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1982 Michigan State

2–⁠9 (2–⁠7 Big Ten), coached by Frank Waters.

Schedule and results

Michigan State in 1982, game by game: lost at Illinois 16–23; lost vs. No. 12 Ohio State 10–31; lost at No. 16 Miami 22–25; lost vs. No. 11 Notre Dame 3–11; lost at Michigan 17–31; lost at Wisconsin 23–24; lost vs. Purdue 21–24; won at Indiana 22–14; lost vs. Northwestern 24–28; won at Minnesota 26–7; lost vs. Iowa 18–24+19−21Lost 16–23 at Illinois-7IllinoisLost 10–31 vs. No. 12 Ohio State-21No. 12 Ohio StateLost 22–25 at No. 16 Miami-3No. 16 MiamiLost 3–11 vs. No. 11 Notre Dame-8No. 11 Notre DameLost 17–31 at Michigan-14MichiganLost 23–24 at Wisconsin-1WisconsinLost 21–24 vs. Purdue-3PurdueWon 22–14 at Indiana+8IndianaLost 24–28 vs. Northwestern-4NorthwesternWon 26–7 at Minnesota+19MinnesotaLost 18–24 vs. Iowa-6Iowa
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 11atIllinoisL 16–⁠2338%
Sep 18vs12Ohio StateL 10–⁠3136%
Sep 25at16MiamiL 22–⁠2518%
Oct 2vs11Notre DameL 3–⁠1135%
Oct 9atMichiganL 17–⁠3118%
Oct 16atWisconsinL 23–⁠2427%
Oct 23vsPurdueL 21–⁠2458%
Oct 30atIndianaW 22–⁠1437%
Nov 6vsNorthwesternL 24–⁠2876%
Nov 13atMinnesotaW 26–⁠742%
Nov 20vsIowaL 18–⁠2445%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Iowa 24–⁠18; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 8th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 99th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 122 on file).

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 1982.

Record
2–⁠9
Conference
2–⁠7 tied for 8th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
202–⁠242
Coach
Frank Waters
Elo
1424 −63 this season
SP+ rating
-0.4 No. 60 of 109; offense No. 73, defense No. 53
SRS
3.2 No. 47 of 113 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Carl Banks and John Leister
Most valuable player
James Neely

Drafted in 1983

The 1983 draft
Rd 4Steve Maidlow LBCincinnati Bengals
Rd 5Smiley Creswell DENew England Patriots
Rd 5Otis Grant WRLos Angeles Rams

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1982 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1982 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan8–⁠18–⁠4
Ohio State7–⁠19–⁠312
Iowa6–⁠28–⁠4
Illinois6–⁠37–⁠5
Wisconsin5–⁠47–⁠5
Indiana4–⁠55–⁠6
Purdue3–⁠63–⁠8
Northwestern2–⁠73–⁠8
Michigan State2–⁠72–⁠9
Minnesota1–⁠83–⁠8

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