First Look at Illinois Week 6 Opponent: Michigan State Spartans

After somehow finding a way to lose 24-17 to Purdue in its homecoming game, Illinois (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) heads to East Lansing on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, FS1) with its season already on the verge of requiring a priest, a eulogy and possibly a closed casket.

Fortunately for the Illini, Michigan State may already be in attendance at its own funeral.

Michigan State at a glance

The Pat Fitzgerald era started about as well as Michigan State could have hoped. The Spartans opened the season 2-0, with wins over Toledo and Eastern Michigan, including a 35-7 victory over the Eagles in which Michigan State racked up 472 total yards.

Then the real schedule began.

Michigan State lost 27-10 to Notre Dame, 31-13 to Nebraska and 31-3 to Wisconsin. The Spartans have now dropped three straight and enter Saturday at 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten play. Sound familiar?

Illinois and Michigan State enter the matchup with identical records, identical conference records and both fan bases probably wondering how basketball season is still more than a month away.

Someone has to win Saturday. At least, according to the rules of college football.

The Spartans on the field

Offense

Sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic leads a Michigan State offense that looked solid early in the year but has struggled badly against stronger competition.

Milivojevic threw for 247 yards in the opener against Toledo and followed that with 170 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Michigan. Since then, things haven't gone nearly as smoothly.

Alessio Milivojevic throws a 53 yard BOMB

The average person does not know how great of a throw this is 🐐 pic.twitter.com/CdtTLKvF9i
— Intrinsic (@intrinsicvalyou) September 20, 2026

Milivojevic threw for just 123 yards with two interceptions against Notre Dame before Michigan State managed only 257 total yards against Nebraska. Things reached a new low against Wisconsin, when Milivojevic completed 15 of 32 passes for only 103 yards in a 31-3 loss.

The Spartans have some options in the backfield. Cam Edwards rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Michigan, while Jaziun Patterson has received more work recently and led Michigan State with 62 rushing yards against Wisconsin.

Michigan State's offense certainly isn't intimidating anyone right now, which should be good news for Illinois.

Of course, Purdue's offense wasn't exactly supposed to be terrifying, either, so perhaps Illini fans shouldn't get too comfortable.

Defense

Michigan State's defense has followed a similar path.

The Spartans held Eastern Michigan to seven points and 219 total yards, but the results have gotten progressively worse against better competition. Notre Dame scored 27 points before Nebraska and Wisconsin each put up 31.

Getting closer to kick pic.twitter.com/HofW3Tuj0P
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) October 3, 2026

Linebacker Jordan Hall remains one of the leaders of the Spartans' D after recording 88 tackles last season. He returned from an early-season absence to record 13 tackles against Notre Dame and gives the Spartans an experienced presence in the middle of the defense.

There is also a familiar face on the defensive line. Former Illinois defensive lineman Eli Coenen transferred to Michigan State and recorded three sacks over the Spartans' first two games.

Still, Michigan State's defense has shown plenty of weaknesses recently. That should give Illinois' offense a much-welcomed opening.

Then again, Purdue gave Illinois plenty of opportunities Saturday, and the Illini responded with 17 points. So perhaps nothing should be assumed anymore.

Illinois vs. Michigan State matchup

A few weeks ago, Michigan State looked like one of the more manageable road games on Illinois' schedule.

It still does.

The problem is, Illinois no longer looks particularly capable of taking advantage of manageable games.

Week Six — Road trip north. pic.twitter.com/BJREImmiYw
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) October 5, 2026

After losses to Duke, Ohio State and Purdue, Illinois sits at 2-3 and desperately needs a positive development before its season completely falls apart. Michigan State isn't in much better shape after losing three consecutive games by a combined score of 89-26.

A win gets Illinois back to .500 heading into its bye week and keeps some hope alive before Oregon comes to Champaign. A loss drops the Illini to 2-4 and 0-3 in the Big Ten.

At that point, Illinois football wouldn't just be on life support.

Someone might want to start digging the grave.

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