Ranking Michigan State football’s 2024 opponents by toughness
The season is finally here. Michigan State football’s first game of the season against Florida Atlantic kicks off on Friday night at Spartan Stadium in what is the beginning of the highly anticipated Jonathan Smith tenure.
Now is your very last chance to make your predictions as to how Michigan State will do this fall. This year is more difficult than most to predict what Michigan State’s final record will be, but I hope the list below may be able to help you a little.
The Spartans have a good mix of difficult and easy opponents on their schedule this season with a lot of “average” teams that will be similar in strength to MSU. But who on Michigan State’s schedule will be the toughest opponents to play and who will be the easiest?
Here is my list of the toughest games for Michigan State to win all the way down to the easiest.
Rank | Team |
|---|---|
1 | Oregon |
2 | Ohio State |
3 | Michigan |
4 | Iowa |
5 | Maryland |
6 | Rutgers |
7 | Boston College |
8 | Illinois |
9 | Indiana |
10 | Purdue |
11 | Florida Atlantic |
12 | Prairie View A&M |
The two teams at the top, Oregon and Ohio State, are pretty interchangeable to me. They come in as the No. 2 and 3 ranked teams in the country, but I’m giving the nod to Oregon as the Spartans' toughest game because MSU travels to Oregon for that one.
After that we have Michigan then Iowa which round out the teams ranked in the preseason AP Poll on Michigan State’s schedule. I don’t love Michigan State’s chances against Michigan, but I think they have a great shot at beating Iowa at home.
Moving down to the bottom of the list we find Prairie View A&M and Florida Atlantic. These two are as close as Michigan State will get to automatic wins, so MSU better win these games if they want to make a bowl game. The next two spots up are two of the easier Big Ten opponents Michigan State will face at home in Indiana and Purdue. Both teams are a step up from the previous two mentioned, but they are two more opponents Michigan State should beat.
Lastly we have the four teams in the middle that will be very similar to Michigan State. All four are games MSU could just as easily lose as win, so these four games will likely be the turning point in their season.
Michigan State’s road game at Maryland in week two will be a good test to see where MSU is at heading into the rest of the season. If Michigan State can win that game then they should have no issues making a bowl game. But if they were to lose, especially if it isn’t even close, then there will be some major question marks the rest of the year.