College football: Illinois at Michigan State

Illinois (3-2, 1-1) at Michigan State (6-0, 2-0)

When: 11 a.m. Saturday at Spartan Stadium

TV: BTN; Radio: WIND 560-AM

Series: Michigan State leads 24-17-2

Coaches: Ron Zook (24-41, sixth year at Illinois; 47-55 overall); Mark Dantonio (28-17, fourth year at Michigan State; 46-34 overall)

Illini players to watch: QB Nathan Scheelhaase enjoyed the best day of his young career last week when he hit 15 of 19 passes for 151 yards and 1 TD in Illinois' 33-13 win at Penn State. His improvement means there might be more room for RB Mikel Leshoure the Big Ten's leading rusher among running backs with 119.4 yards per game. DTs Corey Liuget and Akeem Spence, a pair of Florida natives, must clog up the middle to give the Illini a chance to slow down MSU's running game.

MSU players to watch: Michigan State boasts perhaps the nation's best linebacker in senior Greg Jones, though his numbers are down this year. Jones owns just 46 tackles and 5 TFLs after averaging 11.9 stops per game last year with 9 sacks. QB Kirk Cousins ranks ninth nationally in pass efficiency (167.55 rating) while RBs Edwin Baker (683 yards, 6 TDs) and Le'Veon Bell (549 yards, 8 TDs) combine to average 7.3 yards per carry.

The skinny: Michigan State seeks the program's first 7-0 start since the fabled 1966 team that tied Notre Dame, but there's a chance the Spartans could be emotionally spent after beating ranked teams on back-to-back Saturdays for the first time since 1974. Even if MSU is on fumes after bouncing Wisconsin and Michigan, the Spartans' balanced offense is at least as good as Ohio State's. Can the Illini limit their running and force Cousins to beat them through the air?

He said it: Ron Zook spinning Illinois' rugged early Big Ten slate: “As I told our football team, this is a great opportunity. There's two teams in the conference that are undefeated. We let one (Ohio State) get by. Now let's go see...we've got another opportunity. That doesn't happen. You don't get two opportunities very often. Obviously, they're playing for a lot. This is going to be a big-time brawl fight.