dude and Andrew Dowell is a guy. The third LB spot could be a concern, but one of the guys in the mix is Bullough Clone #457. In the secondary, David Dowell could have a breakout year (seriously, what the hell is with all the brothers in EL) and the CB duo of Josiah Scott (who unfortunately will miss time with injury) and Justin Layne should remind fans of another recent MSU CB duo. My Spartans record prediction: 10-2. I think the Spartans get the ever-important home win against the Wolverines, but had to roll with the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions in their other two tough East match-ups. 
BrutonGaster77	10
CockADoodleBOOM	10
deadtofall12	10
Dropbackandpunt	10
GenialGiant	10	Michigan State had some struggles last season, including a shellacking by Ohio State, but they went 10-3 and look poised for another good year.
halldaylong	10
jmac_21	10	Always solid, always well coached. Lots of guys back. What's not to love?
Johnnycockseed	10
nickknx865	10	1946
RatherBeYachting	10
RegulatorRWF	10
RobertNeyland	10
SCRx	10
SometimesY	10
stripes361	10	Composite: 37.2
T-nawtical	10
thegreendalegelf	10
TheJeemTeam	10	It was a tough decision to determine who would be ranked higher between MSU and Auburn and round out the Top 10. I ended up deferring to MSU due to having significantly more experience.
tmart12	10
ToLongDR	10
ucieaters33	10
was_saying_boo_urns	10
3RDnKING	11
AaronRodgers16	11
admiraltarkin	11
bgr308	11
BlueSCar	11
Branzilla91	11
bwburke94	11
CFSparta92	11
coreyfra	11
DEP61	11
flipadelphia17	11
Ghost_of_Dude	11
goblue10	11	they return practically everyone from a pretty good team.
HelioOne	11
Hobbes_121	11
kelling928	11
KingKliffsbury	11
mellolizard	11
Miami_da_U	11
Our-Gardian-Angel	11
PHubbs	11	Michigan State surprised everyone last year by following up their 3-9 season with a 10-3 campaign that saw victories over Penn State and Michigan. They now come into this year with the highest returning production in FBS at 92%. They have all of the potential for another 10+ win season, but with 3 top 15 teams in their division, they still have alot standing in their way.
plannedsickdays	11
Rakarei	11
retnuh101	11
ScarletFever333	11
seaotter2	11
T-Thugs	11	Should be pretty solid. coming off a season with 10 wins and some nice victories over teams like Michigan and Penn state. Keep them away from your puppies.
tdeff19	11
Texasagsman	11
THECrew42	11
TriStarBear	11
WarEagle9	11
xelphin	11	With a doozy of a schedule, and coming off of the recent scandals rocking the program, this is going to be interesting. They return an only slightly older team that is ready to prove they've grown.
A-Stu-Ute	12
BamaPride95	12
buttforaface	12
cajunaggie08	12
captain_sasquatch	12
Cassiyus	12
conchobor	12
DeceptiveSpeed	12
GoBlueScrewOSU7	12
Greflingorax	12
hascogrande	12
HUSKEROYAL	12	The Spartans recovered nicely from a disastrous 2016 season last year. They are stuck in the toughest division in college football, but they host both Michigan and Ohio State as well as avoiding Wisconsin from the West.
icklebush	12
JCiLee	12
jnoobs13	12
mjacksongt	12
Papalew32	12
Pikachu1989	12
scronko	12
TanzaniaMagic	12
TotalEconomist	12
Xtremeloco	12
BorisNumber1	13
BosskOnASegway	13
CambodianDrywall	13
chrisb19	13	State is coming off of two very uneven years for the very even Mark Dantonio. They return a lot of production from last year's ten-win team and should be able to hang around and make things interesting in the Big Ten East.
confirmd_am_engineer	13
FellKnight	13
G-manP	13
Hackasizlak	13
joebob431	13
justsaynotoreddit	13	0.830
Mario_Speedwagon	13
ndhuskerpower	13
polydorr	13
relax_on_the_mat	13
runujhkj	13
sasmith2015	13
SCsprinter13	13
tallg8tor	13
UNC_Samurai	13
vanburen1845	13
W_Is_For_Will	13
wesman212	13
woakley	13	They return pretty much all of a team that had a very successful campaign in 2017 that was capped with a bowl victory over WSU. Question mark for them is if they can maintain a high level of play through a loaded Big 10, which has tripped them up in recent years
cfbguy	14
cmdrcaboose2	14
corundum9	14
Fmeson	14
G-Aardvark	14
galacticdude7	14
moistats_	14
mynameisjona	14
Nathanael-Greene	14
Red261	14
ryker888	14
TheTeamCubed	14
typicaliconoclast	14
Alwaysahawk	15
Bill3ffinMurray	15
Brostradamus_	15
dan4223	15
doormatt26	15
e8odie	15
eclectic_tastes	15
Fifth_Down	15
HarbingerOfFun	15
Knightro2011	15
VerySeriousBanana	15
WeenisWrinkle	15
AllHawkeyesGoToHell	16
alsonamedbort87	16
BobDeLaSponge	16
Charlemagne42	16
JonesUCF34	16
ReallyCreative	16
TaylorLeprechaun	16
ThaCarter	16
The-Gothic-Castle	16
uwbjb	16
03040905	17
djmoody90	17
kdcoltred	18
ShogunAshoka	18
taloncarde	18
studio_sally	19
TDenverFan	19
bakonydraco	20
sirgippy	20
TheZachster	20
djowen68	21
MonkeyPunch	21	10-3
GeneralGBO	22
DanNeverDie	23
Daigotsu	25

Provisional Poll Voters

User	Rank	Reason

Blue = Human
Red = Computer
Green = Hybrid

Bold = before the AP poll was published
Normal = after the AP poll was published

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