Kick Times, TV Details Released for First Two MSU Football Games

The times and places for the first two of the Spartans' games have now been released.

Michigan State Spartans head football coach Pat Fitzgerald points while introducing himself to the crowd at a men's basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Fitzgerald was officially hired by MSU on Monday. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

More kickoff times and television channels for the upcoming Michigan State football season are now set.

On Wednesday, and with 100 days to go until MSU's season officially begins, the Big Ten released a bunch of television info for upcoming games this season all across the conference. The release includes the official announcements for the Spartans' Week 1 and Week 2 games against Toledo and Eastern Michigan.

Info for Both Games

Sep 7, 2024; College Park, Maryland, USA; A detailed view of Michigan State Spartans helmet on the field before the game against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

As is now tradition, Michigan State is starting its season on a Friday night, something the team had already announced. The Spartans will host Toledo on Sept. 4, but now we know that the game will officially begin at 8 p.m. ET that day on FS1.

It won't be so late when MSU hosts Eastern Michigan eight days later on Saturday, Sept. 12. That game is going to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Per a release from the program, the Spartans' homecoming game against Illinois will also start no later than 5 p.m. ET.

Other Known Kickoff Times

Michigan State's Alessio Milivojevic wars up before the football Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There are other games with set times, too. Michigan State's Week 3 trip to Notre Dame on Sept. 19 is going to be on primetime on NBC/Peacock, with kickoff that night in South Bend set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

You then have to fast-forward all the way to the season's penultimate week to find the next set time, though. That's the week MSU plays host to Oregon. The game got moved up to Friday, Nov. 20, and is a part of FOX's series of night games it televises on that day of the week. Kickoff against the Ducks in a presumably cold Spartan Stadium is also set for 8 p.m. ET.

More Later Start Times

Michigan State's Jordan Hall celebrates after a stop against Michigan during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In case you haven't noticed, this also continues the recent trend of Michigan State being essentially allergic to noon start times. The Spartans have had as many games kick off at 11 p.m. ET as they have had noon starts in the past two seasons (just one). Twelve games have started at 7 p.m. ET or later, for comparison. Eleven contests have started between 2:30 and 4 p.m. as well.

It isn't necessarily to complain --- MSU not really being good enough to command a spot on FOX's "Big Noon" broadcast hasn't helped --- but it definitely is a bit of a quirk from recent years. This recent announcement has already increased the Spartans' count of night games to three, and there are still eight games with times yet to be announced (though Illinois cannot be a night game).

Michigan State Spartans head coach Pat Fitzgerald addresses fans during a men's basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, at the Breslin Center. Fitzgerald had been formally introduced earlier that day. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI