Michigan State’s place in the Big Ten pecking order for 2026 is about as low as it gets.
In Cleveland.com’s unofficial preseason media poll released Monday, the Spartans landed 16th out of 18 teams, with 99 points. That put them only two points ahead of Rutgers at 17th, while Purdue finished last with 45 points. Ohio State was picked as the conference favorite.
The bad news didn’t stop there for MSU. The Spartans were left off the site’s preseason all-conference team entirely. Linebacker Jordan Hall, punter Rhys Dakin, and kick returner Kenneth Williams each drew votes, but none got enough of the 31 total votes to crack the final list.
Michigan State’s ranking also stood out when stacked against the other Big Ten programs with new head coaches. Michigan was picked fifth, Penn State sixth, and UCLA 13th. The article points to those jobs being filled by more established names: Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham, who won three conference championships at Utah; Penn State’s Matt Campbell, who built a reputation for overachieving at Iowa State; and UCLA’s Bob Chesney, who guided James Madison to the College Football Playoff last year and kept the Dukes rolling after Curt Cignetti left for Indiana.
Pat Fitzgerald, by contrast, is still something of a gamble. He had a long run of punching above Northwestern’s weight, but he has also been out of the game for three years. The 2022 season now feels like a distant memory in a sport that keeps changing fast, and his 4-20 record over his final two seasons at Northwestern remains part of the conversation.
The bigger issue for Michigan State is the broader track record. The Spartans are in the middle of a four-year bowl drought, the longest in the Big Ten, and that kind of stretch makes it hard to sell a sudden leap forward. Six wins is there as a possibility, but not as a likely outcome.
A lot has to click for that to happen, starting at quarterback. Alessio Milivojevic is the key name there, and Fitzgerald could have pushed for a portal competition, but that never materialized.
MSU did bring in sixth-year senior Cam Fancher from UCF, though he reads more like a backup, while Milivojevic was already named QB1 in the spring. He got his chance late last season, starting four games at the end of the 2026 campaign.
The transfer portal class didn’t exactly change the outlook, either. On3 ranked Michigan State’s portal group 62nd in the FBS when incoming and outgoing players were both factored in, and the Spartans’ average incoming transfer rating of 66.39 ranked 11th in the Big Ten. That’s a step back from the previous offseason, when MSU’s average incoming portal player checked in at 68.24, good for 10th in the league.
That’s part of what makes the Fitzgerald hire hard to pin down. The idea was to see what he could do with competitive resources, but Michigan State appears to be giving him roughly the same level of support it gave Jonathan Smith.
Then there’s the schedule, which leaves the Spartans in a strange spot. Notre Dame and Oregon look like the clearest losses, and the trip to Michigan is also a tough one, even if rivalry games can get weird. There are 10 games that at least look winnable on paper, but the ones where MSU should truly be favored are Toledo, Eastern Michigan, and Northwestern.
The early Big Ten stretch against Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois may end up telling the story of both the season and Fitzgerald’s start in East Lansing. Michigan State is likely to enter that run 2-1, with wins over Toledo and EMU and a loss at Notre Dame.
After that, the Spartans need to steal one or two as an underdog. If they don’t, 2-4 could be waiting, along with another season headed in the wrong direction.
In Other News...
Michigan State Just Entered A Recruitment That Could Escalate Fast
Michigan State has jumped into the 2027 race for Jayon Connor, a four-star power forward at Forsyth Country Day School whose summer rise has started to draw real attention. The Spartans extended a scholarship offer as Connor continues working through a recruiting process that already includes multiple major programs, a sign that his profile is moving quickly as coaches take a harder look.
Connors stock got a noticeable boost after his play at the Nike EYB Peach Jam, where he showed enough improvement to earn national ranking recognition. He was unranked in June before climbing into the 247Sports Composite top 100 and near the top of the North Carolina class, and with more offers arriving in a short span, Michigan State is entering the picture at a time when this recruitment still feels very much on the rise. [Read more 🡒]
MSU NIL Rankings Just Sparked One Debate Spartans Fans Know Too Well
A fresh set of estimated NIL valuations has given Michigan State fans another reason to argue about roster building, this time with the Spartans 2026 football group pegged at about $21.8 million by The NIL Standard. The sites numbers are not official and are best treated as educated guesses, but they still offer a revealing snapshot of where value might be concentrated, with starting quarterback Alessio Milivojevic sitting at the top of the board.
The more interesting part is how quickly the rankings turn into a debate over who is being rewarded, who is being overlooked and what those estimates say about the programs offseason priorities. Isaac Smith shows up as a surprising near-million-dollar name despite modest production, Charles Brantley is listed around $468,000 and appears to be valued below his past play, and the Spartans also seem to have poured real resources into the offensive line with several veteran transfers expected to start. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Fans Wont Like Where Alessio Milivojevic Was Just Placed
Alessio Milivojevics first real run as Michigan States quarterback showed enough promise to make him one of the more interesting names in the Big Ten heading into 2026. As a redshirt freshman, he threw for 1,267 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, and most of that production came after he took over for the final four games of the season.
Still, Sports Illustrateds Zach Koons did not give him much room to climb in his preseason quarterback hierarchy, slotting Milivojevic near the bottom of the Power Four group and well behind several familiar conference names. The ranking reflects the uncertainty around where Michigan States offense is headed next, with his outlook tied to whether the Spartans can give him better protection up front and cleaner support from a reshaped coaching staff. [Read more 🡒]