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Michigan State vs. Ohio State

Michigan State and Ohio State have 52 meetings on file, the first in 1951; Ohio State leads the series 38–⁠14 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Ohio State 9–⁠1, and Ohio State has won the last 9.

Scheduled 2027 at Ohio State. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

Michigan State wins
14
Ohio State wins
38
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1951
Longest streak
9 Ohio State
Current streak
9 Ohio State
Last 10 meetings
Ohio State 9–⁠1
Most recent
2024

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1950s2–⁠1
1960s2–⁠4
1970s3–⁠5
1980s2–⁠5
1990s2–⁠5
2000s0–⁠7
2010s3–⁠6
2020s0–⁠5
Both ranked
21 meetings: Michigan State 6, Ohio State 15; 5 both in the top 10
Average margin
17.3 points; 16 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Michigan State
5–⁠20 Michigan State’s record at home
At Ohio State
18–⁠8 Ohio State’s record at home
Neutral sites
1–⁠0 Michigan State first
Shutouts
4

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

Games that tell the story

  1. Michigan State’s biggest win1965: Michigan State 32, Ohio State 7by 25 points
  2. Ohio State’s biggest win2021: Ohio State 56, Michigan State 7by 49 points
  3. Upset1998: Michigan State 28, Ohio State 24Michigan State had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1971: Michigan State 17, Ohio State 10Michigan State had a 23% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1967: Ohio State 21, Michigan State 7Ohio State had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1951: Michigan State 24, Ohio State 20No. 1 Michigan State at No. 7 Ohio State
  7. Ranked showdown2015: Michigan State 17, Ohio State 14No. 9 Michigan State at No. 2 Ohio State
  8. Ranked showdown2021: Ohio State 56, Michigan State 7No. 7 Michigan State at No. 5 Ohio State

Coach against coach

YearsMichigan StateSeriesOhio State
1959–⁠1972Duffy Daugherty4–⁠6Woody Hayes
1973–⁠1975Dennis Stolz1–⁠2Woody Hayes
1980–⁠1982Frank Waters0–⁠3Earle Bruce
1983–⁠1987George Perles1–⁠2Earle Bruce
1988–⁠1994George Perles1–⁠4John Cooper
1997–⁠1999Nick Saban2–⁠1John Cooper
2003–⁠2006John Smith0–⁠4Jim Tressel
2012–⁠2018Mark Dantonio2–⁠5Urban Meyer
2020–⁠2022Mel Tucker0–⁠3Ryan Day

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Michigan State’s side (Daugherty 4–⁠6 against Hayes). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Michigan State and Ohio State, 1951 on13001500170019001960197019801990200020102020

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

C.J. Stroud Ohio State32 of 35, 432 yards, 6 TD2021 Passing
Santonio Holmes Ohio State5 catches, 150 yards, 2 TD2005 Receiving

Named most valuable

Connor Cook Michigan State2013

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on). Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1951 game: Michigan State Rally 0vertakes Buckeyes In Fourth Quarter

    1951 · Evening star, Oct 7, 1951

  • The Evening star's story of the 1953 game: Sportons TopBuckeyes, 28-73, As BoIden Gets Three Scores

    1953 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 8, 1953

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

ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game five times: 2021, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.

College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).

Every game

Sep 28, 20243Ohio State 38, Michigan State 7at Michigan State
Nov 11, 20233Ohio State 38, Michigan State 3at Ohio State
Oct 8, 20223Ohio State 49, Michigan State 20at Michigan State
Nov 20, 20215Ohio State 56, 7Michigan State 7at Ohio State
Dec 5, 20203Ohio State 52, Michigan State 12at Michigan State
Oct 5, 20194Ohio State 34, 25Michigan State 10at Ohio State
Nov 10, 20188Ohio State 26, 24Michigan State 6at Michigan State
Nov 11, 201711Ohio State 48, 13Michigan State 3at Ohio State
Nov 19, 20162Ohio State 17, Michigan State 16at Michigan State
Nov 21, 20159Michigan State 17, 2Ohio State 14at Ohio State
Nov 8, 201413Ohio State 49, 7Michigan State 37at Michigan State
Dec 7, 201310Michigan State 34, 2Ohio State 24Neutral siteBig Ten Championship Game
Sep 29, 201214Ohio State 17, 20Michigan State 16at Michigan State
Oct 1, 2011Michigan State 10, Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 18, 200812Ohio State 45, 20Michigan State 7at Michigan State
Oct 20, 20071Ohio State 24, Michigan State 17at Ohio State
Oct 14, 20061Ohio State 38, Michigan State 7at Michigan State
Oct 15, 200515Ohio State 35, 16Michigan State 24at Ohio State
Nov 6, 2004Ohio State 32, Michigan State 19at Michigan State
Nov 8, 20037Ohio State 33, 14Michigan State 23at Ohio State
Nov 4, 200016Ohio State 27, Michigan State 13at Ohio State
Nov 6, 199919Michigan State 23, 20Ohio State 7at Michigan State
Nov 7, 1998Michigan State 28, 1Ohio State 24at Ohio State
Nov 1, 19979Ohio State 37, 21Michigan State 13at Michigan State
Oct 15, 1994Ohio State 23, Michigan State 7at Michigan State
Oct 16, 19935Ohio State 28, 25Michigan State 21at Ohio State
Oct 24, 1992Ohio State 27, Michigan State 17at Michigan State
Oct 26, 199114Ohio State 27, Michigan State 17at Ohio State
Oct 29, 1988Michigan State 20, Ohio State 10at Michigan State
Oct 31, 198720Michigan State 13, 15Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 20, 19848Ohio State 23, Michigan State 20at Michigan State
Oct 22, 198317Ohio State 21, Michigan State 11at Ohio State
Sep 18, 198212Ohio State 31, Michigan State 10at Michigan State
Sep 19, 19818Ohio State 27, Michigan State 13at Ohio State
Nov 1, 19809Ohio State 48, Michigan State 16at Michigan State
Oct 27, 19794Ohio State 42, Michigan State 0at Ohio State
Sep 11, 19764Ohio State 49, Michigan State 21at Ohio State
Sep 13, 19753Ohio State 21, 11Michigan State 0at Michigan State
Nov 9, 1974Michigan State 16, 1Ohio State 13at Michigan State
Nov 10, 19731Ohio State 35, Michigan State 0at Ohio State
Nov 11, 1972Michigan State 19, 5Ohio State 12at Michigan State
Nov 6, 1971Michigan State 17, 9Ohio State 10at Ohio State
Oct 10, 19701Ohio State 29, Michigan State 0at Michigan State
Oct 11, 19691Ohio State 54, 19Michigan State 21at Ohio State
Nov 2, 19682Ohio State 25, 16Michigan State 20at Ohio State
Nov 4, 1967Ohio State 21, Michigan State 7at Michigan State
Oct 15, 19661Michigan State 11, Ohio State 8at Ohio State
Oct 16, 19654Michigan State 32, Ohio State 7at Michigan State
Oct 29, 19608Ohio State 21, 10Michigan State 10at Michigan State
Oct 31, 1959Ohio State 30, Michigan State 24at Ohio State
Nov 7, 19535Michigan State 28, 16Ohio State 13at Ohio State
Oct 6, 19511Michigan State 24, 7Ohio State 20at Ohio State

Every game is listed as played on the field.