With bowl eligibility on the line on senior day in East Lansing, Michigan State is set to take on Rutgers on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on FS1.

The Spartans are a one-point favorite in the game and fresh off of a win over Purdue last week. Rutgers is coming off of a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds of the game against Illinois. Both teams have lost three of their last five games.

Our Spartans Illustrated team breaks down the matchup and gives score predictions for the final game of the regular season.

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The Spartans are able to put the pieces together on offense and do just enough on defense to pull out the pivotal win for Jonathan Smith and company. Spartan fans show up to say goodbye to the seniors that stuck with the university even through the worst of times. It's a meaningful class, one that reset this program on solid footing moving forward.

Rutgers is already bowl eligible, but is coming off of a deflating loss to Illinois, so it will be interesting to see how the Scarlet Knights bounce back. On offense, the Scarlet Knights have a strong rushing attack behind running back Kyle Monangai, but RU has struggled defensively and Michigan State's offense should be able to move the ball.

The injuries for Michigan State have piled up, but as long as MSU can play a clean game and limit the turnovers, and take advantage of the opportunities in the red zone, I envision the Spartans winning this game on Saturday and becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2021.

Michigan State has shown flashes of strong play throughout the course of the year, but nothing consistent enough to believe the Spartans can pull out a win when they need to. Rutgers is a good enough team to expose some of the weaknesses we've seen all season.

MSU has some turnover issues on Saturday, and Rutgers cashes in on those turnovers to keep the Spartans out of a bowl game.

Any way you slice it, this game looks like a toss-up. The Scarlet Knights are a tough team to figure out. They have beaten a few teams that they likely shouldn't have (Virginia Tech, Washington and Minnesota), but they have also lost a head-scratcher against UCLA and got blown out by Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Rutgers is likely slightly better than Michigan State. If both teams give a B+ effort, this one will go right down to the wire. But the game is in East Lansing, on senior day, with a bowl game on the line. This just feels like a game the Spartans win by a point on a last-second field goal from midfield. That is basically what my computer says as well. Let's go with that, and let's witness the Spartans go bowling!

Michigan State won last week, but this team is still motivated to put together a complete game. The Spartans can do that against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have been a bit disappointing defensively this season. Michigan State should have success moving the football. As always, the big question is whether the Spartans can score seven points instead of three in the red zone.

If Michigan State’s defense can contain Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai, I like its chances to win this game. Even though Michigan State’s secondary is depleted, Rutgers is not built to throw the ball all over the yard. I’ll take the Spartans in a close game at home to close out the regular season.

I'll be the Negative Nancy here. Rutgers has been playing much better football lately than MSU has. The Scarlet Knights were one silly coaching decision away from beating a ranked Illinois team and won the prior two games due to strong performances in the fourth quarter. That doesn't play well for the Spartans, who haven't outscored an FBS opponent in the second half all year.

I think Michigan State has the run defense to contain Kyle Monangai, but a very inexperienced secondary might become quite visible against an experienced quarterback that's having a solid year in Athan Kaliakmanis.

A competent Scarlet Knights squad proves too much for a depleted MSU defense and inconsistent offense. The Spartans can’t find enough yards in the second half to go bowling and are frozen out of the postseason.

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