1979 Michigan State Spartans football team

1979 Michigan State Spartans football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	5–6 (3–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Darryl Rogers (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Padilla (4th season)
Captain	Dan Bass, Mark Brammer
Home stadium	Spartan Stadium (Capacity: 76,000)

1979 Big Ten Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Ohio State $	8	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 10 Purdue	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 18 Michigan	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Indiana	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Iowa	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	5	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Michigan State	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Illinois	1	–	6	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Northwestern	0	–	9	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 1979 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth season under head coach Darryl Rogers, the Spartans compiled a 5–6 overall record (3–5 against Big Ten opponents) and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Big Ten Conference.

Three Spartans were selected by either the Associated Press (AP) or the United Press International (UPI) as first-team players on the 1979 All-Big Ten Conference football teams: tight end Mark Brammer (UPI-1); linebacker Dan Bass (AP-1); and punter Ray Stachowitz (AP-1).

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result
September 8	Illinois	No. 10	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 33–16
September 15	Oregon*	No. 10	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 41–17
September 22	Miami (OH)*	No. 8	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 24–21
September 29	at No. 15 Notre Dame*	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Megaphone Trophy)	L 3–27
October 6	No. 11 Michigan	No. 16	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (Paul Bunyan Trophy)	L 7–21
October 13	at Wisconsin	No. 19	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 29–38
October 20	No. 16 Purdue		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 7–14
October 27	at No. 4 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 0–42
November 3	at Northwestern		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 42–7
November 10	Minnesota		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 31–17
November 17	at Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 23–33
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1979 Michigan State Spartans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 91 Mark Brammer Sr OT 53 Angelo Fields Sr WR 6 Mark Jones FB 33 Joe Kolodziej	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 16 Mark Anderson Sr LB 49 Dan Bass Sr CB 28 James Burroughs So LB 40 John McCormick LB 57 Larry Savage Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 8 Morten Andersen So P 19 Ray Stachowicz Jr	Head coach Darryl Rogers Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt