Michigan State–Penn State football rivalry

Michigan State–Penn State football rivalry
	Michigan State Spartans Penn State Nittany Lions
First meeting	November 13, 1914; Michigan Agricultural, 6–3
Latest meeting	December 12, 2020; Penn State, 39–24
Next meeting	November 27, 2021
Trophy	Land Grant Trophy
Statistics
Meetings total	35
All-time series	Tied, 17–17–1
Trophy series	Penn State leads, 16–9
Largest victory	Penn State, 61–7 (2002)
Longest win streak	Michigan State, 5 (1949–1966)
Longest unbeaten streak	Michigan State, 8 (1945–1966)
Current win streak	Penn State, 2 (2019–present)

[Interactive fullscreen map]

Locations of Michigan State and Penn State

The Michigan State–Penn State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Michigan State Spartans and Penn State Nittany Lions. The Land Grant Trophy is presented to the winner of the game. Penn State leads 16–9 since joining the Big Ten. The series is tied at 17–17–1, with Penn State winning the most recent matchup in 2020.

Series history[]

When Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993, the Nittany Lions and Spartans were designated as permanent rivals, and met each other for the trophy in the last week of conference play. The trophy, designed by former Michigan State coach George Perles, features pictures of Penn State's Old Main and Michigan State's Beaumont Tower, as well as figurines of The Spartan and Nittany Lion Shrine statues. The trophy is infamous for its unwieldiness and hodgepodge appearance.

On September 24, 2005 during Michigan week, a couple of Penn State students brazenly defaced the newly installed bronze Sparty statue. “It happened during broad daylight, with people all around” according to MSU police Sgt. Randy Holton.^[2] The statue was splattered with blue paint and the base tagged with the letters PSU. The perpetrators were able to evade capture despite the incident occurring in the middle of the day, during the traditional period of time when the statue is guarded by MSU student employees and Spartan Marching Band members, in what is called Sparty Watch.

In 2011, Nebraska joined the Big Ten, and the conference split into two divisions. Michigan State was in the Legends division and Penn State was in the Leaders division, so they no longer played each other annually. Instead, Indiana and Nebraska were designated as Michigan State and Penn State's permanent rivals, respectively. Under this setup, Penn State and Michigan State would compete on average two out of every five years,^[3] but the two teams did not play against each other during the three years that this system was in effect (2011–13).

In 2014, when Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big Ten, the conference was realigned into two geographically-based divisions, East and West. Michigan State and Penn State are both in the East division, and thus resumed a yearly series.

United States Postal Service commemorative stamp

Michigan State University followed by Penn State University are the nation's oldest land-grant universities, hence the name for the trophy. In 1955 on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the land grant system, Michigan State and Penn State were commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the "First of the Land-Grant Colleges". These two universities were the first ever universities to be placed on a U.S. postage stamp.

They are the 4th and 5th most recently joined members of the Big Ten, after Nebraska, who joined in 2011, Maryland and Rutgers, who both joined in 2014. Fellow Big Ten members Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin all these being land-grant schools.

Game results[]

Michigan State victories	Penn State victories	Tie games

No.	Date	Location	Winning team		Losing team
1	November 13, 1914	State College, PA	Michigan Agricultural	6	Penn State	3
2	October 24, 1925	State College, PA	Penn State	13	Michigan State	6
3	November 17, 1945	East Lansing, MI	Michigan State	33	Penn State	0
4	October 19, 1946	State College, PA	Michigan State	19	#12 Penn State	16
5	October 23, 1948	State College, PA	Tie	14	Tie	14
6	October 22, 1949	East Lansing, MI	Michigan State	24	Penn State	0
7	October 20, 1951	State College, PA	#3 Michigan State	32	Penn State	21
8	October 25, 1952	East Lansing, MI	#1 Michigan State	34	Penn State	7
9	September 25, 1965	State College, PA	Michigan State	23	Penn State	0
10	September 24, 1966	East Lansing, MI	#1 Michigan State	42	Penn State	8
11	November 27, 1993	East Lansing, MI	#14 Penn State	38	#25 Michigan State	37
12	November 26, 1994	State College, PA	#2 Penn State	59	Michigan State	31
13	November 25, 1995	East Lansing, MI	#14 Penn State	25	Michigan State	20
14	November 23, 1996	State College, PA	#7 Penn State	32	Michigan State	29
15	November 29, 1997	East Lansing, MI	Michigan State	49	#4 Penn State	14
16	November 28, 1998	State College, PA	#23 Penn State	51	Michigan State	28
17	November 20, 1999	East Lansing, MI	#15 Michigan State	35	#13 Penn State	28
18	November 18, 2000	State College, PA	Penn State	42	Michigan State	23
19	November 24, 2001	East Lansing, MI	Penn State	42	Michigan State	37

