List of Michigan State Spartans football seasons

This is a list of seasons completed by the Michigan State Spartans football team of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Since the team's creation in 1885, the Spartans have participated in more than 1,200 officially sanctioned games, including 29 bowl games.

Spartan Stadium, where the Spartans have played since 1923.

Michigan State originally competed as a football independent. In 1896, MSU joined the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Spartans then competed independently again from 1907 through 1952. In 1953, MSU joined the Big Ten conference, where it has been a member ever since.[1]

Seasons

Year	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches^#	AP^°
No coach (MIAA) (1896)
1896		1–2–1	0–1–0
Henry Keep (MIAA) (1897–1898)
1897	Keep	4–2–1	1–1–1
1898	Keep	4–3	4–1–0
Henry Keep:		8–5–1 (.607)	5–2–1 (.688)
Charles O. Bemies (MIAA) (1899–1900)
1899	Bemies	2–4–1	1–2–0
1900	Bemies	1–3	0–1–0
Charles O. Bemies:		3–7–1 (.318)	1–3–0 (.250)
George Denman (MIAA) (1901–1902)
1901	Denman	3–4–1	3–2–1
1902	Denman	4–5	2–2–0
George Denman:		7–9–1 (.441)	5–4–1 (.550)
Chester Brewer (MIAA) (1903–1906)
1903	Brewer	6–1–1	4–0–1
1904	Brewer	8–1	4–1–0
1905	Brewer	9–2	5–0–0
1906	Brewer	7–2–2	6–1–1
Chester Brewer:		30–6–3 (.808)	19–2–2 (.870)
Chester Brewer (Independent) (1907–1910)
1907	Brewer	4–2–1
1908	Brewer	6–0–2
1909	Brewer	8–1
1910	Brewer	6–1
Chester Brewer:		24–4–3 (.823)
John Macklin (Independent) (1911–1915)
1911	Macklin	5–1
1912	Macklin	7–1
1913	Macklin	7–0
1914	Macklin	5–2
1915	Macklin	5–1
John Macklin:		29–5–0 (.853)
Frank Sommers (Independent) (1916)
1916	Sommers	4–2–1
Frank Sommers:		4–2–1 (.643)
Chester Brewer (Independent) (1917)
1917	Brewer	0–9
Chester Brewer:		0–9–0 (.000)
George Gauthier (Independent) (1918)
1918	Gauthier	4–3
George Gauthier:		4–3–0 (.571)
Chester Brewer (Independent) (1919)
1919	Brewer	4–4–1
Chester Brewer:		4–4–1 (.500)
George Clark (Independent) (1920)
1920	Clark	4–6
George Clark:		4–6–0 (.400)
Albert Barron (Independent) (1921–1922)
1921	Barron	3–5
1922	Barron	3–5–2
Albert Barron:		6–10–2 (.389)
Ralph H. Young (Independent) (1923–1927)
1923	Young	3–5
1924	Young	5–3
1925	Young	3–5
1926	Young	3–4–1
1927	Young	4–5
Ralph H. Young:		18–22–1 (.451)
Harry Kipke (Independent) (1928)
1928	Kipke	3–4–1
Harry Kipke:		3–4–1 (.438)
Jim Crowley (Independent) (1929–1932)
1929	Crowley	5–3
1930	Crowley	5–1–2
1931	Crowley	5–3–1
1932	Crowley	7–1
Jim Crowley:		22–8–3 (.712)
Charlie Bachman (Independent) (1933–1946)
1933	Bachman	4–2–2
1934	Bachman	8–1
1935	Bachman	6–2
1936	Bachman	6–1–2
1937	Bachman	8–2			L Orange
1938	Bachman	6–3
1939	Bachman	4–4–1
1940	Bachman	3–4–1
1941	Bachman	5–3–1
1942	Bachman	4–3–2
1943	Bachman	*** No Football	due to World	War II ***
1944	Bachman	6–1
1945	Bachman	5–3–1
1946	Bachman	5–5
Charlie Bachman:		70–34–9 (.659)
Clarence Munn (Independent) (1947–1952)
1947	Munn	7–2
1948	Munn	6–2–2					14
1949	Munn	6–3					19
1950	Munn	8–1				8	8
1951^1	Munn	9–0				2	2
1952	Munn	9–0				1	1
Clarence Munn (Big Ten) (1953)
1953	Munn	9–1	5–1	T-1st	W Rose	3	3
Clarence Munn:		54–9–2 (.846)	5–1–0 (.833)
Duffy Daugherty (Big Ten) (1954–1972)
1954	Daugherty	3–6	1–5	T-8th
1955	Daugherty	9–1	5–1	2nd	W Rose	2	2
1956	Daugherty	7–2	4–2	T-4th		10	9
1957	Daugherty	8–1	5–1	2nd		3	3
1958	Daugherty	3–5–1	0–5–1	10th
1959	Daugherty	5–4	4–2	2nd		16
1960	Daugherty	6–2–1	4–2	4th		13	15
1961	Daugherty	7–2	5–2	3rd		9	8
1962	Daugherty	5–4	3–3	T-5th
1963	Daugherty	6–2–1	4–1–1	T-2nd		10	10
1964	Daugherty	4–5	3–3	6th
1965	Daugherty	10–1	7–0	1st	L Rose	1	2
1966^2	Daugherty	9–0–1	7–0	1st		2	2
1967	Daugherty	3–7	3–4	T-5th
