page_title: Michigan State University
section_title: Football
hierarchical_section_title: Michigan State University / Athletics / Football
caption_attribution_description: English: Spartan Stadium in 2014 vs. Michigan
context_page_description: Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. MSU was founded in 1855 and served as a model for land-grant universities later created under the Morrill Act of 1862. The university was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, one of the country's first institutions of higher education to teach scientific agriculture. After the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. Today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the United States and has approximately 634,300 living alumni worldwide.
  U.S. News & World Report ranks its graduate programs the best in the U.S. in elementary teacher's education, secondary teacher's education, industrial and organizational psychology, rehabilitation counseling, African history, supply chain logistics and nuclear physics in 2019. MSU pioneered the studies of packaging, hospitality business, supply chain management, and communication sciences. Michigan State is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
context_section_description: Football has a long tradition at Michigan State. Starting as a club sport in 1884, football gained varsity status in 1896. MSU football teams won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, 1988, and 2014.  They won national championships in 1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1965 and 1966. The Spartans accounted for four of the top eight selections in the 1967 NFL Draft, the only time a college football program has accomplished such a feat. As of 2020, MSU is one of only four schools to have at least 1 player selected in every NFL Draft in the common draft era, starting in 1967.
  Today, the football team competes in Spartan Stadium, a renovated 75,005 seat football stadium near the center of campus. The current coach is Mel Tucker, the new head coach after Mark Dantonio left. 
  Mark Dantonio led the team in its first season to a 7–6 record.   In 2010, the Spartans finished 11–2 (7–1 in conference play) and were Co-Big Ten Champion along with Wisconsin and Ohio State. In 2011, the Spartans finished 1st in the Legends Division of the Big Ten with a 7–1 (11–3) conference record, logging back-to-back 11 win seasons for the first time in Spartan history.  In 2014, MSU achieved an 11–2 overall record with losses only to the University of Oregon Ducks and The Ohio State Buckeyes, and ended the season ranked #5.
  MSU's traditional archrival is the University of Michigan, against whom they compete annually for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Their overall record against the Wolverines currently stands at 32–67–5 and 23–34–2 since 1953 when the Paul Bunyan Trophy was established and MSU joined the Big Ten Conference.
caption: Spartan Stadium hosts varsity football games and other events.
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