Spartans face a brutal non-conference slate, including Notre Dame, before Big Ten play ignites. Pat Fitzgerald's return to Northwestern adds personal drama.
We already knew the first three matchups. But now it’s official — dates are set for every game this season. So let’s take a look at who the Spartans will be facing, when, and where.
The Spartans open the season with their usual trio of non-conference games. Two MAC opponents followed by a massive road test against Notre Dame.
Non-Conference Schedule
Game 1 – September 5 – Home – Toledo
Game 2 – September 12 – Home – Eastern Michigan
Game 3 – September 19 – Away – Notre Dame
The non-conference slate is, as many would say, brutal. You can never overlook MAC teams when they play Michigan or Michigan State. While Power Five programs usually take care of business, early-season games can be tricky if a team isn’t mentally locked in yet. So there’s no cakewalk to start the Pat Fitzgerald era in East Lansing.
If — and when — the Spartans get through the first two games, they’ll face a Notre Dame team that was snubbed from the playoff last year despite making the championship just two seasons ago.
This will be the first true measuring stick game of the Fitzgerald era. Even though it’s not a bowl game, this matchup feels like a tone-setter for his career at Michigan State. I don’t know why, but something tells me we’re going to see some trickery when we least expect it — maybe a callback to that infamous fake field goal against the Irish years ago.
After a September full of non-conference action, the real test begins: Big Ten play.
Conference Schedule
Game 4 – September 26 – Home – Nebraska
Big Ten play kicks off in East Lansing as September wraps up. Nebraska comes to town after losing their Patrick Mahomes lookalike, Dylan Raiola, who has transferred to Oregon to form a quarterback duo with Dante Moore. That pairing could push the Ducks over the hump — but only after they get past the green and white.
Game 5 – October 3 – Away – Wisconsin
As spooky season arrives, the Spartans head to the beer-and-cheese utopia of the world. This marks Michigan State’s first Big Ten road game — and their second true road contest of the season.
Game 6 – October 10 – Home – Illinois
Back home for an early-October matchup. Illinois feels like a swing game — one where the Spartans could earn a decisive home win and set the tone for the back half of the schedule. A great midpoint opponent.
Game 7 – October 17 – Home – Northwestern
This is the game many have circled.
Pat Fitzgerald spent 17 years building Northwestern from a perennial cellar-dweller into a program with NFL draftees and bowl appearances. After being let go due to off-field allegations, Fitzgerald now makes his long-awaited return to college football — hosting the very program he helped build.
There’s added intrigue as well. Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles, a former Spartan, returns to East Lansing after being benched late last season following inconsistent play. Brought in by Jonathan Smith, Chiles never fully found his footing at MSU. Revenge narratives will be loud for both sidelines.
Game 8 – October 24 – Away – UCLA
The Spartans head west to face a UCLA team that flat-out embarrassed them last season — a game that set the tone for everything that went wrong. Chiles was rattled and injured, Milivojevic struggled in relief, and Michigan State looked completely unprepared.
That shouldn’t happen again. Fitzgerald won’t allow it.
BYE WEEK – October 31
This season, nearly every Big Ten team only gets one bye week due to the later start. Michigan State’s comes on Halloween weekend. USC still gets two — because of course they do.
Game 9 – November 7 – Away – Michigan
The rivalry shifts deeper into November this year. Both programs enter with new head coaches, making this the first meeting between these two leaders of storied universities.
Michigan has had the upper hand recently, but none of those games were coached by these two men. This one feels different — and it’s perfectly placed late in the season.
Game 10 – November 14 – Home – Wisconsin
A team MSU didn’t face last year and one that struggled nearly as much as the Spartans. Two programs once near the top of the conference, now trying to right the ship and regain relevance.
Game 11 – November 21 – Home – Oregon
Every year I circle my birthday on the schedule to see who’s playing. This year? The Spartans host Oregon.
There’s no better way to spend it than watching MSU shock the world. This will likely be the toughest game on the schedule, but Fitzgerald welcomes the hardest challenges — and you can bet this one is circled.
Game 12 – November 28 – Away – Rutgers
Michigan State closes the regular season in New Jersey against Rutgers. A solid finale — and hopefully by then the Spartans have already locked up a bowl berth and are playing loose.
Michigan State hasn’t made a bowl game in eight of the nine seasons since Mark Dantonio left. Under Dantonio, the Spartans missed just one bowl in a 13-year stretch.
It’s time to get back to those standards and put an end to the tomfoolery.
That starts this season with Pat Fitzgerald on the sideline — and a schedule that, thankfully, avoids Ohio State and the defending champions, Indiana.