1968	Daugherty	5–5	2–5	7th
1969	Daugherty	4–6	2–5	9th
1970	Daugherty	4–6	3–4	T-5th
1971	Daugherty	6–5	5–3	T-3rd
1972	Daugherty	5–5–1	5–2–1	4th
Duffy Daughtery:		109–69–5 (.609)	72–49–3 (.593)
Denny Stolz (Big Ten) (1973–1975)
1973	Stolz	5–6	4–4	T-4th
1974	Stolz	7–3–1	6–1–1	3rd		18	12
1975	Stolz	7–4	4–4	T-3rd
Denny Stolz:		19–13–1 (.591)	14–9–1 (.604)
Darryl Rogers (Big Ten) (1976–1979)
1976	Rogers	4–6–1	3–5	T-7th
1977	Rogers	7–3–1	6–1–1	3rd
1978	Rogers	8–3	7–1	T-1st			12
1979	Rogers	5–6	3–5	T-7th
Darryl Rogers:		24–18–2 (.568)	19–12–1 (.609)
Muddy Waters (Big Ten) (1980–1982)
1980	Waters	3–8	2–6	9th
1981	Waters	5–6	4–5	T-6th
1982	Waters	2–9	2–7	T-8th
Muddy Waters:		10–23–0 (.303)	8–18–0 (.308)
George Perles (Big Ten) (1983–1994)
1983	Perles	4–6–1	2–6–1	7th
1984	Perles	6–6	5–4	T-6th	L Cherry
1985	Perles	7–5	5–3	T-4th	L Hall of Fame Classic
1986	Perles	6–5	4–4	T-5th
1987	Perles	9–2–1	7–0–1	1st	W Rose	8	8
1988	Perles	6–5–1	6–1–1	2nd	L Gator
1989	Perles	8–4	6–2	T-3rd	W Aloha	16	16
1990	Perles	8–3–1	6–2	T-1st	W John Hancock	14	16
1991	Perles	3–8	3–5	T-6th
1992	Perles	5–6	5–3	3rd
1993	Perles	6–6	4–4	7th	L Liberty
1994	Perles	0–11^3	0–8	T-4th
George Perles:		68–67–4 (.504)	53–42–3 (.556)
Nick Saban (Big Ten) (1995–1999)
1995	Saban	6–5–1	4–3–1	5th	L Independence
1996	Saban	6–6^4	5–3	T-5th	L Sun
1997	Saban	7–5	4–4	T-6th	L Aloha
1998	Saban	6–6	4–4	6th
1999	Saban/Williams	10–2	6–2	T-2nd	W Citrus	7	7
Nick Saban:		34–24–1 (.585)	23–16–1 (.588)
Bobby Williams (Big Ten) (2000–2002)
2000	Williams	5–6	2–6	T-9th
2001	Williams	7–5	3–5	T-8th	W Silicon Valley Classic
2002	Williams/Watts	4–8	2–6	T-8th
Bobby Williams:		16–19 (.457)	7–17 (.292)
John L. Smith (Big Ten) (2003–2006)
2003	Smith	8–5	5–3	T-4th	L Alamo
2004	Smith	5–7	4–4	T-5th
2005	Smith	5–6	2–6	9th
2006	Smith	4–8	1–7	T-10th
John L. Smith:		22–26 (.458)	17–23 (.425)
Mark Dantonio (Big Ten) (2007–2019)
2007	Dantonio	7–6	3–5	T-7th	L Champs Sports
2008	Dantonio	9–4	6–2	3rd	L Capital One	24	24
2009	Dantonio	6–7	4–4	T-6th	L Alamo
2010	Dantonio/Treadwell	11–2	7–1	T-1st	L Capital One	14	14
2011	Dantonio	11–3	7–1	1st (Legends)	W Outback	10	11
2012	Dantonio	7–6	3–5	4th (Legends)	W Buffalo Wild Wings
2013	Dantonio	13–1	8–0	1st (Legends)	W Rose^†	3	3
2014	Dantonio	11–2	7–1	2nd (East)	W Cotton^†	5	5
2015	Dantonio	12–2	7–1	T-1st (East)	L CFP Semifinal at Cotton^†	6	6
2016	Dantonio	3–9	1–8	6th (East)
2017	Dantonio	10–3	7–2	T-2nd (East)	W Holiday	16	15
2018	Dantonio	7–6	5-4	4th (East)	L Redbox
2019	Dantonio	7–6	4-5	5th (East)	W Pinstripe
Mark Dantonio:		114–57 (.667)	69–39 (.639)
Mel Tucker (Big Ten) (2020–present)
2020	Tucker
Total:		708–465–44 (.600)
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
^†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. ^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll.

[2]

¹Helms Athletic Foundation and Poling System awarded the national championship to Michigan State.

²College Football Researchers Association, Helms Athletic Foundation, National Football Foundation, and Poling System awarded the national championship to Michigan State.[3]

³Michigan State later forfeited all wins due to academic scandal.[4]

⁴NCAA introduced overtime, thus ending possible outcome of ties.[5]

References

1. Michigan State Spartans. College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
2. CFRC College Football Database - Michigan State. Retrieved 2013-Dec-09.
3. NationalChamps.net - Michigan State. Retrieved 2013-Dec-09.
4. Spartans Spared Major Penalties. Associated Press. 17 September 1996. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
5. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-09-29.