Michigan State football announces third Friday night game of year

Michigan State football has announced that the opener against FAU will be on a Friday night this season. The tradition continues.

Just the other week, it was announced that Michigan State football would be playing on the road at Oregon and at home against Purdue on Fridays. On Thursday, news broke that a third Friday night game would be added to the 2024 schedule.

The Friday night game we all expected to be announced last week has officially dropped. As expected, the Spartans will kick off Jonathan Smith’s inaugural season as head coach in East Lansing on the Friday of Labor Day weekend.

first three weeks are locked in 🔒 pic.twitter.com/9EQostNQ3O

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) May 30, 2024

Michigan State will host the FAU Owls on Friday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. ET. We’ve grown accustomed to opening the season on a Friday night over the course of the last couple of years. This will be no different in 2024.

Also announced were kick times for the Spartans’ matchup at Maryland and in Week 3 hosting Prairie View A&M.  Both games get the mid-afternoon slot of 3:30 p.m.

Given the college schedule, Michigan State will play a quarter of its games on a Friday night. It feels a lot like high school.

Regardless of what day the games are played, Smith and the new staff in East Lansing will aim to kick off the Smith era on a high note. Given what the sportsbooks think, the program only needs to amass five wins to exceed expectations with a win total of 4.5. Making a bowl game would be icing on the cake for a program going through a complete remodel.

I like kicking the season off on a Friday night. I get to enjoy the Saturday games without the stress of watching my team play and gives me some extra lake time during the holiday weekend. The other two Friday night games I could live without.