Michigan State Spartans football
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| Michigan State Spartans football | |||
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| First season | 1896 | ||
| Staff | |||
| Athletic director | Mark Hollis | ||
| Head coach | Mark Dantonio | ||
| 1st year, 7–6 | |||
| Stadium | |||
| Home stadium | Spartan Stadium (East Lansing) | ||
| Stadium capacity | 75,005 | ||
| Stadium surface | Grass | ||
| Location | East Lansing, Michigan | ||
| League/Conference | |||
| Conference | Big Ten | ||
| Team records | |||
| All-time record | 592–403–44 (.569) | ||
| Postseason bowl record | 7–11 | ||
| Awards | |||
| National titles | 3 | ||
| Conference titles | 9 | ||
| All-Americans | 73 | ||
| Pageantry | |||
| Colors | Green and White | ||
| Fight song | MSU Fight Song | ||
| Mascot | Sparty | ||
| Marching band | Spartan Marching Band | ||
| Rivals | Michigan Wolverines Notre Dame Fighting Irish Penn State Nittany Lions |
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| Website | MSUSpartans.com | ||
The Michigan State Spartans football program competes in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State has won or shared a total of six national championships (1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1965 and 1966) and nine Big Ten championships. Currently 20 former Spartans are playing in the NFL.[citation needed]
Today, the team competes in Spartan Stadium, a 75,005 person football stadium in the center of campus, though frequently the stadium holds more than 80,000 spectators. Michigan State hired Mark Dantonio on November 27, 2006 as head coach. MSU's traditional archrival is the University of Michigan, against whom they compete for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan State is one of three Big Ten teams to have an annual non-conference football game against the University of Notre Dame. The Spartans also share a rivalry with Penn State with the game being the final game for both teams in the regular season.
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[edit] History
Football has a long tradition at Michigan State. Starting as a club sport in 1884, football gained varsity status in 1896.[1] During the 1950s when Detroit was known as the world's leading automobile manufacturer, Michigan State was often referred to as the nation's "football factory." It was then that the Spartans churned out such impressive models as Lynn Chandnois, Dorne Dibble, Don McAulliffe, Tom Yewcic, Sonny Grandelius, Bob Carey, Don Coleman, Earl Morrall and Dean Look. In 1951, the Spartans finished undefeated and untied to claim a share of the national championship with Tennessee. The following year the team was again unbeaten and untied. They ended the 1952 season with the nation's longest winning streak (24 games) and were named the undisputed national champions by every official poll.[citation needed]
The team was admitted into the Big Ten as a regular member in 1953. They promptly went on to capture the league championship (losing only one game during the season) and beating UCLA in their first Rose Bowl game. After the 1953 season Biggie Munn, the Spartan coach, turned the team over to his protégé Duffy Daugherty. The team won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988.
As of 2007, Michigan State is one of only five of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams to have never played a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team since the division was made in 1978.[2]
[edit] Head Coach
On November 27, 2006 Mark Dantonio was hired from the University of Cincinnati to become Michigan State's new head coach. Dantonio served as an assistant coach at Michigan State from 1995-2000. Dantonio was Ohio State's defensive coordinator during their 2002 national championship season.[3] He was also an assistant at Kansas and Youngstown State University.
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[edit] Stadiums
Until the 1920s, Michigan State's football team played on Old College Field just northwest of the current stadium. In the early 1920s school officials decided to construct a new stadium to replace Old College Field. College Field, the future Spartan Stadium was ready in the fall of 1923 with a capacity of 14,000. Over the years the stadium grew. In 1935 the seating capacity was increased to 26,000 and the facility was dedicated as Macklin Field. By 1957, upper decks were added to the east and west ends, boosting the capacity to 76,000. That same season Michigan State dropped the name Macklin Stadium in favor of Spartan Stadium.[4]
After the addition of luxury boxes and club seating in 2004-2005 the capacity of the stadium grew from 72,027 to 75,005, making it the Big Ten's fifth largest stadium.[citation needed] Spartan Stadium is so loud that Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) uses a recording of the crowd noise during the 1959 Michigan State-Notre Dame game.[citation needed] For the 2007 football season the student section had around 13,000 members.[citation needed]
[edit] Records
[edit] All-Time record
As of December 9, 2007, Michigan State's all-time win/loss/tie record is 598-405-44.
[edit] National Championships
Michigan State has won two wire national championships, being declared the national champion by the AP and Coaches Polls in 1952 and the Coaches Poll in 1965. Michigan State claims national championships in an additional 4 seasons[5]:
- 1951, 1955, 1957, and 1966.
[edit] Big Ten Championships[edit] Bowl Games [6]
[edit] Trophy Games
[edit] Biggest Comeback in NCAA History
The 2006 edition to the Michigan State Spartans / Northwestern Wildcats football game featured the biggest comeback in NCAA history. The Michigan State Spartans, after falling behind to the Wildcats 38-3 with 9:54 remaining in the 3rd quarter, rallied to score 38 unanswered points to defeat the Wildcats 41-38. It did not, unfortunately, turn around the Spartans season, as they went on to lose their final four games to finish the season 4-8. [edit] Game of the Century
The 1966 Michigan State vs. Notre Dame football game ("The Game of the Century") remains one of the greatest, and most controversial, games in college football history.[7] The game was played in Michigan State's Spartan Stadium on November 19th, 1966. Michigan State entered the contest 9-0 and ranked #2, while Notre Dame entered the contest 8-0 and ranked #1. Notre Dame elected not to try for the endzone on the final series, thus the game ended in a 10-10 tie with both schools recording national championships.[8][9] [edit] Awards[edit] Players[edit] Coach
[edit] College Football Hall of Famers
[edit] Pro Football Hall of Famers[edit] Canadian Football Hall of Fame[edit] Michigan State's All-Time TeamChosen in 2001 by Athlon Sports [1]
[edit] Notable players[edit] Current NFL players[edit] Other famous players[edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[edit] References
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