Michigan State fans now have a Thanksgiving doubleheader to circle, and the second act comes with a prime-time feel.
According to a press release shared by Emmett Matasovsky of Spartan Shadows, the Spartans will meet Arkansas at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day.
The game will air on the CBS Televisition Network and also be available on Paramount+. The matchup had already been announced for Thanksgiving, but the tipoff time is now locked in.
That gives Spartan fans a pretty clean holiday schedule: the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears at 1 p.m. ET, then Michigan State and Arkansas a few hours later at Little Caesars Arena. For anyone who follows both teams, it’s hard to draw up a better sports day.
Michigan State is entering 2026-27 with expectations already sky-high after bringing back Jeremy Fears Jr. and keeping most of a roster that won 27 games. The Spartans did lose Jaxon Kohler, Carson Cooper, and Divine Ugochukwu.
Trey Fort struggled, and Denham Wojcik was mostly a depth option at point guard in emergency situations. Even with those departures, the group is still being viewed as one of the favorites to contend for the national title.
The Thanksgiving game also gives Michigan State a chance to keep building on its success at Little Caesars Arena. The Spartans are 6-1 all-time there.
Their wins include games against Oakland, Bucknell in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and Baylor during the 2023-24 season. The only loss came against Syracuse in that same 2018 NCAA Tournament, a low-scoring result that stunned a Michigan State team loaded with Miles Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr., Xavier Tillman, Josh Langford, Matt McQuaid, Kenny Goins, Cassius Winston, and Nick Ward.
Now Michigan State gets another shot at a ranked non-conference win in Detroit, this time against an Arkansas team that should be among the best in the country and is led by John Calipari. The Lions may own the afternoon, but the Spartans and Razorbacks should keep the city buzzing well into the night.
In Other News...
Michigan State Still Doesn't Have Clarity On J Batt's Exit
J Batts move to Kentucky is on the calendar, but Michigan State still does not have a clear end date for his run in East Lansing. Batt is set to officially start with the Wildcats on July 28, yet he remains employed by the Spartans for now, leaving the athletic department in an awkward holding pattern as the transition continues to unfold.
The uncertainty matters because Batt was brought to Michigan State on a six-year deal worth more than $12.6 million, and his exit now has to be sorted out while Kentucky prepares to hand him a new role. For the Spartans, the bigger issue is less about the destination than the timing, with no confirmed departure date and no interim athletic director announced as the calendar moves toward late July. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Finally Made Its Next Move After The Batt Exit
Michigan State has moved quickly to steady its athletic department after J Batts exit, turning to a familiar internal hand to keep things moving while the school sorts out its long-term plan. Jon Palumbo brings a useful mix of administrative experience and prior athletic-director experience from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and his background in the department should help provide continuity at a time when the Spartans have plenty of business to manage beyond the search itself.
University president Kevin Guskiewicz said he has confidence in Palumbo during the transition, and the next phase will be about more than simply filling a chair. With Batt headed to Kentucky and the department now in interim mode, Michigan State can focus on the broader question of what it wants in its next full-time athletic director, a process Guskiewicz said will take shape over the coming weeks and months. [Read more 🡒]
Why Anelu Lafaele Could Change Michigan State's Pass Rush Ceiling
Anelu Lafaeles first year at Michigan State offered just enough of a glimpse to make the Spartans wonder what might come next. After transferring from Wisconsin and sitting out the 2024 season there, he flashed as a pass rusher last fall before a foot injury cut his season short, and even in a limited sample he showed the kind of burst that can matter in a defense searching for more pressure off the edge. In just over four games, he was productive enough to put himself near the top of the teams sack race, which is part of why his return carries real weight for a pass rush that needs more impact plays.
Michigan State does have options at rush end, with Kenny Soares Jr., Isaac Smith, Kekai Burnett and Trey Lisle all in the mix, but Lafaele still stands out because of how quickly he can tilt a snap. The Spartans are likely to use him as a specialist rather than ask him to do everything, and that makes the next step even more interesting: if he can keep building back toward full strength, he could end up changing the ceiling of the entire front without needing a huge workload. [Read more 🡒]