1975 Michigan State Spartans football team

American college football season

1975 Michigan State Spartans football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	7–4 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Denny Stolz (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Andy MacDonald (3rd season)
MVP	Levi Jackson
Captain	Charlie Baggett, Gregory Schaum
Home stadium	Spartan Stadium
Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

1975 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 Ohio State $	8	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	7	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	2
Michigan State	4	–	4	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Illinois	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Purdue	4	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	1	4	–	6	–	1
Minnesota	3	–	5	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Iowa	3	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Indiana	1	–	6	–	1	2	–	8	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University during the 1975 Big Ten Conference football season. Led by Denny Stolz in his third and final season as head coach, the Spartans compiled an overall record of 7–4 with a mark of 4–4, placing in a three-way tie for third in the Big Ten.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 13	No. 3 Ohio State	No. 11	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 0–21	80,383
September 20	No. 19 Miami (OH)*		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 14–13	61,444
September 27	NC State*		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 37–15	59,111	^[1]
October 4	at No. 8 Notre Dame*		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 10–3	59,075
October 11	No. 8 Michigan	No. 15	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	L 6–16	79,776	^[2]^[3]
October 18	at Minnesota	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 38–15	39,202
October 25	Illinois	No. 16	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 19–21	66,223
November 1	at Purdue		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 10–20	57,104
November 8	at Indiana		Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN (rivalry)	W 14–6	31,930
November 15	Northwestern		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 47–14	54,432
November 22	at Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 27–23	42,300
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Roster

1975 Michigan State Spartans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB		Charlie Baggett	Sr
TE		Mike Cobb	Jr
RB		Jim Earley	So
WR	`21`	Dane Fortney	Sr
WR		Kirk Gibson	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Denny Stolz

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries

Notre Dame

Michigan State at #8 Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Michigan State	0	0	3	7	10
Notre Dame	0	0	0	3	3

Date: October 4
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary

3		MSU	Nielsen 37 yard field goal	MSU 3-0

4		ND	Reeve 35 yard field goal	Tied 3-3

4	3:50	MSU	Levi Jackson 4 yard run (Nielsen kick)	MSU 10-3

^[5]

References

^ "Spartans overwhelm NC State". Lansing State Journal. September 28, 1975. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Marcia Merker (October 12, 1975). "Michigan humbles Spartans, 16-6: Runners power Blue in second half surge". The Michigan Daily. pp. 1, 8 – via Bentley Historical Library.
^ Charlie Vincent (October 12, 1975). "U-M Rolls in 4th Quarter To Turn Back MSU, 16-6". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1C, 7C – via Newspapers.com.
^ 2011 Michigan State football media guide.
^ "Spartan Veer Upsets Irish, 10-3." Palm Beach Post. 1975 Oct 5.

v t e Michigan State Spartans football
Venues	Old College Field (1902–1922) Spartan Stadium (1923–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Indiana Michigan Notre Dame Penn State
Culture & lore	Sparty "Victory for MSU" Marching band Zeke the Wonder Dog 1966 "Game of the Century" 2001 Michigan game 2006 Northwestern game 2015 Michigan 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 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold