Michigan State has added games to its future football schedules. Including a series with a directional Michigan school.
Wednesday, Michigan State football announced it has added a future three-game series with Central Michigan. The dates of the new series are September 2, 2023, September 11, 2027, and August 31, 2030. All three of those games will be played at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
“There is such a great tradition between Central Michigan and Michigan State, and we are excited to build on that with this three-game series,” CMU athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement. “I appreciate the staff at Michigan State working with us to put together a series that I know our fans and alumni really look forward to and is another great opportunity to play an in-state opponent.”
A noteworthy non-MSU portion of the CMU announcement? “The game in 2023 takes the place of a contest scheduled at Alabama.”
Alabama had announced in 2018 that it would be hosting Central Michigan at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2023.
The two programs have met 11 times previously. The Spartans own an 8-3 advantage over the Chippewas. The three wins for the Chips came in 1991, 1992 and 2009. That first win, the first-ever meeting in the in-state series, was a 17-point CMU upset of then-18th-ranked MSU.
In addition to CMU, Michigan State also has a new future football date with Florida Atlantic. MSU and FAU will square off Aug. 31 of the 2024 season. In East Lansing, of course.
Those Big Ten and Conference USA schools have met three times previously. Those three meetings (2009, 2010-11) were all at Spartan Stadium. And were all wins for the Spartans by a combined score of 91-17. Two of those wins, incidentally, were by shutout.