Michigan State Leads Nation Against AP Top 10

EAST LANSING – The Michigan State Spartans have made it a habit of defeating teams ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press College Football Poll, all the while leading the Big Ten with three conference titles in the last six years.

The Spartans have amassed a 15-6-1 record in matchups between two schools ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll.

That win percentage (.705) is the best among college football programs in the 79-year history of the poll, according to ESPN. Miami is second with a 24-12 record (.667).

Most of the Spartans wins against top 10 teams came in the 1950's and 60's, when Michigan State went 10-2-1 in top 10 matchups, culminating with the 1966 "Game of the Century" tie against Notre Dame.

However Mark Dantonio has been successful in top 10 matchups as well, going 6-2 in ten seasons. The six wins came against Oregon and Ohio State in the 2015 regular season, the 2013 & 2015 Big Ten championship games against Ohio State and Iowa, the Rose Bowl versus Stanford in 2014, and the Cotton Bowl against Baylor in 2015.

The Spartans are the only Big Ten team to have beaten an Urban Meyer coached OSU team. In fact MSU is the only team in the nation to have defeated Meyer’s Buckeyes twice, once in 2013 and again in 2015. The only other teams to have beaten Meyer since he’s been in Columbus are Virginia Tech and Clemson.

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