Michigan State Football: Ranking Spartans’ 2020 opponents by toughness

The 2020 Michigan State football schedule starts easy and ends difficult. How do the Spartans’ eight opponents rank in terms of toughness.

Michigan State is entering a new era of football. Mark Dantonio is no longer roaming the sidelines and it’s now Mel Tucker’s turn to try and take the program to new heights.

It won’t be easy, however. While there’s plenty of talent on the roster, there was also a lot of attrition at key positions like quarterback, receiver, defensive end, defensive tackle, middle linebacker and all throughout the defensive backfield. There was a ton of attrition from a team that should have contended in the Big Ten with veteran leadership but fell flat.

Now the Spartans are tasked with finding a new quarterback and his weapons, too.

The defense will have a fresh look and coordinator Scottie Hazelton will have plenty to work with, starting with Antjuan Simmons. If he can build around the talented senior linebacker, there’s going to be a solid resurgence on that side of the ball after taking a step back in 2019.

We were close to not even having a 2020 season this fall. The Big Ten had quite the offseason, postponing its season until the spring, expecting the rest of the country’s Power Five programs to follow suit. That didn’t happen. Now we have the 2020 season approaching next week and a fresh eight-game schedule, it’s time to look at what games are “winnable” and which are unlikely.

Let’s rank Michigan State’s 2020 opponents by difficulty.