Ranking MSU football's 2026 opponents from easiest to hardest matchup

Before we know it, Michigan State football will be back in our lives so there's no better time than now to look ahead to the upcoming 2026 schedule. The Spartans will look to break their four-year bowl drought this upcoming season under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald. If Fitzgerald and the Spartans are able to do that, they'll have to do it against a tough slate of games.

Michigan State's schedule consists of numerous College Football Playoff contenders and plenty of other schools that'll be in the mix to reach a bowl game this fall. So let's take a look ahead to the upcoming season and rank the games on the schedule based on difficulty from easiest to hardest. 12.

Eastern Michigan (home) Date: September 12 Chris Creighton has been the most successful coach in Eastern Michigan history, but things have fallen off a bit in the last two seasons and transfer portal has really taken a toll on Mid-American Conference (MAC) programs as a whole. So this feels like an easy choice to start off our rankings with this as the easiest game on the Spartans' 2026 schedule. 11.

Toledo (home) Date: September 4 Toledo has been a traditional power in the MAC, but longterm successful coach Jason Candle left this offseason for UConn. So what does that mean for the Rockets this upcoming season? That's still a relative unknown and they certainly could be live for an upset in the season-opener.