No.	Date	Location	Winning team		Losing team
20	November 23, 2002	State College, PA	#16 Penn State	61	Michigan State	7
21	November 22, 2003	East Lansing, MI	Michigan State	41	Penn State	10
22	November 20, 2004	State College, PA	Penn State	37	Michigan State	13
23	November 19, 2005	East Lansing, MI	#5 Penn State	31	Michigan State	22
24	November 18, 2006	State College, PA	Penn State	17	Michigan State	13
25	November 17, 2007	East Lansing, MI	Michigan State	35	Penn State	31
26	November 22, 2008	State College, PA	#8 Penn State	49	#15 Michigan State	18
27	November 21, 2009	East Lansing, MI	#14 Penn State	42	Michigan State	14
28	November 27, 2010	State College, PA	#10 Michigan State	28	Penn State	22
29	November 29, 2014	State College, PA	#10 Michigan State	34	Penn State	10
30	November 28, 2015	East Lansing, MI	#6 Michigan State	55	Penn State	16
31	November 26, 2016	State College, PA	#7 Penn State	45	Michigan State	12
32	November 4, 2017	East Lansing, MI	#24 Michigan State	27	#7 Penn State	24
33	October 13, 2018	State College, PA	Michigan State	21	#8 Penn State	17
34	October 26, 2019	East Lansing, MI	#6 Penn State	28	Michigan State	7
35	December 12, 2020	State College, PA	Penn State	39	Michigan State	24
36	November 27, 2021	East Lansing, MI
Series: Tied 17–17–1^[1]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Winsipedia - Michigan State Spartans vs. Penn State Nittany Lions football series history". Winsipedia.
^ "Rivalry week: MSU Vs. U-M, 5 days until kickoff". The State News. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
^ "Big Ten Schools to Play Nine Conference Games Beginning With 2017 Season" Archived 2011-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, Big Ten, August 4, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2015.

External links[]

"Land Grant Trophy: a case of envy", Frantz, Jeff, The Daily Collegian, November 23, 2002

[series-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Winsipedia - Michigan State Spartans vs. Penn State Nittany Lions football series history". Winsipedia.

[2] "Rivalry week: MSU Vs. U-M, 5 days until kickoff". The State News. Retrieved 2016-11-22.

[3] "Big Ten Schools to Play Nine Conference Games Beginning With 2017 Season" Archived 2011-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, Big Ten, August 4, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2015.

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show v t Michigan State Spartans football
Venues	Old College Field (1902–1922) Spartan Stadium (1923–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Indiana (Old Brass Spittoon) Michigan (Paul Bunyan Trophy) Notre Dame (Megaphone Trophy) Penn State (Land Grant Trophy)
Culture & lore	Sparty "Victory for MSU" Marching band Zeke the Wonder Dog 1966 "Game of the Century" Clockgate 2006 Northwestern game
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National championship seasons in bold

show v t Penn State Nittany Lions football
Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Pittsburgh Syracuse Temple West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Penn State child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out
People	Head coaches All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National championship seasons in bold

show v t Michigan State Spartans rivalries
Football	Indiana Michigan Notre Dame Penn State
Basketball	Michigan (women)
Other	Michigan (ice hockey) Michigan (soccer)

show v t Penn State Nittany Lions rivalries
Football	Alabama Maryland Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Pittsburgh Syracuse Temple West Virginia
Basketball	Bucknell Ohio State Pittsburgh
Lacrosse	Bucknell Rutgers
Wrestling	Iowa Lehigh

Michigan State–Penn State football rivalry

Contents

Series history[]

Game results[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

Statistics
Michigan State Spartans Penn State Nittany Lions
First meeting	November 13, 1914 Michigan Agricultural, 6–3
Latest meeting	December 12, 2020 Penn State, 39–24
Next meeting	November 27, 2021
Trophy	Land Grant Trophy
Meetings total	35
All-time series	Tied, 17–17–1^[1]
Trophy series	Penn State leads, 16–9
Largest victory	Penn State, 61–7 (2002)
Longest win streak	Michigan State, 5 (1949–1966)
Longest unbeaten streak	Michigan State, 8 (1945–1966)
Current win streak	Penn State, 2 (2019–present)