1987 Michigan State Spartans football
Big Ten champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 20–17 vs. USC
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8
Record	9–2–1 (7–0–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	George Perles (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Morris Watts (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Nick Saban (5th season)
Base defense	Stunt 4–3
MVP	Lorenzo White
Captain	Mark Nichols, Pat Shurmur, Rob Stradley, Lorenzo White
Home stadium	Spartan Stadium (capacity: 76,000)
Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

1987 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 Michigan State $	7	–	0	–	1	9	–	2	–	1
No. 16 Iowa	6	–	2	–	0	10	–	3	–	0
Indiana	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Michigan	5	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Ohio State	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	4	–	1
Minnesota	3	–	5	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Purdue	3	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	1
Illinois	2	–	5	–	1	3	–	7	–	1
Northwestern	2	–	6	–	0	2	–	8	–	1
Wisconsin	1	–	7	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1987 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fifth-year head coach George Perles, the Spartans compiled an overall record of 9–2–1 with a mark 7–0–1 in conference play, winning the Big Ten title. Michigan State beat USC to win the 1988 Rose Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. The first game of the season, also against USC, was the first night game ever at Spartan Stadium.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	8:00 p.m.	No. 19 USC*		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	ABC	W 27–13	77,922
September 19	7:45 p.m.	at No. 9 Notre Dame*	No. 17	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ESPN	L 8–31	59,075
September 26	1:00 p.m.	No. 6 Florida State*		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		L 3–31	76,887
October 3	12:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 19–14	67,700
October 10	3:30 p.m.	No. 12 Michigan		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 17–11	77,424
October 17	2:05 p.m.	at Northwestern	No. 19	Ryan Field Evanston, IL		W 38–0	29,113
October 24	1:00 p.m.	Illinois	No. 14	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		T 14–14	76,513
October 31	3:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Ohio State	No. 20	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	W 13–7	89,915
November 7	1:00 p.m.	Purdue	No. 15	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		W 45–3	76,933
November 14	3:30 p.m.	No. 16 Indiana	No. 13	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 27–3	76,411
November 21	2:05 p.m.	at Wisconsin	No. 11	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 30–9	45,385
January 1, 1988	5:00 p.m.	vs. No. 16 USC*	No. 8	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	NBC	W 20–17	103,847
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

1987 Michigan State Spartans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`17`	Willie Bouyer	Jr
QB	`4`	Dan Enos	Fr
RB	`26`	Blake Ezor	So
TE		Rich Gicewicz
OL		David Houle
WR	`14`	Jeff Jacobs	Sr
OL	`63`	Bob Kula
OT	`79`	Tony Mandarich	Jr
QB	`8`	Bobby McAllister	Jr
RB		Steve Montgomery
RB		James Moore
RB		Joe Pugh
WR	`1`	Andre Rison	Jr
OT	`71`	Kevin Robbins	Jr
TE	`49`	Mike Sargent	Sr
C	`60`	Pat Shurmur	Sr
OL		Vince Tata
RB	`34`	Lorenzo White	Sr
WR		Bernard Wilson
FB	`29`	Duane Young	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`36`	Harlon Barnett	So
DL		Joe Bergin
DL		John Budde
DL	`75`	Travis Davis
LB	`57`	Dixon Edwards	Fr
DB	`9`	Mike Iaquaniello	Fr
LB	`51`	Carlos Jenkins	Fr
S	`35`	Todd Krumm	Sr
LB	`3`	Kurt Larson	Jr
S	`44`	Josh Miller	Jr
LB		Tim Moore
DT	`77`	Eric Moten	Fr
DL	`83`	Mark Nichols
DB		Lenier Payton
DB		Derrick Reed
LB	`48`	Percy Snow	So
DL		Chris Soehnien
DE	`91`	Jim Szymanski	So
LB	`66`	Matt Vanderbeck	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
PK	`10`	John Langeloh	Fr
P	`23`	Greg Montgomery	Sr

Head coach

George Perles

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Nick Saban

Legend

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

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries

USC

at Notre Dame

Michigan State at Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	0	0	8	8
• Fighting Irish	19	5	7	0	31

Date: September 19
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Game start: 7:45 p.m. EST
Game attendance: 59,075
Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary

Q1	ND	Ezor downed ball in end zone	ND 2–0

Q1	ND	Gradel 27 yard field goal	ND 5–0

Q1	ND	Brown 71 yard punt return (Gradel kick)	ND 12–0

Q1	ND	Brown 66 yard punt return (Gradel kick)	ND 19–0

Q2	ND	McAllister tackled in end zone	ND 21–0

Q2	ND	Gradel 37 yard field goal	ND 24–0

Q3	ND	Johnson 3 yard run (Gradel kick)	ND 31–0

Q4	MSU	Rison 57 yard pass from McAllister (Wilson pass from McAllister)	ND 31–8

Florida State

Florida State at Michigan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
• #6 Seminoles	0	7	10	14	31
Spartans	0	3	0	0	3

Date: September 26
Location: Spartan Stadium
East Lansing, MI
Game attendance: 76,887

at Iowa

Michigan State at Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Spartans	7	0	6	6	19
#17 Hawkeyes	7	7	0	0	14

Date: October 3
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA
Game attendance: 67,699

Scoring summary

1	IOWA	Early 19-yard pass from Dan McGwire (Houghtlin kick)	IOWA 7-0

1	Mich St	White 5-yard run (Langeloh kick)	Tied 7-7

2	Iowa	Watkins 14-yard pass from McGwire (Houghtlin kick)	IOWA 14-7

3	KSU	Langeloh 21-yard field goal	IOWA 14-10

3	KSU	Langeloh 46-yard field goal	IOWA 14-13

4	Iowa	Sargent 8-yard pass from McAllister (pass failed)	Mich St 19-14

^[1] ^[2]

Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan	3	0	0	8	11
Michigan St	7	7	0	3	17

MICH - Gillette 31 FG
MSU - White 6 Run (Langeloh kick)
MSU - White 2 Run (Langeloh kick)
MICH - Morris 18 D. Brown (pass good)
MSU - Langeloh 42 FG
Passing: MICH D. Brown 12/26, 158 Yds, TD, 7 INT, MSU McAllister 5/7, 68 Yds
Rushing: MICH Morris 31/108, MSU White 34/185, 2 TD
Receiving: MICH Kolesar 4/65, MSU Bouyer 2/38

^[3]

at Northwestern

Michigan State Spartans at Northwestern Wildcats

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan St	10	7	14	7	38
Northwestern	0	0	0	0	0

at Dyche Stadium • Evanston, Illinois

Date: October 17
Game attendance: 29,113
Gainesville Sun. 1987 Oct 18.

Game information

First quarter

MSU – John Langeloh 31-yard field goal
MSU – Lorenzo White 1-yard run (John Langeloh kick)

Second quarter

MSU – Lorenzo White 6-yard run (John Langeloh kick)

Third quarter

MSU – Lorenzo White 1-yard run (John Langeloh kick)
MSU – Andre Rison 7-yard pass from Bobby McAllister (John Langeloh kick)

Fourth quarter

MSU – Blake Ezor 13-yard run (John Langeloh kick)

Top passers

MSU – Bobby McAllister – 5/16, 97 yards, TD, INT
NW – Mike Greenfield – 4/9, 50 yards, INT

Top rushers

MSU – Lorenzo White – 33 rushes, 187 yards, 3 TD
NW – Byron Sanders – 20 rushes, 26 yards

Top receivers

MSU – Andre Rison – 5 receptions, 96 yards, TD
NW – Marcus Lang – 1 reception, 26 yards

Illinois

at Ohio State

Michigan State Spartans at Ohio State Buckeyes

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan St	10	3	0	0	13
Ohio St	7	0	0	0	7

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Date: October 31, 1987
Game time: 3:30 p.m.
Game weather: Sunny, 60 °F (16 °C)
Game attendance: 89,915
Referee: Ron Winter
TV: ABC
Box Score

Game information

First quarter

OSU – Everett Ross 79-yard pass from Tom Tupa (Matt Frantz kick), 14:45. 'Ohio St 7–0. Drive: 1 play, 79 yards, 0:11.
MSU – Bobby McAllister 15-yard run (John Langeloh kick), 4:37. Tie 7–7. Drive: 3 plays, 54 yards, 0:50.
MSU – John Langeloh 40-yard field goal, 1:22. Michigan St 10–7. Drive: 4 plays, 13 yards, 1:48.

Second quarter

MSU – John Langeloh 20-yard field goal, 10:41. Michigan St 13–7. Drive: 9 plays, 41 yards, 4:10.

Top passers

MSU – Bobby McAllister – 4/12, 61 yards
OSU – Tom Tupa – 8/15, 137 yards, TD, 2 INT

Top rushers

MSU – Bobby McAllister – 22 rushes, 83 yards, TD
OSU – Carlos Snow – 8 rushes, 18 yards

Top receivers

MSU – Lorenzo White – 2 receptions, 21 yards
OSU – Alex Higdon – 6 receptions, 54 yards

Purdue

Indiana

Indiana Hoosiers at Michigan State Spartans

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Indiana	3	0	0	0	3
Michigan St	0	17	10	0	27

at Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, Michigan

Date: November 14
Game attendance: 76,411
^[4]

Game information

Indiana

Kramme
11/26, 147 Yds, 3 INT
Thompson
10 Rush, 23 Yds
Jordan
3 Rec, 39 Yds

Michigan St

McAllister
5/5, 67 Yds, TD
White
56 Rush, 292 Yds, 2 TD
Rison
2 Rec, 41 Yds, TD

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	IND	MSU
1					Indiana	49-yard field goal by Stoyanovich	3	0
2					Michigan St	White 5-yard touchdown run, Langeloh kick good	3	7
2					Michigan St	Rison 22-yard touchdown reception from McAllister, Langeloh kick good	3	14
2					Michigan St	47-yard field goal by Langeloh	3	17
3					Michigan St	21-yard field goal by Langeloh	3	20
3					Michigan St	White 1-yard touchdown run, Langeloh kick good	3	27
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							3	27

at Wisconsin

Rose Bowl vs. USC

Main article: 1988 Rose Bowl

1988 NFL Draft

The following players were selected in the 1988 NFL Draft.^[5] Team members Tony Mandarich, Andre Rison and Percy Snow were drafted in later years.

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL Team
Lorenzo White	1	22	Running Back	Houston Oilers
Greg Montgomery	3	72	Punter	Houston Oilers
David Houle	6	145	Guard	New York Giants
Tim Moore	8	206	Linebacker	Phoenix Cardinals
Mark Nichols	8	209	Nose Tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers

References

^ "Who'll Be Counted Out In Big 10?". Chicago Tribune. October 2, 1987. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
^ "White, MSU defense too much for Iowa". Chicago Tribune. October 4, 1987. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1987 Oct 11. Retrieved 2019-Jan-07
^ Gainesville Sun. 1987 Nov 15. Retrieved 2019-Jan-06.
^ "1988 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-21.

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v t e Big Ten Conference football champions
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