Breaking Down Michigan State Football’s New Crazy Schedule

Despite its name, the Big 10 has been way more than just 10 teams for quite some time now. In 2014, the Big 10 expanded to 14 teams with the additions of the University of Maryland and Rutgers, and now the conference has 18 teams with the additions of football powerhouse schools Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington.

Two of these schools have been in the College Football Playoffs in recent years, and all have been ranked in the top 25. In a conference with Michigan, the recent National Champions, and Ohio State, things were tough enough as they were. Michigan State is going to have its hands full.

Tough Schedule

The toughest part of this season comes from an early back-to-back week challenge in the form of Ohio State and Oregon in weeks 5 and 6. Ohio State is currently pre-seasoned rank at #2 in the country and Oregon is ranked #3. Two games against two of the top teams in the entire country.

The challenge continues after that as they play against Iowa ranked #25 and then against Michigan ranked #9, the defending champions entering their first season without former coach Jim Harbaugh, who left the team to become the head coach of the San Diego Chargers.

Based on the schedule as it is now if I were to predict MSU's final record after all 12 games, I'd say the Spartans are capable of 7 to 8 wins. But it will not be easy, and first-year coach Johnathan Smith has his work cut out for him. Below is the entire schedule for 2024.