Michigan State football projected to finish 13th in Big Ten preseason poll

One year removed from a 5-7 season and third straight missed bowl game, expectations have been tempered, and then some, for Michigan State football.

Jonathan Smith has a giant task of leading the program out of the gutter and back into the national spotlight and it looked like he might do that in year one with a 3-0 start and a chance to beat a solid Boston College team on the road. Unfortunately, late mistakes led to a come-from-behind win for Boston College and the Spartans began to spiral.

Aidan Chiles became a turnover machine and Michigan State went just 2-6 the rest of the way, beating just Iowa and Purdue before losing by a million to Rutgers at home with a bowl game on the line in the finale. It was a forgettable year that had flashes of excitement.

Entering the 2025 season, fans are expecting improvement, but not a substantial amount considering Michigan State is in the same conference as title contenders like Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon. Winning big in conference play won't be easy.

And Cleveland.com agrees.

The site posts its annual preseason poll around this time heading into Big Ten Media Days and it wasn't too kind to the Spartans. In fact, it had Michigan State coming in at No. 13.

Although this isn't a huge shock because media members have stopped buying stock in Michigan State since 2021, but a 13th-place finish seems a little lower than I would have expected after a 5-7 season that probably should have been more like 6-6 or 7-5.

The poll has Michigan State finishing ahead of only Rutgers, UCLA, Maryland, Northwestern, and Purdue this season and the Spartans will face two of those teams (Maryland, UCLA).

Call me crazy, but I'm expecting a finish in the top half of the conference this season.