Michigan State Football: 3 non-conference games Spartans should schedule

1. Cincinnati Bearcats

Let’s rewind back to the month of February. Michigan State was trying to court Luke Fickell and, by all accounts, the Cincinnati head coach seemed interested in the Spartans and never said he wasn’t looking into it.

The coaching search was heating up after Mel Tucker and Pat Narduzzi stated that they weren’t going to take the Michigan State job, opening the door for the Spartans to finish a deal with Fickell and a flight by Bill Beekman and the athletic department to Cincinnati looked to finalize specifics, meeting with the potential head coach.

Shoe watch became a thing, all reports were pointing to Fickell becoming Mark Dantonio’s replacement (he was even friends with Dantonio) and he would be staying in the Midwest and coaching in the Big Ten like he always wanted to do.

And then he turned down the job.

Everyone was shocked, Michigan State was getting mocked by Cincinnati fans and everyone’s favorite coaching target went from beloved by Spartan fans to hated overnight.

Michigan State fans would be lying if they said they didn’t want to see the Spartans face Fickell and Cincinnati and take the Bearcats to the woodshed.

Oh, and Cincinnati has consistently beaten Michigan State for recruits over the past couple of cycles, so there’s even more of a reason to want this battle.