Michigan State vs. Minnesota
Michigan State and Minnesota have 50 meetings on file, the first in 1950; Michigan State leads the series 30–20 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s even at 5–5, and Minnesota has won the last 3. Share
- Michigan State wins
- 30
- Minnesota wins
- 20
- Ties
- 0
- Earliest on file
- 1950
- Longest streak
- 17 Michigan State
- Current streak
- 3 Minnesota
- Last 10 meetings
- even at 5–5
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 4–3 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 0–5 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 5–3 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 8–0 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 6–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 2–5 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 5–0 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 0–3 |
- Both ranked
- 2 meetings: Michigan State 1, Minnesota 1
- Average margin
- 14.4 points; 18 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Michigan State
- 17–7 Michigan State’s record at home
- At Minnesota
- 13–13 Minnesota’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 4
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Michigan State’s biggest win2004: Michigan State 51, Minnesota 17by 34 points
- Minnesota’s biggest win2022: Minnesota 34, Michigan State 7by 27 points
- Upset1980: Michigan State 30, Minnesota 12Michigan State had a 31% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1958: Minnesota 39, Michigan State 12Minnesota had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1972: Minnesota 14, Michigan State 10Minnesota had a 34% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1956: Minnesota 14, Michigan State 13No. 3 Michigan State at No. 17 Minnesota
- Ranked showdown2003: Michigan State 44, Minnesota 38No. 15 Michigan State at No. 25 Minnesota
Coach against coach
| Years | Michigan State | Series | Minnesota |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–1971 | Duffy Daugherty | 3–9 | Murray Warmath |
| 1976–1978 | Darryl Rogers | 2–1 | Cal Stoll |
| 1980–1982 | Frank Waters | 3–0 | Joe Salem |
| 1986–1991 | George Perles | 4–0 | John Gutekunst |
| 2003–2006 | John Smith | 2–2 | Glen Mason |
| 2011–2013 | Mark Dantonio | 3–0 | Jerry Kill |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Michigan State’s side (Daugherty 3–9 against Warmath). 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
| Adam Weber Minnesota | 19 of 31, 416 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT | 2009 Passing | |
| Le’Veon Bell Michigan State | 35 carries, 266 yards, 1 TD | 2012 Rushing | |
| Edwin Baker Michigan State | 27 carries, 179 yards, 4 TD | 2010 Rushing | |
| Da’Jon McKnight Minnesota | 9 catches, 173 yards, 3 TD | 2011 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1950 · Evening star, Nov 12, 1950
1953 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 4, 1953
1955 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 13, 1955
1957 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 17, 1957
1962 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 4, 1962
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.
On television
| 2025 | BTN | 1.0 million viewers |
Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.