1999 Michigan State Spartans football team

American college football season

1999 Michigan State Spartans football

Florida Citrus Bowl champion

Florida Citrus Bowl, W 37–34 vs. Florida

Conference| Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches| No. 7
AP| No. 7
Record| 10–2 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach|

* Nick Saban (5th season; first 11 games)
* Bobby Williams (bowl game)

Offensive coordinator| Morris Watts (1st season)
Defensive coordinator| Bill Miller (1st season)
Home stadium| Spartan Stadium (c. 72,027 AstroTurf)

Seasons

<- 1998

2000 ->

1999 Big Ten Conference football standings

* v
* t
* e

| Conf |  |  | Overall

|
|
|
|

Team |  | W |  | L |  |  |  |  | W |  | L |
No. 4 Wisconsin $  |  | 7  | - | 1  |  |  |  |  | 10  | - | 2  |
No. 7 Michigan State |  | 6  | - | 2  |  |  |  |  | 10  | - | 2  |
No. 5 Michigan %  |  | 6  | - | 2  |  |  |  |  | 10  | - | 2  |
No. 11 Penn State |  | 5  | - | 3  |  |  |  |  | 10  | - | 3  |
No. 18 Minnesota |  | 5  | - | 3  |  |  |  |  | 8  | - | 4  |
No. 24 Illinois |  | 4  | - | 4  |  |  |  |  | 8  | - | 4  |
No. 25 Purdue |  | 4  | - | 4  |  |  |  |  | 7  | - | 5  |
Ohio State |  | 3  | - | 5  |  |  |  |  | 6  | - | 6  |
Indiana |  | 3  | - | 5  |  |  |  |  | 4  | - | 7  |
Northwestern |  | 1  | - | 7  |  |  |  |  | 3  | - | 8  |
Iowa |  | 0  | - | 8  |  |  |  |  | 1  | - | 10  |

* $ - BCS representative as conference champion
* % - BCS at-large representative

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1999 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Spartans played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. This was the last year for head coach Nick Saban, who left the program on December 5 to take the head coaching position at LSU. During the bowl game, the Spartans were coached by interim head coach Bobby Williams, who led the Spartans to a 37–34 victory in the 2000 Florida Citrus Bowl over the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference, with a last second, game-winning field goal by kicker Paul Edinger.

This Spartan team featured the likes of Plaxico Burress, T. J. Duckett, Julian Peterson, and Renaldo Hill, and goes down as one of the best Spartan teams in the BCS era.

## Schedule

[edit]

Date| Time| Opponent| Rank| Site| TV| Result| Attendance| Source

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

September 2| 8:00 p.m.| Oregon*| |

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI

| ESPN| W 27–20| 72,923|
September 11| 1:00 p.m.| Eastern Michigan*| |

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI

| | W 51–7| 72,569|
September 18| 1:30 p.m.| at No. 24 Notre Dame*| |

* Notre Dame Stadium
* Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)

| NBC| W 23–13| 80,012|
September 25| 3:30 p.m.| at Illinois| No. 19|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| | W 27–10| 52,417| [1]
October 2| 12:10 p.m.| Iowa| No. 14|

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI

| ESPN Plus| W 49–3| 73,629|
October 9| 12:00 p.m.| No. 3 Michigan| No. 11|

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI (rivalry, College GameDay)

| ABC| W 34–31| 76,895|
October 16| 3:30 p.m.| at No. 20 Purdue| No. 5|

* Ross–Ade Stadium
* West Lafayette, IN

| ABC| L 28–52| 68,216|
October 23| 12:10 p.m.| at No. 16 Wisconsin| No. 11|

* Camp Randall Stadium
* Madison, WI

| ESPN2| L 10–40| 78,469|
November 6| 12:10 p.m.| No. 20 Ohio State| No. 19|

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI

| ESPN| W 23–7| 74,639|
November 13| 1:00 p.m.| at Northwestern| No. 17|

* Ryan Field
* Evanston, IL

| | W 40–0| 30,045|
November 20| 3:30 p.m.| No. 13 Penn State| No. 15|

* Spartan Stadium
* East Lansing, MI (rivalry)

| ABC| W 35–28| 74,231|
January 1, 2000| 1:00 p.m.| vs. No. 10 Florida*| No. 9|

* Florida Citrus Bowl
* Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)

| ABC| W 37–34| 54,866| [2]

* *Non-conference game
* Homecoming
* Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
* All times are in Eastern time

## Rankings

[edit]

See also: 1999 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes| Week

|

Poll| Pre| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| Final
AP| RV| RV| RV| RV| 19| 14| 11| 5| 11| 19| 19| 17| 15| 11| 10| 9| 7
Coaches Poll| RV| RV*| RV| RV| 21| 14| 11| 7| 13| 20| 19| 17| 14| 11| 10| 9| 7
BCS| Not released| 15| —| 13| 12| 11| 10| 9| Not released

## Game summaries

[edit]

### Oregon

[edit]

Oregon at Michigan State  |  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

|
|
|
|
|

Oregon | 7 | 10| 0| 3 | 20
• Michigan State | 7 | 0| 10| 10 | 27

* Date: September 2
* Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
* Game start: 8:00 p.m.
* Game attendance: 72,923
* TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Tirico, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit

