Michigan State to Play 2025 Season Finale at Ford Field

The Michigan State Spartans will once again head to the Motor City for a regular season contest at Ford Field.

Michigan State University announced Wednesday morning that the Spartans will play the Maryland Terrapins in the regular season finale at Ford Field on November 29.

Michigan State most recently played at Ford Field in the 2023 season on Thanksgiving weekend. The Spartans fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions that day, 42-0.

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"I heard from fans, donors, students, and media, all of whom universally raved about their experience at Ford Field," athletic director Alan Haller said, according to ESPN. "We witnessed what the Detroit Lions experience every game, that Ford Field can be a tremendous home field advantage. Our student-athletes dream of playing in the NFL and to have the opportunity to play in that stadium is a thrill for them as well."

While the last trip to Ford Field put the tumultuous 2023 season to rest with a whimper, the Spartans have higher expectations in 2025 in the second year under head coach Jonathan Smith.

“Playing at Ford Field is an exciting way to close out the regular season,” Smith said in a statement, according to the Detroit Free Press. “We will have an opportunity to play in one of the best venues in the NFL in front of our fans, which will create a great atmosphere and a home-field advantage for our players."

The Spartans playing at Ford Field on Thanksgiving weekend makes for another chaotic weekend this fall. As is tradition, the Detroit Lions will play at Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day and the MHSAA football state championships will be played Friday and Sunday. That's four straight days of football on the Motor City turf.

As the Detroit Free Press points out, although Ford Field holds 10,000 fewer fans than Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, approximately a third of Michigan State living alumni are from Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties. Between the weather and unfavorable opponents, drawing a crowd to Spartan Stadium on Thanksgiving has been a tough task and a game at Ford Field helps circumvent that issue.

Whether a Spartans season finale at Ford Field becomes an annual tradition or not remains to be seen. A win over Maryland to cap off a promising season as the program resurges would certainly play a role in making that possibility a reality.