Michigan State football: Update to 2024 non-conference schedule

Louisiana has opted out of its 2024 matchup with Michigan State football in East Lansing. The schedule is officially incomplete.

The 2024 Michigan State football season can’t come soon enough. We’ve had a rough couple of years in East Lansing, but hope has been restored with Jonathan Smith taking over.

The Spartans’ schedule for next season has been set for some time now, but it appears a change may be coming to the non-conference portion of the schedule. Matt Wenzel with MLive shared this on X.com this morning regarding one of their non-conference opponents.

Louisiana announced today it has replaced its Sept. 14 game at Michigan State with one against Wake Forest on Sept. 28.

— Matt Wenzel (@mwenzel2) January 10, 2024

Louisiana is off the schedule

For reasons unknown, Louisiana has cancelled its trip to East Lansing this season and have added Wake Forest to its schedule. Michigan State and Louisiana were scheduled to play in the Spartans’ third game of the season on Sept. 14 before this news.

What does Michigan State do now? It’s going to be difficult to find an opponent with the 2024 schedules set for nearly every school, so the options will be limited. I imagine a Group of Five school will take that place since the Spartans do have a Power Five non-conference opponent on their schedule already.

MSU travels to Boston College on Sept. 21, so I find it unlikely to add a Power Five opponent. The Spartans typically only play one Power Five non-conference opponent every season, so I would guess this trend continues.

MSU 2024 schedule

Here is how Michigan State’s 2024 schedule looks as of now:

Aug. 31: Florida Atlantic
Sept. 7: @ Maryland
Sept. 14: OPEN
Sept. 21: @ Boston College
Sept. 28: Ohio State
Oct. 5: @ Oregon
Oct. 19: Iowa
Oct. 26: @ Michigan
Nov. 2: Indiana
Nov. 16: @ Illinois
Nov. 23: Purdue
Nov. 30: Purdue

Another important note is that the new opponent will need to be willing to play Michigan State in East Lansing. Nobody wants to play three road games in a row, so whoever our opponent will be will have to come to East Lansing.

I’m excited to see who the new opponent is. It unfortunately won’t be an exciting team, but it’s always fun to know who we’re playing regardless. I expect Michigan State football will try and get a team scheduled as soon as possible, so stay tuned for more news soon(ish).