"I think we're kind of mirrors of each other," Fitzgerald said. "First-year head coaches, both with 50-plus guys that are new to the roster [high school recruits and transfers]. You've got to do a ton of research on where coordinators have been, where the head coach has been. So that's been ongoing all offseason."

Both rosters were constructed similarly, with MSU bringing in 29 transfers and Toledo bringing in 37. It's a common theme in today's era of college football, where roster turnover is amplified by a coaching change, making it difficult to know what to expect from first-year head coaches when much of the roster and staff have never played together.

But that's where the similarities end, both in how the two coaches arrived and in how they built their rosters through the transfer portal.

When Jacobs leads his team onto the field Friday, it will be his first game as an FBS head coach. The 47-year-old has compiled an impressive 94-23 record over 10 seasons, but it has all come at the Division II or FCS level.

His last stop was Mercer, an FCS program where he spent the past two seasons. He compiled a 20-6 record, including a 15-1 mark in conference play, and took the Bears to the FCS playoffs both seasons, a level of success that led many to follow him to Toledo. He brought seven coaches from Mercer, headlined by defensive coordinator Jahmal Brown, who is entering his eighth season working alongside Jacobs. Fourteen of Toledo's 37 transfers also came from Mercer, including reigning FCS Defensive Player of the Year, junior defensive end Andrew Zock.

"He's an excellent football player, somebody that we'll certainly know where he is. I say that in the most respectful way because he's earned our attention," MSU offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said of Zock. "Very productive player. Physical, strong, high effort ... he was obviously the FCS Defensive Player of the Year, so the production speaks for itself."

Though Friday will be Fitzgerald's first game wearing the green and white, it's far from his first game as a head coach at the FBS level. The 51-year-old has coached and won the second-most games among active Big Ten coaches, trailing only Iowa's Kirk Ferentz — a record built over a 17-year career at his alma mater, Northwestern, where Fitzgerald got his start 20 years ago.

But even though he arrived in East Lansing with the accolades, his three-year absence from college football meant he had no players or coaches he could bring from his previous school. He had to start from scratch.

Jacobs might be a little more familiar with his squad, but the question becomes whether his coaches and key players from an FCS program can compete at the FBS level, and in this first game specifically, at a Big Ten level.

For Fitzgerald, meanwhile, the question shouldn't be whether MSU has the talent to compete. His recruiting strategy of securing competitive depth landed 13 players from Power Four schools, not including other impact players like running back Cam Edwards and offensive tackle Ben Murawski, both redshirt seniors who were pivotal in a 9-4 season at UConn. The real question is whether all these players and coaches from different programs can mesh together.

Friday night will show whether the Spartans spent the offseason building a roster capable of competing in the Big Ten. Even with Toledo bringing in the best transfer class in the MAC and the excitement of a new coach, MSU should still control the game from start to finish. Take last season, for example: The Spartans went just 4-8 and still handled Western Michigan, the 2025 MAC champion, 23-6 in last year's opener, where MSU scored just two points in the second half, on a safety.

"As far as who we are and what we are about, yeah I got a pretty good idea," Fitzgerald said. "But I think when I see you guys Friday night, maybe Saturday morning around 1 a.m. I think I'll know a lot about my team."

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. Friday in East Lansing for the season opener between the Spartans and the Rockets. The game will be broadcast on FS1.