Michigan State’s Last Chance for a Conference Win: How to Watch, Odds and Predictions
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The most forgettable season's finale is just a day away.
Saturday night, the Michigan State Spartans will send their limp team out onto the big field at Ford Field, hoping—somehow—to bring home one single conference win this season.
Who: Michigan State vs. Maryland
When: Saturday, November 29, 2025 — 7 p.m. ET
Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
TV: FS1
Sadly, the season has not gone the way the Spartans dreamed—or even mildly hoped—for. Eight straight losses have bled into the souls of every fan, player, and coach. A season wasted on losing, withering away in front of us like a decaying mummy.
This was once a proud program boasting NFL-caliber players year after year, paired with creative coaching that understood what it took to reach new heights. Now? It’s a wrapped-up corpse dragged out every week in hopes someone can poke it with a stick and jolt it back to life.
There’s one last chance to generate any pulse from the dead Michigan State football program before fans hibernate for the offseason and shift all MSU attention to basketball and hockey.
One last stand to salvage any dignity within the men who step onto that field. The Spartans stare down the barrel of their first-ever 0-9 Big Ten record, and when you’re trapped and cornered like a rat, there’s only one thing left to do: gnaw your way out, no matter the cost.
Vegas Picks
- Michigan State -3.5 (-115) / -175 ML
- Maryland +3.5 (-105) / +150 ML
- Over/Under: 48.5 (-110 each)
Vegas believes in Michigan State—and wouldn’t we all like to as well? This isn’t the first time the Spartans have been favored in conference play, and we all know how the first two went (both losses).
Oddsmakers not only favor MSU, but give them a 3.5-point cushion in downtown Detroit. The implied score comes out to Michigan State 27, Maryland 23.
Predictions
The Spartans will send redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic back out for his fourth career start. He’s 0-3 so far, but that includes an overtime loss at Minnesota and a gut-punch loss at the end of regulation to Iowa. Sandwiched between those was a rough outing against Penn State.
Milivojevic may be winless, but he’s kept Michigan State significantly closer in games than Chiles ever managed once Big Ten play began.
The defense has improved as well, stepping up in recent weeks—including holding Iowa’s offense scoreless for three quarters (their only touchdown came on a return).
By all accounts, this MSU team looks ready and willing to finally grab its first and only conference win of 2025.
But sadly, this game won’t be won by players alone.
Coaching matters—and Michigan State continues to roll out the Weekend at Bernie’s-level sideline presence of Jonathan Smith. It’s become an easy bet to take the opposing team. Coach Smith refuses to show the brass it takes to win football games. He coaches timid. He coaches lifeless. And I expect no tricks up the sleeve Saturday night—just the same thing we’ve seen week after week.
No, not trying to take over the world, Pinky. Just another small vanilla cone of coaching from Jonathan Smith.
Predication:
Michigan State — 23
Maryland — 24
Maryland wins. Michigan State can’t win a conference game to save their life. And they’ll retain Coach Smith moving forward, leaving the program stuck in infinite purgatory.
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