Michigan State football's series history vs. Florida Atlantic

It's once again that time folks. Michigan State football is officially back as the Spartans are set to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls under the lights Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

Spartan fans everywhere are ready for a new beginning under Jonathan Smith, one that we hope will be a lot more stable than the previous few years. And the best way to build a stable program is to find a lot of success on the field, and that begins with FAU.

The Spartans and Owls have played a few times in these programs history, so let's dive in and see how the previous matchups in this series have gone.

Michigan State is undefeated all-time vs. FAU

Michigan State and FAU have played each other three times in their history, all coming during the Mark Dantonio era. These games came in 2008, 2010, and 2011 and all went Michigan State's favor by an average margin of victory of 24.7 points.

The first game was played in Spartan Stadium in 2008 that saw Michigan State bring home a 17-0 shutout victory. The next game in the series brought out a lot more excitement as the two teams faced off at Ford Field in Detroit.

Michigan State once again won, this time 30-17 behind a monster 183-yard rushing performance from Edwin Baker.

The following season in 2012 Florida Atlantic came back to the state this time to play inside Spartan Stadium, and this game was not close at all. Michigan State won 44-0 with Kirk Cousins playing extremely well in this one, throwing for 183 yards and two touchdowns before sitting for much of the second half.

So how will this year's game play out? Will Michigan State dominate Florida Atlantic once again? Can they hold the Owls scoreless for the third time in four games?

In all honesty, I don't really care what the game looks like, as long as Michigan State comes away with at least a double-digit win I'll be happy with that for Smith's first game at MSU.