Michigan State football has played just two games this season and yet some experts are already buying into Pat Fitzgerald.
So much so, in fact, that the latest bowl projections have the Spartans in the postseason.
ESPN posted its post-Week 2 bowl projections and Kyle Bonagura has the Spartans playing Louisiana in the Frisco Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns just 49-30 to USC, but scoring that many points against one of the best teams in the Big Ten should show just how solid of a Group of Five team that they are.
While the Spartans were projected by Bonagura to make the Frisco Bowl, the Big Ten has never had a representative in that bowl game since its induction in 2017. I’m not sure that the conference has a chance to send a team to the Frisco Bowl, but ESPN projected a bowl berth nonetheless.
As a Spartan fan who hasn’t seen Michigan State in a postseason game since 2021, you have to take anything you can get.
ESPN’s FPI even likes Michigan State to make a bowl
Bonagura isn’t the lone source predicting a bowl berth for Fitzgerald and the Spartans, but ESPN’s FPI also projects that Michigan State will be favorites in four of its remaining 10 games. If you do the quick math, that would mean that the Spartans should win six regular-season games.
Before the season, the Spartans were only favored in 3-4 games.
Now, it’s six (FPI projected win percentage in parentheses):
- Toledo (W)
- Eastern Michigan (W)
- Illinois (53.9%)
- Northwestern (58.9%)
- Washington (54.3%)
- Rutgers (76.3%)
Quick math: that’s six wins. The Spartans will be favored in each of those games, but they should also have a fighting chance against Nebraska (somehow still 25%), Wisconsin (46.3%), UCLA (28.3% — crazy), Michigan (19% — crazy), and now even Oregon (23.1%) after the Ducks were upset by Oklahoma State.
The first two weeks proved that each game on Michigan State’s schedule is winnable, but it’s up to the Spartans to keep improving.
The wins that should be locks after the first two weeks are Northwestern and Rutgers. Illinois is now a lean-win along with Washington which could be without its star receiver for a few months. UCLA, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, and Oregon all look beatable. The only team left on the schedule that many Spartan fans assume Michigan State has zero chance to win is Notre Dame and that’s coming up this weekend.
If Michigan State can play the Irish close and really make Marcus Freeman and Co. sweat out a win, we could be looking at a team that’s capable of winning eight games.
Big weekend ahead for the green and white.
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