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The 1951 Michigan State Spartans football team was an
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team that represented
Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
as an independent during the
1951 college football season The 1951 college football season finished with seven unbeaten major college teams, of which five were unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, the Tennessee Volunteers were voted the best team by the Associated Press, followed by the Michigan State Sparta ...
. In their fifth season under head coach
Clarence Munn Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn (September 11, 1908 – March 18, 1975) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at Albright College (1935–1936), Syracuse University (1946), and mos ...
, the Spartans compiled a perfect 9–0 record and outscored opponents by a total of 270 to 114. The Spartans played their home games at Macklin Stadium (now known as Spartan Stadium) in
East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
. In the final AP and UPI coaches polls, both released on December 3, 1951, Michigan State was ranked No. 2 behind No. 1
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. Tennessee went on to lose to No. 3
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
in the 1952 Sugar Bowl. However, neither the AP nor UPI took post-bowl poll in this time period. In later rankings and analyses, Michigan State was recognized as the 1951 national champion by three NCAA-recognized selectors:
Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...
,
Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...
, and
Poling System The Poling System was a mathematical rating system used to select college football national championship teams on a current basis from 1935 to 1984. Its selections were published in the ''Football Review Supplement'' and several newspapers.
. Other selectors have designated Maryland as the national champion. Two Michigan State players, end Bob Carey and tackle Don Coleman, were recognized as consensus first-team players on the
1951 College Football All-America Team The 1951 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1951. The eight selectors recognized by the ...
. Two other Spartans were designated as first-team All-Americans by one or more selectors:
Al Dorow Albert Richard Dorow (November 15, 1929 – December 7, 2009) was an American gridiron football quarterback. He played college football at Michigan State University and professionally in the National Football League (NFL), the American Footb ...
(first-team defensive back selected by the
International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.
) and Jim Ellis (first-team defensive back selected by the ''Chicago Tribune''.


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References

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
Michigan State Spartans football seasons College football undefeated seasons
Michigan State Spartans football The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University (MSU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Spartans are members of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State claims a ...
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