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Mitten Masterkey

Mitten Masterkey: Week 1, Friday-Saturday fun

Week 1 has finally arrived and Mitten Football has your one-stop-shop to stay on top of all the action across Michigan this weekend.

Andrew Graham

— 3 min read
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Mitten Masterkey: Week 1, Friday-Saturday fun
(Andrew Graham/Mitten Football)

The 2026 season has fully arrived, with all five Mitten FBS teams getting in on the action over the next 30 hours as Michigan State and Eastern Michigan kick off on Friday night, followed by the remaining three teams — Michigan, Central Michigan and Western Michigan — getting going on Saturday night. 

Lots to cover, lots to catch up on, and it’s all wrapped up in a neat little bow in the Mitten Masterkey, back for 2026 to be your guide for the weekend schedule, TV assignments, pregame reading and more. 

Let’s dig in. 

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Mitten Football will be at…

  • Friday: Spartan Stadium for MSU-Toledo (apologies to Joey Chestnut) 
  • Saturday: Michigan Stadium for WMU-UM

No Georgia O’Keefe-maxxing in Albuquerque, sadly.  

A quick game coverage note

Due to a number of factors — the declining utility of a buzzer gamer, X/Twitter limiting posts — the plan this season is for Mitten Football to have a live updates file going during whichever game is being covered in person, close that out at the end of the game, then write unique, reported copy after the game.

That will start tonight with MSU-Toledo. The hope is it allows for some more thorough, focused and pointed in-game coverage which will be of particular utility when covering MAC games exclusively aired on ESPN+ streaming.

The schedule and TV assignments

Games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.

  • 6:30 p.m. (Friday) — Eastern Michigan vs. San Jose State, ESPN+ 
  • 8 p.m. (Friday) — Michigan State vs. Toledo, FS1/Fox One 
  • 7:30 p.m. — Michigan vs. Western Michigan, NBC/Peacock
  • 10 p.m. — Central Michigan at New Mexico, FS1/Fox One

And for the uninitiated, this master schedule absolutely rocks (just be aware times are central).

Listen to “In The Pocket”

Mitten Football is doing a podcast, with Andrew Graham and the Detroit News’ Connor Earegood covering all the CFB news, notes, happenings and the like across the Mitten each week. 

Pregame, halftime reading from Mitten Football, others

A unit to watch: Michigan State’s offensive line

The Spartans are banking on some returning players and new transfer additions to mesh together into a deeper and better unit than 2025. The top line seems to be better than a year ago, with tackle Ben Murawski coming from UConn and headlining things at left tackle with his massive — truly, massive — frame. This Toledo team isn’t the toughest defensive front Michigan State will play with teams like Notre Dame and Oregon on the schedule, but it will be a very real Week 1 test of MSU’s new offensive line to run block and pass protect. We’ll know something about how well Nick Tabacca’s group has come along after Friday night. 

A fun prediction: Central Michigan passes for 250-plus yards

In 13 games in 2025, the Chippewas went over 200 yards just four times — and went 3-1 in those contests — but only went over 250 yards once, against FCS Wagner. CMU went over 200 yards through the air against Toledo, UMass and Buffalo, and went 2-1 in those games: beating two fairly bad defenses and then taking a loss to Toledo, when the offense had to try and throw its way out of a deficit. The passing offense was what it was for CMU last year almost by choice, and this team seems poised to let the quarterbacks drop back and throw it more, and that lends to the likelihood that Week 1 against a solid defense does preclude CMU from being able to air it out a bit. The quarterbacks and pass protection should be improved, as should the pass catchers. Don’t be surprised if the Chippewas can toss it around some. 

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