### Michigan

[edit]

#3 Michigan at #11 Michigan State  |  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

|
|
|
|
|

Michigan | 0 | 10| 0| 21 | 31
• Michigan State | 7 | 6| 14| 7 | 34

* Date: October 9
* Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
* Game start: 12:00 p.m.
* Game attendance: 76,895
* TV announcers (ABC): Tim Brant & Mike Golic

| Scoring summary

1| 6:55| MSU| T.J. Duckett 1 yard run (Paul Edinger kick)| MSU 7–0
2| 14:55| MICH| Hayden Epstein 56 yard field goal| MSU 7–3
2| 5:28| MSU| Paul Edinger 39 yard field goal| MSU 10–3
2| 3:39| MICH| Marcus Knight 81 yard pass from Drew Henson (Jeff Del Verne kick)| Tied 10–10
2| 1:17| MSU| Paul Edinger 43 yard field goal| MSU 13–10
3| 6:15| MSU| Gari Scott 19 yard pass from Bill Burke (Paul Edinger kick)| MSU 20–10
3| 3:02| MSU| Plaxico Burress 15 yard pass from Bill Burke (Paul Edinger kick)| MSU 27–10
4| 14:23| MICH| Anthony Thomas 2 yard run (Jeff Del Verne kick)| MSU 27–17
4| 12:19| MSU| Dawan Moss 14 yard run (Paul Edinger kick)| MSU 34–17
4| 8:11| MICH| David Terrell 19 yard pass from Tom Brady (Jeff Del Verne kick)| MSU 34–24
4| 2:47| MICH| Aaron Shea 8 yard pass from Tom Brady (Jeff Del Verne kick)| MSU 34–31

Bill Burke threw for a school-record 400 yards and two touchdowns while Plaxico Burress set a new mark with 255 yards receiving. Burke broke Ed Smith's record of 369 against Indiana in 1979 while Burress surpassed Andre Rison's 252 yards against Georgia in 1989. Michigan State was now 6–0 for the first time since the 1966 national championship season.[3]

## Roster

[edit]

1999 Michigan State Spartans football team roster

Players  | Coaches
Offense | Pos. | # | Name | Class

|
|
|

TE | `83` | Chris Baker | So
QB | `16` | Bill Burke | Sr
WR | `4` | Plaxico Burress | Jr
C | `51` | Brian Grant | Jr
FB | `00` | Ericson Rico | So
OT | `74` | Tupe Peko | Jr
OT | `76` | Greg Randall | Sr
WR | `86` | Gari Scott | Sr
Defense | Pos. | # | Name | Class

|
|
|

CB | `3` | Amp Campbell | Sr
LB | `8` | T. J. Duckett | Fr
CB | `15` | Renaldo Hill | Jr
DB | `9` | Aric Morris | Sr
LB | `98` | Julian Peterson | Sr
DT | `95` | Josh Shaw | So
DE | `91` | Robaire Smith | Sr
LB | `50` | Josh Thornhill | So
LB | `35` | T. J. Turner | Jr
Special teams | Pos. | # | Name | Class

|
|
|

K | `1` | Paul Edinger | Sr
P | `12` | Craig Jarrett | So

Head coach

* Nick Saban (Regular season)
* Bobby Williams (bowl game)

Coordinators/assistant coaches

* Morris Watts – Offensive coordinator
* Bobby Williams – Running backs coach
* Pat Ruel – Offensive Line coach
* Bill Miller – Defensive coordinator
* Bill Sheridan – Linebackers coach
* Mark Dantonio – Defensive back coach
* Bob Casullo – Assistant
* Brad Lawing – Assistant
* Reggie Mitchell – Assistant
* Josh McDaniels – Graduate assistant
* Brian Daboll – Graduate assistant
* Fred Farrier – Graduate assistant

* * *

Legend

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

* Injured
* Redshirt

## 2000 NFL draft

[edit]

The following players were selected in the 2000 NFL draft.

Player | Round | Pick | Position | NFL team

|
|
|
|

Plaxico Burress | 1 | 8 | Wide receiver | Pittsburgh Steelers
Julian Peterson | 1 | 16 | Linebacker | San Francisco 49ers
Gari Scott | 4 | 99 | Wide receiver | Philadelphia Eagles
Greg Randall | 4 | 127 | Tackle | New England Patriots
Aric Morris | 5 | 135 | Strong safety | Tennessee Titans
Paul Edinger | 6 | 174 | Kicker | Chicago Bears
Robaire Smith | 6 | 197 | Defensive tackle | Tennessee Titans

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dye, Dave (September 26, 1999). "Spartans' defense shuts down Illini". Detroit Free Press. p. 1E. Retrieved October 6, 2022 - via Newspapers.com.
2. ^ "Michigan State KO's Florida on final play". The Flint Journal. January 2, 2000. Retrieved October 19, 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ "NCAA Football - Michigan vs. Michigan State". USA Today.

* 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
* Trouble With the Snap

People|

* Head coaches
* NFL draftees
* Statistical leaders

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
* 2025

National championship seasons in bold

This college football 1990s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[No.]: Number