See which bowls the Spartans are predicted to play in after four games.
Even though Michigan State suffered its first defeat of the 2025 season, a 45-31 loss to USC on Saturday night, several pundits remain optimistic about the Spartans’ chances of making it to a bowl.
Each week, two such experts from ESPN and another from CBS attempt to predict the eventual bowl season schedule. Two of those three believe Michigan State will achieve the six-win mark and advance to the 13th game.
ESPN (Schlabach): Rate Bowl vs. Baylor.
Kyle Bonagura, one of ESPN’s two bowl projectors, left Michigan State out of his bowl projections this week. The other person, Mark Schlabach, did not.
Schlabach sees Michigan State traveling to Phoenix, Arizona, to compete in the Rate Bowl against the Baylor Bears. Last year’s bowl game featured Kansas State and Rutgers, and the Wildcats won 44-41. It is also played at Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball.
If MSU were to play in the Gator Bowl, they would start off on December 26 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Technically, MSU has participated in this bowl game previously. It has changed titles multiple times, but the Spartans won the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in 2012, defeating TCU 17-16.
The Spartans and Bears have only met twice, with the most recent encounter occurring in the 2015 Cotton Bowl. MSU trailed 41-21 entering the fourth quarter but rallied and won the game by scoring all 21 points in the final 15 minutes.
CBS: Game Above Sports Bowl vs. Ohio
This is the second consecutive week that this identical bowl game and matchup have been predicted, albeit by different persons. Schlabach of ESPN projected this game last week.
CBS previously predicted that Michigan State will wind up in the Las Vegas Bowl versus Washington but now believes the Spartans will stick closer to home and face a more local opponent.
Ohio is 2-2, although both losses are to Big Ten teams (No. 1 Ohio State and Rutgers), and one win came against West Virginia. The Bobcats also won the MAC Championship last year, although this is their first year under a new coach.
Michigan State has never competed in the GameAbove Sports Bowl (formerly the Quick Lane Bowl), which takes place at Ford Field in Detroit. On Nov. 29, the Spartans will play their last regular season game versus Maryland at the same location.