Michigan State football will head west to start the 2025 conference schedule.

The Big Ten on Wednesday afternoon released all the football schedules for next season, and the Spartans will open conference play at USC on Sept. 20. It’ll be the first meeting between the schools in football since 1990. USC joined the Big Ten in 2024, along with UCLA, Oregon and Washington.

MSU will start the Big Ten schedule with two road games, including at Nebraska on Oct. 4, before returning home to play UCLA on Oct. 11. It’ll be the first meeting between Michigan State and UCLA in football since 1974.

Other highlights of MSU’s 2025 schedule include a home game with Michigan on Oct. 25, and a return to playing Penn State, at home Nov. 15. Penn State and Michigan State for years played the final regular-season game of the season against each other, but that wasn’t a protected rivalry when the Big Ten expanded in 2024. The teams didn’t play in 2024, and last played in the season finale in 2023, at Ford Field Detroit.

Michigan State, which was 5-7 in 2024, Jonathan Smith’s first year as head coach, will also get a home game with Maryland in 2025, and road games with Indiana, Minnesota and Iowa.

The Spartans will play Western Michigan, Youngstown State and Boston College in nonconference games in 2025.