'College GameDay' Headed to Michigan State vs. Ohio State for Week 12

A lot has changed during this wild college football season, but the headliner status of one of the year's biggest games—Michigan State vs. Ohio State—has remained intact.

While it's not the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown that looked possible earlier in the season, the Week 12 matchup between the one-loss Spartans and the undefeated Buckeyes is getting the full College GameDay treatment next Saturday.

The popular pregame show announced Saturday night it was headed to Columbus for Ohio State's home game against Michigan State. The contest will be played inside Ohio Stadium at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

As Heather Dinich of ESPN.com points out, Michigan State will be Ohio State's first opponent of the season ranked inside the College Football Playoff Top 25. The defending national champion Buckeyes are coming off a 28-3 road victory over Illinois that stretched their national-best winning streak to 23 games. 

After a slower start to the season, Ohio State has picked up the pace on both sides of the ball, beating its last five Big Ten opponents by a combined score of 192-62. The Buckeyes will now cap their regular season with much tougher tests against Michigan State and Michigan.

According to Luke Zimmermann of SB Nation's Land-Grant Holy Land, GameDay surprisingly hasn't been to Columbus in five years, dating back to the Buckeyes' 2010 game against Penn State. 

Al Goldis/Associated Press

Michigan State, on the other hand, has already been in the GameDay spotlight multiple times this season.

The show visited East Lansing in Week 2 for the Spartans' win over Oregon, and it was also in Ann Arbor for their unbelievable escape against in-state rival Michigan.

Even with a loss two weeks ago to Nebraska, Michigan State can grab the Big Ten East division with an upset win over Ohio State in the Horseshoe and a home win over Penn State in Week 13.

The Spartans rebounded from their disappointing and controversial loss to Nebraska with a 24-7 victory over struggling Maryland. Michigan State star quarterback Connor Cook left that game with an injury, but he expects to play in the monster game against Ohio State, per Kyle Austin of MLive.com.

"I'll be fine to go next week," Cook said Saturday, per Austin. "I'll be good."

The last four meetings between the Spartans and the Buckeyes—a series Ohio State dominated from 2000 to 2008—have been extremely important.

Last season, Ohio State avenged its 34-24 loss to Michigan State in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game with a 49-37 victory over the Spartans in what is now a divisional matchup.

In 2011, Michigan State knocked off Ohio State 10-7 en route to an 11-3 season. The next year, Ohio State got its revenge with a 17-16 road victory and finished the campaign with an undefeated record.

Now, the two teams will square off again with Big Ten and national championship hopes on the line. Michigan State can't afford any more slip-ups, while Ohio State doesn't have a ton of room for error in its quest to repeat as the College Football Playoff champion.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.