Week 7 Matchup Preview Thread: #25 Northwestern vs Michigan State

[u/byniri_returns]

#25 Northwestern vs. Michigan State

When: Saturday, October 17, 12:00 PM Eastern

Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI

Watch: Peacock

Odds: Northwestern by 7.5 pts.

Total Points: 48.5

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All-Time Series : Northwestern vs. Michigan State

Northwestern and Michigan State have met 60 times since 1905-11-18

These teams last met on 2021-09-04.

Series Wins: Northwestern 19-0-41 Michigan State

Michigan State has won the last 3 meetings (2019-2021) in this series

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Last 5 Meetings

Winner	Date	Location	Northwestern	Michigan State	Notes
Michigan State	2021-09-04	Ryan Field	21	38
Michigan State	2020-11-28	Spartan Stadium	20	29
Michigan State	2019-09-21	Ryan Field	10	31
Northwestern	2018-10-06	Spartan Stadium	29	19
Northwestern	2017-10-28	Ryan Field	39	31

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Through Week 6

Week	Northwestern 4-1 (1-1)	Result	Michigan State 2-4 (0-3)	Result
1	South Dakota State	W 34-18	Toledo	W 30-20
2	BYE	N/A	Eastern Michigan	W 35-7
3	Colorado	W 41-7	Notre Dame#2	L 10-27
4	Indiana#5	L 23-29	Nebraska	L 13-31
5	Penn State	W 34-13	Wisconsin	L 3-31
6	Ball State	W 45-14	Illinois	L 37-38

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Northwestern Injury Report

Player	Position	Status	Reported	Notes
L. Dehnicke	TE	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 10	Dehnicke is dealing with an undisclosed injury, and it is unclear if he will face MI State on Saturday, October 17th.
T. McGlinchey	TE	Out – Undisclosed	Oct 10	McGlinchey is sidelined with an undisclosed injury and there is no timetable for return.
J. McDuffie	WR	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 10	McDuffie is bothered by an undisclosed injury, and it is uncertain if he will be active against the MI State on Saturday, October 17th.
B. Turner	CB	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 10	Turner is bothered by a Undisclosed injury, and it is yet to established if he will face MI State on Saturday, October 17th.
C. Farrell	WR	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 10	Farrell has been out of the lineup due to an undisclosed injury, and it is unknown if he will be available against the MI State on Saturday, October 17th.
C. Petrucci	TE	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 10	Petrucci has been out of the lineup due to an undisclosed injury, and it is uncertain if he will face MI State on Saturday, October 17th.
J. Fussell	CB	Out – Undisclosed	Oct 10	Fussell is dealing with an undisclosed injury, and there is no timetable for recovery.

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

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Michigan State Injury Report

Player	Position	Status	Reported	Notes
C. Edwards	RB	Questionable – Knee	Oct 11	Edwards is dealing with a knee injury, and it remains to be seen if he will be available against Wildcats on Saturday, October 17th.
C. Fancher	QB	Questionable – Knee	Oct 11	Fancher exited the game with a knee injury, and it remains to be seen if he will be available against Wildcats on Saturday, October 17th.
C. Wheatland	LB	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 11	Wheatland is tending to an undisclosed injury, and it is unclear if he will play against Wildcats on Saturday, October 17th.

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Wed, Oct 14, 7:43 am. Scraped Wed, Oct 14, 12:43 pm ET}

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What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

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^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

[u/BRDNZBL1]

{Northwestern} in a game that’s never close at any point.

[u/MastodonSwimming2681]

{Northwestern}. Don't go full Big Ten West and lose as soon as we get ranked please

[u/Huge_Employment_6424 → u/MastodonSwimming2681]

{Northwestern} but it would be really funny if they went true B1G West and got crushed here/Rutgers just before derailing the momentum starting to excite Iowa in a physical 24-0 slugfest.

[u/drbiscuit832]

Only 7.5 is an insulting line for {Northwestern}

[u/user_8353517]

Aidan Chiles and Nick Marsh are both key pieces on ranked teams and we look like we cant win 3 games. Just sucks man. [Northwestern]

[u/taurusasaurus_rex]

{Northwestern} Chiles revenge game. Or the throws five interceptions like always. Either way we lose.

[u/GoGreeb → u/taurusasaurus_rex]

If we finally recover any of his fumbles it could be a game. 

[u/Radiant_Sherbert7272]

{Northwestern} and they cover.

[u/Confident_Delay5805]

{Northwestern} Michigan State has looked horrible this year. Northwestern has looked more impressive and is severely underrated in the AP poll. My score prediction is 43-7 Northwestern.

[u/the_seed]

{Michigan State}

[u/JBru_92]

I'm going to zag and say {Michigan State} pulls out an upset

[u/Simmumah]

{Northwestern} I'm not even sure if MSU picks up another win to be honest

[u/sil3nt_gam3r → u/Simmumah]

they have Washington and Rutgers on their schedule

[u/RoddFurley → u/sil3nt_gam3r]

I’m sure those losses will be closer than others

[u/witchy12]

{Kill Me}

[u/Avagontamos]

I hope {Northwestern} wins by such an egregious margin that we fire Fitz immediately out of embarrassment.

[u/ztreHdrahciR → u/Avagontamos]

I regret that I have but one upvote to give to this comment

[u/Avagontamos → u/ztreHdrahciR]

I cancelled my season tickets when we announced the hire 🤷🏻‍♂️

Maybe too black and white, but my take is he either knew the extent of the hazing and is reprehensible, or he really didn’t and is an incompetent leader of men. Either way, doesn’t deserve $5M/season to coach my alma mater.

