MSU Thrown to Bottom of Big Ten Football Media Poll
In this story:
The wider narrative about Michigan State football right now is that 2026 will be another difficult season for the Spartans.
MSU finished ranked 16th out of 18 teams in Cleveland.com's unofficial media football preseason poll, released on Monday. The Big Ten doesn't release an official poll, so this is the closest thing. Michigan State (99 points) was just ahead of 17th-place Rutgers (97 points) in the rankings; Purdue (45 points) finished last by a relatively large margin. Ohio State was named the conference favorite.
More Takeaways From Preseason Poll
Another thing certainly worth noting is that the Spartans didn't have any selections on the site's preseason all-conference team. The article says that linebacker Jordan Hall, punter Rhys Dakin, and kick returner Kenneth Williams received votes to make the team, but none received enough of the 31 total votes to make the final cut.
The 16th-place selection is also the lowest among Big Ten teams with new coaches. Michigan was picked to finish fifth in the conference, Penn State was picked sixth, and UCLA was picked 13th. Some of that may be due largely to the more proven, traditional hires those three teams made.
UM's Kyle Whittingham has won three conference championships (two PAC-12, one Mountain West) during his time at Utah. Penn State hired Matt Campbell, who consistently punched above his weight at Iowa State and had been a popular head coaching candidate for a while. UCLA hired Bob Chesney, who took James Madison to the College Football Playoff last year and didn't let the Dukes miss a beat after Curt Cignetti left for Indiana.
Pat Fitzgerald, as experienced as he is, is still a slightly experimental hire. He also punched above his weight for a long time at Northwestern, but he was still out of the game for three years. The 2022 season is essentially ancient history now, given how quickly college sports are changing. That 4-20 record for NU during Fitzgerald's last two years there is another concern.
It's blunt, but the long-term lack of success is another reason why the Spartans are so low. Michigan State's four-year bowl drought is already the longest in the conference. It's tough to project much success for a program that hasn't had any in a while.
There are also many things that have to go right for MSU to turn things around this year. Reaching that magic number of six wins is a possibility, but not a probability, for a reason.
Concerns for 2026 Roster
The first focus will be on whether Alessio Milivojevic is a hit at quarterback. Fitzgerald could've probably sought out options in the transfer portal to at least cause a quarterback competition, but that never happened. MSU brought in sixth-year senior Cam Fancher (UCF) from the portal, but he seemed like a clear backup option, and Milivojevic was already named QB1 during the spring.
Most Big Ten teams will have a transfer starting at quarterback for them this season. Most new head coaches would want to hit the reset button hard and bring in someone new. Fitzgerald promoting Milivojevic from backup (or at least interim starting quarterback) to full-time starter is a little unorthodox, though Milivojevic earned at least a shot at it during his four starts at the end of the 2026 season.
Michigan State's transfer portal class also felt pretty, well, average. The Spartans' portal class finished ranked 62nd in the FBS, according to On3, which factors in both incoming and outgoing transfers. The average incoming transfer rating of 66.39 is 11th in the Big Ten.
That's a downward trend from the prior offseason, when MSU's average incoming portal player had a 68.24 rating, which was 10th in the conference. Part of the intriguing idea of hiring Fitzgerald was seeing what he'd do with competitive resources, but Michigan State seems to be giving him just about what it gave Jonathan Smith.
Outlook of 2026 Schedule
What also makes Michigan State tricky to figure out is its schedule. The Spartans have only two clear "L's" on the schedule: their games against Notre Dame and Oregon. That game at Michigan is also pretty difficult, but weird stuff can happen in rivalry games. There are 10 games on the schedule that at least feel semi-winnable, but the only ones where MSU is really a favorite are against Toledo, Eastern Michigan, and Northwestern.
Those early Big Ten games against Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois are going to be massive tone-setters for both the 2026 season and the Fitzgerald era as a whole. The Spartans will probably enter that stretch 2-1, with wins over Toledo and EMU, and then a loss at Notre Dame. Michigan State will need to find a win or two as an underdog during those weeks. Otherwise, MSU will probably be 2-4 and staring down another lost season.
Watch/Listen to our Daily Podcast
Add us as a preferred source on Google
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika