Lansing State Journal sports columnist Graham Couch and Detroit Free Press Michigan State beat writer Chris Solari gear up for a busy month of simultaneous Spartan football and basketball action, with Tom Izzo's squad starting its season Wednesday against Eastern Michigan.

We give a position-by-position breakdown of the team, including discussion on Rocket Watts/Foster Loyer/Joshua Langford, the "5" position, Joey Hauser and Aaron Henry, along with this week's upcoming games against EMU and Notre Dame. 

Then, we move on to the football team, which faces a very tough task Saturday against No. 13 Northwestern, and no sign of who might start at quarterback for the Spartans. 

Then we make our picks for this week's contests.