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Could This Be Michigan State's Best Offense Ever?

Michigan State has had impressive football players on offense before. The Spartans always seem to have exceptional running backs, such as Lorenzo White, T.J. Duckett and Javon Ringer. They've also lined up excellent wide receivers like Andre Rison, Charles Rogers and Plaxico Burress. Good quarterbacks such as Jeff Smoker, Drew Stanton and Brian Hoyer have taken the snap under center.

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Mark Dantonio has the reputation of a coach who favors tough defense and an offense that likes to run the ball. But this year's Spartans offense is putting more points on the board than any other team in its history.

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Edwin Baker and Le'Veon Bell have both rushed for more than 500 yards this season. (And with Larry Caper healthy, they could have the most formidable running back trio in the country.) Quarterback Kirk Cousins has already thrown for more than 1,400 yards, along with 10 touchdowns. 

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Altogether, that production has resulted in an interesting statistic, noted by ESPN.com's Pat Forde:

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Michigan State (16), never known as an offensive juggernaut, has scored 30 or more points in every game this year. Last time that happened through six games: never.

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The most points a Michigan State football team has ever scored in a season was 430 in 2007. Currently, the Spartans are scoring almost 36 points per game. If they maintain that output through the remaining six games on the schedule, they will... match that record. They're on pace to score exactly 430 points. 

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In the regular season, that is.

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Beating Michigan for their sixth win of the season, the Spartans are already bowl-eligible and will get a 13th game on their schedule. Given that they will probably be favored in at least five of their last six games (at Iowa being the likely exception), this 2010 MSU offense should break the school's single-season team scoring record.