Iowa Hawkeyes 2025 Opponent Preview: Michigan State Spartans

Arguably the Hawkeyes’ worst loss of 2024 came against Michigan State.

Iowa fell 32-20 to the Spartans in East Lansing. MSU’s win was its only victory in a seven-game stretch where the Spartans went 1-6.

The Hawkeyes will go for revenge in Iowa City on Saturday, Nov. 22, for their final home game.

Here’s what to know about Michigan State:

2024 recap

Michigan State opened the year 3-0, winning close games against Florida Atlantic and Maryland and drubbing Prairie View A&M 40-0.

Then things unraveled.

The Spartans lost at Boston College 23-19 before taking beatings to Oregon and Ohio State, both of which reached the College Football Playoff (Ohio State won the national championship).

MSU finally broke its losing streak against Iowa — and then a new losing streak formed. The Spartans narrowly lost to Michigan before handily falling to Indiana and Illinois.

Michigan State beat Purdue 24-17 but lost 41-14 to Rutgers to finish 5-7 and fall short of bowl eligibility for the third season in a row.

The 2024 season was Michigan State’s first under head coach Jonathan Smith, who previously coached at Oregon State.

Key returners

QB Aidan Chiles (Jr.), WR Nick Marsh (So.), TE Jack Velling (Sr.), DB Nikai Martinez (Sr.), DB Malik Spencer (Sr.), P Ryan Eckley (Jr.).

Notable transfer additions

DB Joshua Eaton (Texas State), OL Conner Moore (Montana State), WR Omari Kelly (Middle Tennessee State), DE David Santiago (Air Force), WR Chrishon McCray (Kent State).

Strengths

Michigan State’s passing defense improved dramatically in 2024.

The Spartans finished the 2023 season 86th in passing defense. In 2024, they moved up to No. 46 nationally, allowing just 206.9 passing yards per game.

MSU still struggled to force interceptions, but the Spartans rarely allowed opposing quarterbacks to put up big numbers.

The Spartans also return one of college football’s best punters in Eckley. As a sophomore in 2024, Eckley averaged 47.9 yards per punt and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.

For an offense that struggled mightily last year, Eckley did an admirable job of putting opponents in bad field position.

Weaknesses

The Spartans had one of the Big Ten’s worst offenses last year.

Michigan State finished 15th out of 18 conference members in scoring offense (19.3 points per game) and 13th in total offense (333.4 total yards per game). The Spartans also scored on only 75.7% of their trips to the red zone, which was 115th nationally out of 134 NCAA Division I FBS squads.

Chiles struggled with ball security and threw 11 interceptions, while the Spartans rushed for just 115.3 yards per game.

How do the Spartans match up with the Hawkeyes?

Last year’s game between Michigan State and Iowa is still an enigma: Iowa had the better team on both sides of the ball and still lost by double digits.

MSU’s defense lost a few key pieces of its 2024 defense but should remain in the top half of the Big Ten with the additions of Eaton and Santiago.