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1954 Michigan State

3–⁠6 (1–⁠5 Big Ten), coached by Duffy Daugherty.

Schedule and results

Michigan State in 1954, game by game: lost at No. 12 Iowa 10–14; lost vs. No. 5 Wisconsin 0–6; won at Indiana 21–14; lost at No. 8 Notre Dame 19–20; lost vs. No. 13 Purdue 13–27; lost at Minnesota 13–19; won vs. Washington State 54–6; lost at Michigan 7–33; won vs. Marquette 40–10+48−26Lost 10–14 at No. 12 Iowa-4No. 12 IowaLost 0–6 vs. No. 5 Wisconsin-6No. 5 WisconsinWon 21–14 at Indiana+7IndianaLost 19–20 at No. 8 Notre Dame-1No. 8 Notre DameLost 13–27 vs. No. 13 Purdue-14No. 13 PurdueLost 13–19 at Minnesota-6MinnesotaWon 54–6 vs. Washington State+48Washington StateLost 7–33 at Michigan-26MichiganWon 40–10 vs. Marquette+30Marquette
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 25at12IowaL 10–⁠1461%
Oct 2vs5WisconsinL 0–⁠662%
Oct 9atIndianaW 21–⁠1471%
Oct 16at8Notre DameL 19–⁠2037%
Oct 23vs13PurdueL 13–⁠2770%
Oct 30atMinnesotaL 13–⁠1947%
Nov 6vsWashington StateW 54–⁠675%
Nov 13atMichiganL 7–⁠3345%
Nov 20vsMarquetteW 40–⁠1066%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Marquette 40–⁠10; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 8th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 36th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 122 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 6
  2. Wk 2: 7
  3. Wk 3: 13

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1954.

Record
3–⁠6
Conference
1–⁠5 tied for 8th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 6
Points
177–⁠149
Coach
Duffy Daugherty
Elo
1597 −87 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
12.7 No. 20 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
LeRoy Bolden and Don Kauth
Most valuable player
John Matsock

Drafted in 1955

The 1955 draft
Rd 5Hank Bullough OGGreen Bay Packers
Rd 6Leroy Bolden BCleveland Browns
Rd 7Bert Zagers BDetroit Lions

All-Big Ten

1 first team

First team

  • Randy SchrecengostOTEd-1

From Wikipedia’s 1954 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1954 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Ohio State7–⁠010–⁠01
Wisconsin5–⁠27–⁠29
Michigan5–⁠26–⁠315
Minnesota4–⁠27–⁠2
Iowa4–⁠35–⁠4
Purdue3–⁠35–⁠3–⁠1
Indiana2–⁠43–⁠6
Michigan State1–⁠53–⁠6
Northwestern1–⁠52–⁠7
Illinois0–⁠61–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.