OT: Sparty schedules 3 games vs. Boise State: 2012, 2022, 2023

Submitted by Communist Football on

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced Friday, Oct. 29 that the Spartans have signed contracts for a three-game series with Boise State. The Spartans will kick off the series with Boise State on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, in East Lansing, Mich. The 2012 season and home opener will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Michigan State's 2012 seven-game home schedule features Boise State, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska and Northwestern.

The second contract is for a home-and-home series, beginning Sept. 17, 2022, in the 33,500-seat Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos will make the return trip to Spartan Stadium on Sept. 16, 2023.

"We're extremely excited about this special opportunity to kick off the 2012 season with a nationally televised game against Boise State, the nation's winningest football program since 1997 (140-31, .819)," Hollis said. "As we try an innovative concept with a Friday night Labor Day weekend game, we couldn't pull something like this off without campus-wide cooperation.

"Since Michigan (K-12) schools don't begin fall classes until after Labor Day, high school teams will play their football games on Thursday that week, making this is a great way for our fans to kickoff the holiday weekend. By scheduling the Boise State game on a Friday night, it's also our hope that the tourism industry will receive a positive bump since most fans will now have the opportunity to make plans to enjoy the entire Labor Day weekend."

Michigan State has compiled a 6-2 record (.750) against current members of the Western Athletic Conference (1-0 vs. Fresno State, 4-1 vs. Hawaii, 1-0 vs. Idaho and 0-1 vs. Louisiana Tech).

In the last 18 months, Michigan State has announced home-and-home series with West Virginia (2014-15), Alabama (2016-17) and Miami-Fla. (2020-21) as well as the extension of its series with Notre Dame through the 2031 season, with two-year breaks in 2014-15, 2020-21 and 2026-27.

"With teams like Boise State, West Virginia, Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame on our future schedules, our fans can look forward to a lot of special game days in Spartan Stadium, as we continue to bring the top programs in college football to our state," Hollis said.

BlueTimesTwo

October 29th, 2010 at 11:58 PM ^

I am glad to see another BCS team willing to schedule BSU.  It will be interesting to see whether both teams can continue to play at the level that they have this season, or if one or both will regress.

MSU loses a lot of starters this year, and will lose Cousins after next year.  BSU loses Pettis and Young (their two best receivers), Avery at RB and a number of defensive starters next year, and will lose Moore at QB (who already set the record for most TDs by a BSU QB last week) after next year.  MSU has a brutal schedule next year, which could take the shine off of this year in a hurry.  BSU also upgrades their own schedule somewhat next year in their first year in the MWC (minus the MWC defections, of course).  All in all, it provides an intriguing matchup with some interesting story lines.

HW_Blue

October 30th, 2010 at 9:50 AM ^

I'm a longtime lurker, but joined because this relates to an issue that I've been upset about for awhile.

I've had season tickets for 17 years and am a Blue donor for season tickets.  They make us shell out $50+ (plus my $250 "donation" for 2 tickets) for games against Delaware St and UMass, and when they finally schedule a game against a school like Alabama, it's essentially a road game for alum that live in Michigan.

If MSU can find common dates to schedule home and homes with schools like Alabama, W. Virginia and Boise St, then so can UM.

I understand it means giving up some non-conference revenue games, but Brandon needs to find a way to schedule the best teams to play in the Big House.

boat86

October 30th, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^

I see it this way,  at this point MSU is already  "Champions of the West"    Once we beat Boise State,  we will retain our title.