Michigan State Football has played the toughest schedule this season

Michigan State football has had a disappointing season but a part of why that is because of their tough schedule this year.

Whether or not Michigan State football has the toughest schedule in football this season is a matter of opinion. There are several teams with very challenging schedules, but Michigan State certainly has already faced a decent amount of tough opponents thus far.

The Spartans’ non-conference schedule included a game against Washington, a top-seven team from the Pac-12, and Central Michigan, a potential MAC contender. In Big Ten play, Michigan State already played Maryland and Iowa who are both 5-1 at this point of the season. The Spartans still have to play No. 3 ranked Ohio State, No. 6 Penn State, and No. 2 Michigan this season.

The Spartans lost to the Huskies who are undefeated at 5-0 and may have the best offense in all of college football. Michigan State also lost to Maryland whose only loss is a defeat on the road to top-three-ranked Ohio State. The Spartans lost on the road as well to Iowa whose only loss was to Penn State on the road and the Nittany Lions are a top-six-ranked team.

The two victories are not the most impressive as Central Michigan is 3-3 but two of the Chippewas losses were to the Spartans and Notre Dame. CMU did defeat South Alabama on the road, a team that upset Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The other team Michigan State beat was FCS opponent Richmond who is 3-3 on the season.

The purpose of explaining the tough schedule the Spartans have faced thus far is to expect Michigan State to win on the road at Rutgers to keep their bowl game hopes alive. Yes, the Scarlet Knights have four wins including Virginia Tech, and their two losses were on the road to Michigan and Wisconsin, but this is a game that the Spartans need to win.

Michigan State has faced outstanding offenses in Washington and to a lesser extent Maryland. They also face arguably one of the best defenses in the Big Ten in Iowa and the Spartans should be well-rested and prepared for Rutgers coming off of a bye week. Michigan State also played a night road game against Iowa in front of a very loud and rowdy crowd at Kinnick Stadium and they will not face a crowd like that at Rutgers on Saturday.

After coming off of a bye week, the Spartans go on the road again to face in-division opponent Rutgers this weekend.

The last 5 games of this rivalry: The Spartans have won four out of the last five games against the Scarlet Knights.

Rivalry Trophy:  No

Current Win Streak: Michigan State has won the last two games between these two schools, having a two-game winning streak in this rivalry.

Last meeting between both schools: The Spartans defeated the Scarlet Knights at home by a final score of 27-21.

Prediction: Michigan State 28 Rutgers 21