After falling to No. 3 Ohio State last weekend, the road won't get any easier for Michigan State. The Spartans now have a road test against No. 6 Oregon on Friday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox.

The top-six-ranked Ducks are undefeated and 24-point favorites heading into the matchup. Our Spartans Illustrated team breaks down the game and gives their predictions for the showdown.

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Pro Football Focus Grades - Ohio State vs. Michigan State

Jonathan Smith prepping Michigan State for 'tough road environment' at Oregon

Heading out to Oregon for Michigan State's first Big Ten West Coast game is a tall order. Bringing some coaches and players who have played there before adds an interesting wrinkle. It's a tough environment on a normal basis before adding in a Friday evening prime-time environment and a very highly-ranked Ducks team.

An MSU win would be an absolute shocker and would put Jonathan Smith and the Spartans on the radar of a lot of recruits. The ramifications would be seismic. Michigan State will win a game like this soon — but I don't think it will be this one.

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith is plenty familiar with Dan Lanning and Oregon, and should come to Eugene with a strong game plan. I think we're going to see a tough, scrappy and motivated Spartan team that will keep this game closer than many people expect. There is generally something about late-night Friday games where the unusual tends to happen, too. I can see this one being within one score one way or the other after three quarters of play.

With that all said, Oregon has a pretty wide talent advantage, and the Ducks have been playing their best ball over the past couple of weeks. I think this one will be competitive, but Oregon is eventually too much and wins by two scores.

The Spartans don't let this game get out of hand in the first half, thanks to ball security. The tough road environment, short week, and late hour of play proves too much in the second half as the Ducks start to run away with it to make it three-straight losses for MSU.

I am basically going to give the same analysis that I did leading up to last week's game against the Buckeyes. I still believe that Michigan State is better than people think and I suspect that Oregon might be a bit overrated. The Ducks have failed to cover in three of their four games so far this season, and I think the Spartans will be able to move the ball on them. The current spread of 24 points is simply too high.

I still cannot in good faith pick the Spartans to win straight up, but I think that this game could be very competitive heading into the fourth quarter. In this case, the impact of jet lag and the Ducks seeing a former Oregon State coach on the sidelines will be enough to allow Oregon to pull away late.

Michigan State will struggle to run the ball, making it hard to find any flow on offense. Oregon's talent will be on display right away, and the Ducks will jump out to a strong lead early on. MSU shows some fight to start the second half, but the Spartans will go on to drop their third-straight game.

I wouldn’t be shocked if this game is a similar story to the Ohio State game. Michigan State will have some success moving the football, especially early on. Autzen Stadium is the toughest venue that quarterback Aidan Chiles will have played in this year and that crowd and Oregon defense could force him into making some mistakes.

Mistakes are something that Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel rarely makes. He has the best completion percentage in the nation. The Ducks may not quite have the skill talent that Ohio State has, but they are still explosive. Oregon will pull away from Michigan State in the third quarter and win comfortably.

The Spartans come off a tough loss against Ohio State, but did look good for a part of the game against elite competition. If the offense keeps rolling like it was in the first half last week (outside of the turnovers), Michigan State can keep it close with the Ducks' high-flying offense.

A huge part of the Spartans' success will need to be based on the ability of defensive backs Ed Woods, Charles Brantley and Angelo Grose (and others) to cover wide receivers Tez Johnson and Evan Stewart, and the defensive line's ability to pressure Dillon Gabriel. Give me the Ducks to win in a high-scoring game, but the Spartans will hold their own and cover and prove that they can compete with high-level programs.

MSU has historically had trouble traveling to the West Coast and bringing home a win. Adding the short preparation time that comes with a Friday game is going to be too much to ask of this team in the process of a rebuild. I believe the Spartans' stock is on the rise overall, but this is going to be a tough game against a tough opponent.

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