Kirk Herbstreit shares 'X-factor' for Michigan State's hopes of upsetting Ohio State

College GameDay’s Kirk Herbstreit has done a brief preview for this Saturday’s big matchup between Michigan State and Ohio State.

Both teams are 9-1 through 10 games and the winner of this game will be in the driver’s seat to get to Indianapolis in December to take on the winner of the B1G West.

Herbstreit first started his comments off with a “never say never” about the Spartans defense being able to shut down the Buckeyes offense.

Herbstreit says "never say never" when asked if MSU can slow down OSU's offense and stresses importance of pressuring Stroud.

— Matt Wenzel (@mwenzel2) November 18, 2021

He then went into the biggest x-factor for MSU to win this game and it involves getting to C.J. Stroud.

https://twitter.com/ColinGay17/status/1461408165636026378?s=20

Herbstreit said C.J. Stroud is a very talented athlete but is more like Dwayne Haskins than Justin Fields. He believes there’s plays to be had extended plays for Stroud but he’s making a name for himself as a Heisman frontrunner with the way he distributes the football.

— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) November 18, 2021

Finally, Herbstreit said that MSU can win this game if it possesses the ball for long durations and keeps the OSU offense on the sideline.

Herbstreit said he sees Michigan State winning this game if they can possess the ball and keep the Ohio State offense on the sideline or if the Spartans run the ball and then hit on big plays in the passing game as the #Buckeyes come up to the line of scrimmage.

— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) November 18, 2021

This one is shaping up to be a classic game of “an unstoppable force” (OSU offense) versus “an immovable object” (MSU defense).

Kickoff is slated for Noon ET.