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1978 Michigan State

8–⁠3 (7–⁠1 Big Ten), coached by Darryl Rogers, finished No. 12 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Michigan State in 1978, game by game: lost at Purdue 14–21; won vs. Syracuse 49–21; lost at No. 3 USC 9–30; lost vs. Notre Dame 25–29; won at No. 5 Michigan 24–15; won vs. Indiana 49–14; won vs. Wisconsin 55–2; won at Illinois 59–19; won vs. Minnesota 33–9; won at Northwestern 52–3; won vs. Iowa 42–7+53−21Lost 14–21 at Purdue-7PurdueWon 49–21 vs. Syracuse+28SyracuseLost 9–30 at No. 3 USC-21No. 3 USCLost 25–29 vs. Notre Dame-4Notre DameWon 24–15 at No. 5 Michigan+9No. 5 MichiganWon 49–14 vs. Indiana+35IndianaWon 55–2 vs. Wisconsin+53WisconsinWon 59–19 at Illinois+40IllinoisWon 33–9 vs. Minnesota+24MinnesotaWon 52–3 at Northwestern+49NorthwesternWon 42–7 vs. Iowa+35Iowa
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16atPurdueL 14–⁠2151%
Sep 23vsSyracuseW 49–⁠2168%
Sep 29at3USCL 9–⁠3024%
Oct 7vsNotre DameL 25–⁠2942%
Oct 14at5MichiganW 24–⁠1519%
Oct 21vsIndianaW 49–⁠1471%
Oct 28vsWisconsinW 55–⁠271%
Nov 4atIllinoisW 59–⁠1975%
Nov 11vsMinnesotaW 33–⁠976%
Nov 18atNorthwesternW 52–⁠388%
Nov 25vsIowaW 42–⁠787%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Iowa 42–⁠7; No. 12 in the final AP poll; Big Ten champions.

In program history: The 21st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 122 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 9: 18
  2. Wk 10: 17
  3. Wk 11: 16
  4. Wk 12: 14
  5. Wk 13: 12
  6. Wk 14: 12
  7. Final: 12

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 1978.

Big Ten champions7–⁠1 in the conference, shared with Michigan

Record
8–⁠3
Conference
7–⁠1 shared first in Big Ten
AP final
No. 12 peak No. 12
Points
411–⁠170
Coach
Darryl Rogers
Elo
1655 +103 this season
SP+ rating
19.5 No. 15 of 133; offense No. 4, defense No. 65
SRS
21.8 No. 10 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
George Dyer
Captains
Mel Land and Ed Smith
Most valuable player
Ed Smith

Drafted in 1979

The 1979 draft
Rd 3Mel Land LBMiami Dolphins
Rd 7Kirk Gibson WRSt. Louis Cardinals

All-Big Ten

7 first team, 3 second team

First team

Second team

  • Ed SmithQBAP-2; UPI-2
  • Dan BassLBAP-2
  • Mark AndersonDBAP-2; UPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1978 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan7–⁠110–⁠25
Michigan State7–⁠18–⁠312
Purdue6–⁠1–⁠19–⁠2–⁠113
Ohio State6–⁠27–⁠4–⁠1
Minnesota4–⁠45–⁠6
Wisconsin3–⁠4–⁠25–⁠4–⁠2
Indiana3–⁠54–⁠7
Iowa2–⁠62–⁠9
Illinois0–⁠6–⁠21–⁠8–⁠2
Northwestern0–⁠8–⁠10–⁠10–⁠1

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