Way Too Early Michigan Football Opponent Preview: Week 9 vs. Michigan State

Michigan opens the 2026 college football season with games against Western Michigan, Oklahoma, and UTEP in the non-conference portion of their schedule. After that, they will start Big Ten play with games against Iowa at home, Minnesota on the road, Penn State and Indiana both at home, followed by a road trip in week eight to take on Rutgers.

In week nine they host the in-state rival Michigan State Spartans under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald. Let's dive more into how that matchup looks pre-season below.

2025 Recap

Michigan State crashed and burned in 2025 under now fired head coach Jonathan Smith. Everything went poorly last year for MSU, as they ranked 89th in offensive points scored, and 99th in total offense. It wasn't much better on defense where they ranked 104th in points allowed, and 72nd in total defense.

The quarterback was Aidan Chiles, who had now transferred to Northwestern. He had a poor season last year, throwing for 1,392 yards on 63.1% completion percentage with 10 TD's and 3 INT's but was benched part way through. Alessio Milivojevic stepped in and was basically the same, with 1,267 yards on 64.2% completion percentage with 10 TD's and 3 INT's. Neither quarterback was very good last season but they didn't have a whole lot to work with either.

Makhi Frazier led the MSU backfield with 116 carries for 520 yards (4.5 YPC) and 2 TD's. The Spartan run game was never really able to get going. Their best offensive player by far was Nick Marsh, who caught 59 passes for 662 yards and 6 TD's. He was the only real offensive threat for Michigan State last season.

Michigan State's Alessio Milivojevic throws a pass during the football Spring Showcase | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Moves made for 2026

Gone is Aidan Chiles, but Alessio Milivojevic remains and is expected to be Michigan State's quarterback this season. He's more of a pocket passer where Chiles was a dual-threat guy, and he didn't perform a whole lot better once he took over for MSU part way through last season.

Gone are both Nick Marsh (transferred to Indiana) and Makhi Frazier (transferred to Ole Miss). New offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan comes in from Alabama to help establish a more modern pro-style offensive attack. They brought in a couple wide receivers this off-season (including former Michigan wide receiver Fredrick Moore) to try to offset the loss of Nicki Marsh but it's just not going to be possible. The offensive line needs to get a lot better if MSU hopes to have a better offensive season in 2026.

On defense, Michigan State returns leading tackler Jordan Hall at linebacker. They took in a few transfers in the secondary to try to revamp that group. The defensive line was very bad last year for Michigan State, as they had just 22 sacks all season. They didn't bring in as many transfers up front defensively as they should have, so they'll need to really develop the players they already had on last year's team. The defense will undoubtedly be better coached under Pat Fitzgerald, but the actual talent level on that side of the ball is not very good on paper.

Michigan State’s head coach Pat Fitzgerald calls out to players during football practice | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Why Michigan should handle the Spartans

Michigan State will be undergoing a major culture shift with Pat Fitzgerald at the helm now. In time I expect him to return this program to be a hard-nosed defensive led type team like they were under Mark Dantonio, but in terms of this team in 2026, it is just not a very talented football team.

Michigan should have the edge at almost every position group outside of maybe linebacker and quarterback, depending on how the two young quarterbacks progressed over the off-season. This game really should not be all that close, and something close to a 35-20 Michigan win is what I'd predict before we begin the 2026 college football season.

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