Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh
Michigan State and Pittsburgh have 8 meetings on file, the first in 1945; Michigan State leads the series 7–0–1 in the games on file. Over the last 8 meetings it’s Michigan State 7–0, and Michigan State has won the last 3. Share
- Michigan State wins
- 7
- Pittsburgh wins
- 0
- Ties
- 1
- Earliest on file
- 1945
- Longest streak
- 4 Michigan State
- Current streak
- 3 Michigan State
- Last 10 meetings
- Michigan State 7–0
- Most recent
- 2021
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 1–0 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 3–0 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 0–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 2–0 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–0 |
- Both ranked
- 3 meetings: Michigan State 2, Pittsburgh 0; 1 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 11.8 points; 2 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Michigan State
- 3–0 Michigan State’s record at home
- At Pittsburgh
- 0–3–1 Pittsburgh’s record at home
- Neutral sites
- 1–0 Michigan State first
- Shutouts
- 1
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Michigan State’s biggest win1951: Michigan State 53, Pittsburgh 26by 27 points
- Upset2006: Michigan State 38, Pittsburgh 23Michigan State had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1958: Michigan State 22, Pittsburgh 8No. 10 Pittsburgh at No. 9 Michigan State
- Ranked showdown1960: Michigan State 7, Pittsburgh 7 (tie)No. 6 Michigan State at No. 17 Pittsburgh
- Ranked showdown2021: Michigan State 31, Pittsburgh 21No. 13 Pittsburgh at No. 11 Michigan State
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
Named most valuable
| Jayden Reed Michigan State | 2021 |
| Cal Haladay Michigan State | 2021 |
Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).
From the newspapers
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
| Dec 30, 2021 | 11Michigan State 31, 13Pittsburgh 21 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Peach Bowl | |
| Sep 15, 2007 | Michigan State 17, Pittsburgh 13 | at Michigan State | ||
| Sep 16, 2006 | Michigan State 38, Pittsburgh 23 | at Pittsburgh | ||
| Sep 24, 1960 | 17Pittsburgh 7, 6Michigan State 7 | at Pittsburgh | ||
| Oct 11, 1958 | 9Michigan State 22, 10Pittsburgh 8 | at Michigan State | ||
| Oct 27, 1951 | 2Michigan State 53, Pittsburgh 26 | at Michigan State | ||
| Nov 18, 1950 | 10Michigan State 19, Pittsburgh 0 | at Pittsburgh | ||
| Oct 13, 1945 | Michigan State 12, Pittsburgh 7 | at Pittsburgh |
Every game is listed as played on the field.