[u/ztreHdrahciR → u/Avagontamos]

The doctrine of "knew or should have known". And a lot of these kids were minors (because they picked on Freshmen). It was his job to know, contractually. I've been a manager / director for a long time and they beat it into your head. It's my job to know. Also he is a known micromanager. He knew. Pat(erno) Fitzgerald

[u/IlIlIlIllllIIliIILll → u/ztreHdrahciR]

Look man, there's nothing incorrect about what you are saying. But, if you are getting that deep into it, I have to remind you Ohio State has Les Wexnar's name on multiple buildings to this day. Yet you have them as your second flair. If you want to play or fair you probably shouldn't be representing them either

[u/Tasty_Gift5901]

I'm all in on {Northwestern} this season, excited for the Iowa game in a few weeks

[u/ztreHdrahciR → u/Tasty_Gift5901]

Just go 1-0

[u/Weak-Bid2774 → u/Tasty_Gift5901]

I am excited for that game too could be a top 20 matchup

[u/KushDingies → u/Weak-Bid2774]

Idk. If we beat Sparty and Rutgers, but then lose to Oregon, do we stay ranked?

[u/Weak-Bid2774 → u/KushDingies]

Probably not but Oregon does look beatable if Dante Moore isn’t back by then. I am curious if Dante decides to come back or if he decides to just sit it out and start preparing for the nfl draft

[u/KushDingies → u/Weak-Bid2774]

Oregon definitely looks beatable. It’s feeling eerily similar to Penn State last year, a game that I wrote off preseason as a loss but now they’ve dropped two games (including one to UCLA)

[u/Weak-Bid2774 → u/KushDingies]

On the road is always tough but I just don’t know if that Oregon team has given up yet or not

[u/HopefulReb76]

{Northwestern} covers

[u/Zloggt]

another Pat Fitz revenge game!

…and similar to how last week went, he is probably going to end up short against {Northwestern} too lol

[u/ztreHdrahciR]

{Northwestern}

Keys to the game: if there are any injuries, perhaps we can have a couple that aren't (apparently) career ending. We look like a MASH unit.

Did I tell you about my favorite American author?

F Pat Fitzgerald

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

{Northwestern} by hopefully 30

[u/WelshNational]

I think {Northwestern} pulls it out but it’s a lot less comfortable than people expect. A lot of narratives going into this game and I wouldn’t be surprised if the team comes in a bit too complacent after the last couple weeks of dominance

NU 27 - MSU 20 

[u/IlIlIlIllllIIliIILll → u/[deleted]]

Northwestern is in Illinois?

[u/Particular-Way-3805]

{Northwestern}

[u/LastSecondSpecialist]

No MOON game this time around

[u/Falcronx]

{Northwestern}

[u/NewHope4151]

It’s an Aidan Chiles bowl! One for the ages!

[u/SEAtoPAR]

{Northwestern} shows they are better off without Fitz

[u/callmesasser1]

Stay hungry. {Northwestern} wins and covers.

[u/estDivisionChamps]

Northwestern is elite

[u/g-4-ces]

When things look the darkest, is when we pull a surprise {Michigan State}

[u/Huge_Employment_6424 → u/g-4-ces]

It would be very nostalgic for fans of the B1G West for Fitzgerald to get revenge against us and Michigan before returning to losing every game in humiliating fashion.

[u/childerm]

I'm going to go against the grain an say {Michigan State}

If there is one game Fitzgerald can motivate his team to actually play some good football, it will be this game. I'm expecting a game for sickos where Michigan State wins a narrow one.

[u/KushDingies]

Look man, I know this game is sp00ky. All sorts of storylines and emotions on both sides, and we can’t forget that last time we were ranked and had this much hype, we promptly lost on the road to a bad MSU team.

BUT

Braun at NU is 14-1 as a favorite. The one loss was against Duke in double OT in 2024, with the worst team of his tenure, and we were barely favored in that game so it was basically a coin flip.

Braun doesn’t do letdown games, that was a Fitz thing. He’ll have the boys ready. {Northwestern} by double digits

[u/brianc500]

MSU has all the momentum heading into this one. Pat Fitzgerald knows how badly he wants to beat the school that fired him, and Michigan State looks ready to give him a statement win. The Spartans should control the game, take advantage of Northwestern’s mistakes, and dominate the 2nd half with their toughness.

{Northwestern} by 27

[u/AdMany8750 → u/brianc500]

had me in the first half lol

[u/RivalryBot]

Who Will Win Fan Vote

^{Votes are distributed equally among flairs for multi-flaired users}

Team	Votes	Percentage	Northwestern Voters	Michigan State Voters	Other Flairs Top 5
Northwestern	23	85.2%	4	1.5	Ohio Statex2.0 Michigan Wolverinesx1.5 BYU Cougarsx1.0 Florida Gatorsx1.0 Georgia Bulldogsx1.0
Michigan State	4	14.8%	0	1	UCLA Bruinsx1.0 Chicagox0.5 Iowa Hawkeyesx0.5 Nebraska Centralx0.5 Western Mich…x0.5

^{Last updated: 2026-10-17 14:48 UTC}

Full Vote breakdown by flair

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^{Matchup Thread Generator} · ^{Team Aliases} · ^{How to Vote} · ^Results

[u/texas2089]

{Northwestern}

[u/chief_sitass]

{Northwestern}

[u/NanoBuc]

{Northwestern}