The last time Michigan won a national championship was in 1997, the year you were born, and the last time the team won the Big Ten championship, you were in elementary school. Until last November, when Michigan lost four of five games in a row, Brady Hoke could make a flimsy case that the program was on the upswing. Back-to-back wins over Florida State and Oregon in 2013 helped Hoke reach his first bowl game as coach of Michigan, and a 34-28 loss to Virginia in the Belk Bowl ended his season on a disappointing note.
In 2014, Michigan opened with three straight wins by an average margin of more than 30 points, then fell flat during a 4-7 finish that included losses to Ohio State, Virginia Tech, and Alabama. It was the third consecutive losing season for the Wolverines, who had not made the playoffs since 1999.
On Nov. 25, 2014, just before the end of the regular season, Michigan announced that Hoke would be leaving after 11 seasons to become the head coach at San Diego State. Hoke's replacement has not yet been named. According to ESPN Stats & Information, no other FBS team has had three different coaches lead them through all or part of a season. The only other FBS team with two different leaders is UConn, which has used nine different coaches since 2003.
When the Wolverines played in their first bowl game, the Rose Bowl, they were ranked No. 1.
Michigan State defeated Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, 16-13, to capture its third Big Ten Championship in six years. The Spartans were chosen to compete in the College Football Playoff, where they were crushed 38-0 by eventual National Champion Alabama, finishing with a record and their sixth 11-win season in six years.
The Michigan State football program first took the field in 1891. The team has since become one of the most successful programs in college football history, winning more than 100 games over the course of 30 seasons and earning six national championships during that time. Their overall record is 156-40-10 (.822 win percentage).
In addition to its six national titles, the Michigan State football team has nine other appearances in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Playoffs, most recently in 2013 when they reached the championship game. The last four seasons have seen MSU play in the Rose Bowl every year they've been eligible. The team's all-time leading passer is current San Diego Chargers quarterback Connor Cook, while running back LeGarrette Blount is the school's all-time leading rusher.
MSU's home stadium is Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. The facility opened in 1956 and has been renamed after investment banker and former Michigan governor John J. "Jack" Dempsey.
Dempsey was an All-American halfback at Michigan State before going on to have a highly successful career in professional football.
Michigan last won or split the Big Ten championship in 2004 and 2004. The Wolverines were 5-6 against conference opponents that year.
They have not had a winning season since then and have only made the playoffs once (2009). That year they lost to LSU 34-30 in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.
The previous year, Michigan went 9-3 and ranked No. 6 in the country before losing 38-17 at home to Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach after the season and has been successful so far with Michigan. He has a record of 17-9.
Harbaugh's first season saw the team go 12-1 and win its first 11 games before falling short in the Citrus Bowl to Louisville by 3 points. After that season, he left for San Francisco where he is now one of the top coaches in the NFL.
Michigan's next winning season came under Rich Rodriguez when he was hired away from West Virginia where he had led the Mountaineers to a 10-2 record and their first ever Big 12 Championship. In his only season at Michigan, Rodriguez went 8-5 and finished third in the Big 10.
Daugherty's Michigan State teams were consistently excellent from 1956 through 1964, finishing second in the Big Ten three times but never winning the conference title. The Spartans, on the other hand, defeated Notre Dame eight times in a row between 1955 and 1963, a record only matched by Michigan (1887-1908) and USC (2002-2009).
Daugherty built a winner at MSU that included future NFL players Ernie Kaiserman, Don Clark, and Jim Mandich. In addition to their win over Notre Dame, the Spartans also defeated Oklahoma, Iowa, and Alabama during this period. After Daugherty's death in a plane crash in 1970, his son John took over as head coach and continued his father's success by leading the team to another national championship in 1973. John Daugherty died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 60.
Michigan State has had only one other season with a winning record, when Mark Dantonio led the team to 9-3 in 2012. That year they lost to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game. The following year Dantonio's Spartans went on to defeat Virginia Tech in the 2014 National Title game. He is now entering his third season as head coach at MSU.
Prior to 1956, Michigan State football was not very successful.
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