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Michigan State Football 2026 Schedule Breakdown and Analysis
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- Michigan State Football 2026 Schedule Breakdown and Analysis
Welcome to East Lansing, Pat Fitzgerald. As a gift, you get the 2026 schedule.
Last year, Michigan State
had to play Indiana
, USC
, Penn State
, and Iowa
. All four of them are off the schedule this year, and so is Ohio State
.
It's not a breezy slate for a program in rebuild mode, but it's good enough to win right away.
Breaking Down Michigan State's 2026 Football Schedule
Michigan State's new football coach Pat Fitzgerald addresses the crowd during a timeout in the first half of the Spartans basketball game against Iowa on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.© Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Good
There's a lot of home cooking through the first half of the season.
Going to Wisconsin
is bad, and traveling down the road to Notre Dame is worse, but outside of that, four of the first six games are in Spartan Stadium.
No, going to Michigan isn't any sort of a break, but the Spartans only leave the state three times before the winnable regular season finale at Rutgers
.
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The Bad
The Spartans had better take down the Illinois
teams - playing the Illini and Northwestern
in back-to-back weeks - with what's next.
A long trip to LA to face UCLA
, a week off, a date at Michigan, Washington
, and Oregon
.
So, basically, the Spartans have to be great early, and there can't be a miss against Nebraska
at home or Rutgers on the road.
What Big Ten Teams Michigan State Will Miss
Indiana, Iowa, Maryland
, Minnesota
, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue
, USC.
No Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, or USC? Every Big Ten team would sign up for that.
Michigan State's Best and Worst Case Scenarios in 2026
Best Case: The Spartans go on a revenge tour
Michigan State beats the teams it couldn't get by last year.
It takes out Nebraska, gets past UCLA, and most importantly, with a week off to get ready, it rises up and rocks in a program-changing win over Michigan.
Throw those together with home wins over Illinois and Northwestern, and with a win at Rutgers, and it's a fantastic first season under Coach Fitz.
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Worst Case: Michigan State needs to beat Illinois
It sneaks past Toledo and Eastern Michigan, gets walloped by Notre Dame, and then loses to Nebraska and Wisconsin teams it should be good enough to push past if everything goes right.
At 2-3, and with at Mchigan, Washington, and Oregon still to deal with, it has to be close to perfect the rest of the way. It loses to Illinois, and then the next worst-case scenario kicks in ...
Michigan State has to beat Northwestern.
Michigan State Football 2026 Schedule
Sept 5 Toledo
Sept 12 Eastern Michigan
Sept 19 at Notre Dame
Sept 26 Nebraska
Oct 3 at Wisconsin
Oct 10 Illinois
Oct 17 Northwestern
Oct 24 at UCLA
Oct 31 OPEN DATE
Nov 7 at Michigan
Nov 14 Washington
Nov 21 Oregon
Nov 28 at Rutgers
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Games That Will Decide Michigan State's Season
1. Nebraska, Sept. 26
The Spartans should be 2-1 at worst, 3-0 at dreamy best, but no matter what, opening up the Big Ten season with a win over the Huskers would be huge. MSU lost 38-27 last year.
2. at UCLA, Oct. 24
After starting the Big Ten season with three home games in the first four, the Spartans go into the off week - and with Michigan coming up after it - with a revenge game after losing to the Bruins 38-13 last year.
3. Washington, Nov. 14
The hope is to be fully jelled by this point in the season. With Oregon coming up in the home finale and a trip to Rutgers to end the regular season, beating the Huskies for the first time since 1969 might be enough to get to a bowl.
Related: Minnesota Football 2026 Schedule Outlook and Analysis
This story was originally published by College Football News on Jan 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
