The 3-2-1 Preview: 3 things we want to see, 2 key stats, 1 best bet vs. The Second Bye Week

You can’t lose can mitigate the damage on a bye week.

Alright, so this whole thing has gone off the rails. I’m sure it’ll get better soon just not in football.

Let’s break down this upcoming bye week. A WHOLE LOT OF HARD-HITTING FOOTBALL TALK COMING AT YA. BUCKLE UP.

3 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE

TUESDAY

Just get basketball here already. Holy smokes, how the hell does a team lose on a bye week? Well, having your captain and all-conference linebacker get popped for PEDs is one way how. And that’s exactly what happened.

It’s disappointing, what else can you say? Dantonio and Bachie’s statement’s say they’ll appeal it, but they also read like they know this is it for him.

This season is even worse than anyone could have imagined it before the year. Get outscored 100-17 in three games over by halftime against Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State. Lose to Arizona State again, somehow. Have a weird quarterback controversy in October. Have your star defensive captain get suspended for the year. Realize the greatest head coaching stint in MSU history is over. Praying to get to bowl eligibility in November with a team that may or may not have quit on its season.

Let’s just start basketball season. Please get here already, Tuesday.

A GREAT SATURDAY

Let’s embrace the second bye week in three weeks. Before the season started I saw this pocket of two byes in three weeks and thought “man, this sucks.” Now I welcome it as much as I do Dantonio’s retirement.

Do something fun on Saturday. If that means watching the Georgia-Florida and Memphis-SMU doubleheader, great. Perhaps a cider mill trip with the family. Could be watching the AndyHRCMB YouTube channel as chili cooks in the crockpot. Maybe setting Tinder to a 50 mile radius, setting the age range as wide as it can go, swiping until your fingers break and seeing what happens is your cup of tea.

Whatever it is, let’s have ourselves a great Saturday.

SLEEPING IN

Hey, an extra hour of sleep is coming on Sunday! And/or an extra hour at the bars!

Daylight saving is all around a dumb concept (I just hate when it gets dark at seemingly 3 p.m.), but at least we get to feel like we robbed another hour of sleep.

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

2 KEY STATS

Two

That’s the minimum amount of tickets you can donate to make someone’s next weekend great. @JD_Jerbear from good ol’ Twitter thought of a great idea for people that don’t want to go to the MSU-Illinois game — consider donating your tickets to the Lansing-area Big Brother Big Sister chapter. That way kids and their mentors can go and enjoy the game together.

Get in touch with him over Twitter. Or, if you don’t have Twitter, mention that in the comments and I’ll find a way to get you guys in touch.

25.5

That’s MSU basketball’s over/under win total for the upcoming season (to keep the basketball fever alive in this blog post).

I mean, this is a great team...but I don’t think they’re “lose a maximum of four games” kind of great. Not with that early schedule with Duke, Kentucky, Seton Hall and maybe Kansas. And yes, the Big Ten is just OK this year, but they’re due to lose at least two of those games I would think.

I don’t know, what are you guys thinking?

1 BEST BET

Alright, so just like the last bye week, I’ll take a stab at a top 25-ranked game. I don’t love either the spread for Florida (+6) against Georgia or the over/under for that one (45). For Memphis vs. SMU, I do like the line the Tigers are getting.

Memphis will play in arguably its biggest home game in school history as -6 favorites against the Mustangs. That’s the UNDEFEATED Mustangs, at that. But it’s also a Mustangs team that has barely skated by Houston, Tulsa and Arkansas State.

I think the Tigers win, and I like their chances to clear the touchdown deficit.

Pick: Memphis -6

Record: 5-3 (oh wow, last week’s under bet hit thanks to MSU’s offense. Shocking.)