3 Takeaways from Fitzgerald's Presser Before MSU Debut vs. Toledo

EAST LANSING --- It's officially game week for Michigan State.

The Spartans kick off their 2026 season against Toledo on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. This will be Pat Fitzgerald's official debut as MSU's head coach and his first college game in 1,378 days. Here are a few highlights from his first in-season press conference:

First-Year Coach vs. First-Year Coach

Nov 16, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Mercer Bears head coach Mike Jacobs talks on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

This Week 1 matchup has some added uniqueness to it. Both teams are going to have a serious challenge getting a real feel for one another, as both teams will have first-year head coaches. Toledo lost its prior head coach, Jason Candle, to UConn. He was replaced by Mike Jacobs from Mercer.

Game planning for season openers is already a lot trickier during the transfer portal era. Teams morph way more in one offseason now than they did in the past, especially after coaching changes. If anything, Michigan State has the advantage after Jacobs brought 14 players with him from Mercer, along with his defensive coordinator, Jahmal Brown. Fitzgerald didn't have any players or coaches to bring with him to MSU, though he did retain DC Joe Rossi.

Jul 29, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Michigan State Football head coach Pat Fitzgerald speaks during Big Ten Media Days at Hilton Chicago. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"I think we're kind of mirrors of each other," Fitzgerald said. "First-year head coaches, both with 50-plus [new players]... You've got to do a ton of research on, you know, where coordinators have been and things of that nature; where the head coach has been. So that's been ongoing all offseason, getting in preparation for, you know, this kind of week and a half of game prep that we've gone through.

"It's changed exponentially. You had a really good idea of who the teams were back when I started in '06. So yeah, it's a heavy challenge. But after Week 1, you get a lot more clarity, not only about yourself, but also about your upcoming opponents."

Competitions Ongoing

Michigan State receiver Charles Taplin II catches a pass during football practice on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in East Lansing. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Some of Michigan State's position battles aren't going to be resolved by Friday, either. The biggest competition has been at wide receiver. Fitzgerald said a few weeks ago that he anticipates a rotation to be used at that position. I asked him today if that's something he anticipates to use the whole year, or whether he'd like to see a clear top three or four emerge in the room.

"I think from a competition standpoint, that's going to be ongoing throughout the whole season," Fitzgerald said. "Then you add the health component, you know, as we move forward in the year, we expect to play a lot of guys. Now, who that is, that's got to be earned. When that is, that's got to be earned."

Michigan State head coach Pat Fitzgerald observes practice during the first day of training camp on Thursday, August 6, 2026. | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

One thing that opens up the competition even more is the NCAA's new five-year rule. Redshirting is a thing of the past now, so incoming freshmen either play or they don't. Coaches don't have to tiptoe around the prior four-game limit that was there to preserve that year of eligibility.

This makes things a bit easier for freshmen receivers Samson Gash and Zach Washington. Both of them provide a lot of speed to the Spartans' offense. Gash was a four-star recruit and holds the MHSAA state 100-meter record with a 10.41-second time during his junior year at Detroit Catholic Central.

First Day for Bartholomae, Scheduling Philosophy

Coincidentally, Monday was also the first official day on the job for new athletic director Dan Bartholomae. The fact that Friday will somehow be just Michigan State's and Toledo's second all-time meeting came up. Fitzgerald was still at Northwestern when MSU made the Rockets its season-opening opponent for the 2026 season back in March 2021, but the fact that two programs separated by less than two hours have played so little is interesting.

"Scheduling's hard," Fitzgerald said. "It's unique to college football, especially in the Big Ten, and how we've kind of tweaked the Big Ten expectations over the years. There was a time when, you know, we played all of our non-conference games early in the year. You're playing four [out-of-conference games], then we went to nine league games."

Fitzgerald said he and Bartholomae need to sit down to go over their scheduling philosophies for the future. It's probably going to be a little bit before the Spartans make another major non-conference scheduling announcement, though. Michigan State announced a pair of home-and-home agreements with Oklahoma State and Cincinnati back in May.

There isn't another opening for a major non-conference opponent until 2033, unless the Spartans want to have two in the same year. MSU plays Notre Dame this year and next, OK State in 2028 and 2029, Cincinnati in 2030 and 2031, and then BYU in 2032 (this game was rescheduled from the 2020 season).

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