Michigan State vs. Purdue
Michigan State and Purdue have 69 meetings on file, the first in 1918; officially, Michigan State leads 36–29–3; as played, 38–28–3 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Michigan State 9–1. The NCAA vacated Michigan State’s win (2024); it doesn’t count officially. Michigan State forfeited the 1994 game. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
2027 at Purdue; 2028 at Michigan State. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- Michigan State leads 36–29–3
- Michigan State wins on file
- 38
- Purdue wins on file
- 28
- Ties
- 3
- Earliest on file
- 1918
- Longest streak
- 8 Michigan State
- Current streak
- 1 Michigan State
- Last 10 meetings
- Michigan State 9–1
- Most recent
- 2024
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 0–2 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 2–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 4–4 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 5–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 5–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 4–4 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 5–0 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–1 |
- Both ranked
- 4 meetings: Michigan State 3, Purdue 1; 3 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 12 points; 30 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Michigan State
- 24–11 Michigan State’s record at home
- At Purdue
- 17–14–3 Purdue’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 6
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Michigan State’s biggest win1988: Michigan State 48, Purdue 3by 45 points
- Purdue’s biggest win1969: Purdue 41, Michigan State 13by 28 points
- Upset1957: Purdue 20, Michigan State 13Purdue had a 14% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1953: Purdue 6, Michigan State 0Purdue had a 22% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2007: Michigan State 48, Purdue 31Michigan State had a 29% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1965: Michigan State 14, Purdue 10No. 2 Michigan State at No. 6 Purdue
- Ranked showdown1952: Michigan State 14, Purdue 7No. 1 Michigan State at No. 8 Purdue
- Ranked showdown1966: Michigan State 41, Purdue 20No. 9 Purdue at No. 2 Michigan State
Coach against coach
| Years | Michigan State | Series | Purdue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939–1941 | Charlie Bachman | 1–1–1 | Mal Elward |
| 1956–1969 | Duffy Daugherty | 7–7 | Jack Mollenkopf |
| 1970–1972 | Duffy Daugherty | 3–0 | Bob DeMoss |
| 1973–1975 | Dennis Stolz | 2–1 | Alex Agase |
| 1977–1979 | Darryl Rogers | 1–2 | Jim Young |
| 1983–1986 | George Perles | 2–1–1 | Leon Burtnett |
| 1987–1990 | George Perles | 4–0 | Fred Akers |
| 1991–1994 | George Perles | 3–1 | Jim Colletto |
| 1997–1999 | Nick Saban | 0–3 | Joe Tiller |
| 2013–2015 | Mark Dantonio | 3–0 | Darrell Hazell |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Michigan State’s side (Bachman 1–1–1 against Elward). 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
| Aidan O’Connell Purdue | 40 of 54, 536 yards, 3 TD | 2021 Passing |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1939 · Evening star, Oct 22, 1939
1940 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 14, 1940
1941 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Nov 10, 1941
1942 · Evening star, Nov 15, 1942
1952 · Evening star, Nov 4, 1952
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”, and a game one side later forfeited is marked “forfeited”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.