Illinois vs. Michigan State
Illinois and Michigan State have 50 meetings on file, the first in 1955; officially, Michigan State leads 26–21–2; as played, 27–21–2 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s even at 5–5, and Illinois has won the last 2. The NCAA vacated Michigan State’s win (2022); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
2028 at Illinois. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- Michigan State leads 26–21–2
- Illinois wins on file
- 21
- Michigan State wins on file
- 27
- Ties
- 2
- Earliest on file
- 1955
- Longest streak
- 9 Michigan State
- Current streak
- 2 Illinois
- Last 10 meetings
- even at 5–5
- Most recent
- 2026
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 2–2 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 3–3 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 2–6–1 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 7–2–1 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 2–6 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 1–5 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 2–2 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 2–1 |
- Both ranked
- 3 meetings: Illinois 2, Michigan State 1; 1 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 13.3 points; 21 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Illinois
- 11–14–1 Illinois’s record at home
- At Michigan State
- 13–10–1 Michigan State’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 5
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Illinois’s biggest win1984: Illinois 40, Michigan State 7by 33 points
- Michigan State’s biggest win2005: Michigan State 61, Illinois 14by 47 points
- Upset2006: Illinois 23, Michigan State 20Illinois had a 18% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1962: Illinois 7, Michigan State 6Illinois had a 21% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1956: Illinois 20, Michigan State 13Illinois had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1963: Illinois 13, Michigan State 0No. 8 Illinois at No. 4 Michigan State
- Ranked showdown1957: Michigan State 19, Illinois 14No. 16 Illinois at No. 8 Michigan State
- Ranked showdown1990: Illinois 15, Michigan State 13No. 24 Michigan State at No. 8 Illinois
Coach against coach
| Years | Illinois | Series | Michigan State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955–1958 | Ray Eliot | 2–2 | Duffy Daugherty |
| 1961–1966 | Pete Elliott | 3–3 | Duffy Daugherty |
| 1973–1975 | Bob Blackman | 2–0–1 | Dennis Stolz |
| 1977–1979 | Gary Moeller | 0–3 | Darryl Rogers |
| 1980–1982 | Mike White | 3–0 | Frank Waters |
| 1983–1987 | Mike White | 3–1–1 | George Perles |
| 1988–1991 | John Mackovic | 2–2 | George Perles |
| 1997–1999 | Ron Turner | 0–3 | Nick Saban |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Illinois’s side (Eliot 2–2 against Daugherty). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Sydney Brown Illinois | 13 tackles, 2 INT, 1 TD | 2019 Defense | |
| James Kreutz Illinois | 15 tackles, 1 sack, 1 for loss | 2026 Defense |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1955 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 23, 1955
1956 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 28, 1956
1963 · The chronicle, Mississippi, Nov 29, 1963
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.