2026 Northwestern Football Know Your Opponent: Michigan State Spartans

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For Northwestern’s second road game of the season, the Wildcats will be up against a very familiar face as they take on Pat Fitzgerald’s Michigan State Spartans. Yup, Pat Fitzgerald. On Oct. 17, Northwestern will be in East Lansing for a matchup with its former head coach, and a matchup against its likely starting quarterback’s former team.

The Basics

Returning Production: 46% overall (48% offense, 45% defense); 97th in FBS

2025 Record: 4-8 (1-8 B1G)

Head Coach: Pat Fitzgerald (first season)

The Stats

2026 SP+ Overall: 67th

2026 SP+ Offense: 61st

2026 SP+ Defense: 69th

2026 SP+ Special Teams: 105th

2025 Capsule

After a 3-0 start to the 2025 season, Michigan State lost eight straight games. EIGHT. Although the Spartans did finish the season with an offensive showcase and a victory against Maryland, the eight straight losses in Big Ten play were not pretty. Michigan State’s starting quarterback in Week 1, Aidan Chiles, was replaced by Alessio Milivojevic during the season, largely due to a nagging injury. Beyond that, Jonathan Smith was fired after his two-year experiment didn’t go as planned in East Lansing. Michigan State finished 17th in the Big Ten last year and was simply a bad football team.

Offensive Overview

Although Fitzgerald brought his long-time offensive coordinator at Northwestern with him in Mike Bajakian, he won’t have the same role with the Spartans. Instead, the OC for Michigan State is Nick Sheridan, who comes from the Kalen DeBoer coaching tree. It likely means MSU’s offense will be similar to DeBoer’s teams, so an intermediate-to-deep passing attack is projected. Milivojevic returns to be the cog for this new offense after he showed promise for the Spartans in his time at quarterback last season. He has only four FBS career starts, but for Michigan State fans, his small sample size is enough to get excited about when projected over an entire season.

As for running backs, the room is pretty crowded with three returners and four incoming transfers. My best guess is that UConn transfer Cam Edwards will be the primary back, but Iowa transfer Jaziun Patterson, returner Brandon Tullis, and Western Kentucky transfer Marvis Parrish could all see their fair share of work. Parrish is especially interesting as he had over 100 plays from scrimmage as a true freshman.

As far as receiving options go, tight end is a big question mark. The Spartans have no tight ends on their roster who played meaningful Division I FBS or FCS football in 2025. The most intriguing player is Division II transfer Carson Gulker, who caught 34 passes for 548 yards and seven touchdowns last season. While that was his fourth collegiate season, he was a quarterback the three years prior. That also likely explains why he turned 81 carries into 541 yards and five touchdowns in 2025, even while playing tight end. If Gulker’s game transfers over from Division II, he could be a huge impact player for the Spartans. When it comes to wide receivers, Michigan State’s top two options from last season are both gone: Nick Marsh to Indiana and Omari Kelly to the NFL. The WR room has a lot of questions, as the Spartans didn’t pursue much at the position in the transfer portal, and their returning production from a season ago isn’t much to write home about.

Michigan State’s offensive line a season ago saw 10 players log meaningful snaps. Seven of those players are gone, but the three that remain, including Conner Moore, who played over 90% of offensive snaps at both left and right tackle, should slot in to start on the O-line. The remaining starting spots will likely go to incoming transfers, with North Dakota State center transfer Trent Fraley coming to the Spartans as a very accomplished player at the FCS level.

Defensive Overview

Defensively, Fitzgerald decided to keep Joe Rossi from the previous MSU staff. Fitzgerald also hired a couple of strong position coaches to help with the defense. Starting on the defensive line, new D-line coach Winston DeLattiboudere will need to turn the defensive tackle room around after the Spartans lost their top four contributors from 2025. Ben Roberts and Eli Coenen both returning should at least provide some stability, with both players likely to get the starting nods, but depth remains a concern. As for defensive end/edge rusher, it’s a similar type of deal. Michigan State lost four of its five biggest EDGE contributors. Isaac Smith is the returner who should slot in automatically as a starter, with two FCS transfers likely to fight for the starting nod opposite Smith. The Spartans also have both returner Anelu Lafaele and transfer Kenny Soares Jr. listed at EDGE on their roster, despite both projecting more as off-ball linebackers, like Soares Jr.‘s role in the past under Fitzgerald.

The strength of MSU’s defense should be linebacker, with tackle-leader Jordan Hall back for another year. He’s partnered up with the other likely starter in Auburn transfer Caleb Wheatland, who led Maryland in sacks back in 2024. Two other transfers are projected to back them up, and this unit should be the backbone of the Spartans’ defense.

For the secondary, it had a similar 2025 as the offensive line, with many players seeing meaningful reps. Unlike the O-line, though, almost all of those players are no longer with Michigan State. That leaves the Spartans’ new coaching staff with their only true “empty” position group, with MSU’s four secondary transfers and Nikai Martinez returning from injury likely projecting as the five starters. The cornerback room does look stronger than the safety room, but only time will tell how this coaching staff pieces together the secondary.

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