Michigan State football kicks off its 2025 season on Friday night against Western Michigan in an in-state battle. There's been some hype around the Spartans heading into the season, as Jonathan Smith heads into his second year as the Spartans' head coach and has had some more time to put together the roster and culture in his image this summer.

Michigan State football will be back in action tonight at Spartan Stadium as they kick off the 2025 season against the Western Michigan Broncos at 7 p.m. ET.

The Broncos made wholesale changes to a defense that gave up 192.5 rushing yards a game (112th) and 415.1 total yards (109th) a year ago that led to 31.3 points for opponents (107th).