Michigan State vs. Northwestern

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

1. Michigan State’s biggest win1989: Michigan State 76, Northwestern 14by 62 points
2. Northwestern’s biggest win2005: Northwestern 49, Michigan State 14by 35 points
3. Upset2000: Northwestern 37, Michigan State 17Northwestern had a 18% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
4. Upset1976: Northwestern 42, Michigan State 21Northwestern had a 21% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
5. Upset1982: Northwestern 28, Michigan State 24Northwestern had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
6. Ranked showdown1959: Michigan State 15, Northwestern 10No. 6 Northwestern at No. 19 Michigan State
7. Ranked showdown2001: Northwestern 27, Michigan State 26No. 23 Michigan State at No. 16 Northwestern

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Michigan State’s side (Daugherty 5–⁠0 against Parseghian). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

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.

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).

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  1905 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 19, 1905

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  1960 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 13, 1960

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  1962 · Evening star, Nov 20, 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.

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  The 2017 game

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  The 2017 game

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  The 2017 game

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  The 2017 game

From the rivalry’s and its games’ categories on Wikimedia Commons (free licenses only, each credited).

Every game is listed as played on the field; a game one side later forfeited is marked “forfeited”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.

• Michigan State vs. Michigan118 meetings, Michigan State 38–⁠75–⁠5
• Michigan State vs. Notre Dame74 meetings, Michigan State 28–⁠45–⁠1
• Michigan State vs. Indiana72 meetings, Michigan State 51–⁠19–⁠2
• Michigan State vs. Purdue69 meetings, Michigan State 38–⁠28–⁠3
• Northwestern vs. Illinois119 meetings, Northwestern 55–⁠59–⁠5
• Northwestern vs. Wisconsin103 meetings, Northwestern 37–⁠62–⁠4
• Northwestern vs. Minnesota99 meetings, Northwestern 38–⁠56–⁠5
• Northwestern vs. Purdue90 meetings, Northwestern 36–⁠53–⁠1