1990 Michigan State Spartans football team

American college football season

1990 Michigan State Spartans football
Big Ten co-champion John Hancock Bowl champion
John Hancock Bowl, W 17–16 vs. USC
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 16
Record	8–3–1 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	George Perles (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Morris Watts (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Norm Parker (3rd season)
MVP	Dan Enos, Hyland Hickson
Captain	Dan Enos, Mike Iaquaniello, Carlos Jenkins, Eric Moten
Home stadium	Spartan Stadium
Seasons ← 1989 1991 →

1990 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Michigan +	6	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Michigan State +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	1
No. 25 Illinois +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Iowa +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Ohio State	5	–	2	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Minnesota	5	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Indiana	3	–	4	–	1	6	–	5	–	1
Northwestern	1	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Purdue	1	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Wisconsin	0	–	8	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by eighth-year head coach George Perles, the Spartans compiled an overall record of 8–3–1 with a mark of 6–2 in conference play, placing in four-way tie for the Big Ten title with Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 15	7:30 p.m.	at Syracuse*	No. 19	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY	ESPN	T 23–23	49,822
September 22	3:30 p.m.	No. 1 Notre Dame*	No. 24	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ABC	L 19–20	80,401
September 29	7:05 p.m.	at Rutgers*	No. 22	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ		W 34–10	26,188
October 6	1:05 p.m.	Iowa	No. 18	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		L 7–12	76,873
October 13	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 Michigan		Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ABC	W 28–27	106,188
October 20	3:30 p.m.	at No. 8 Illinois	No. 24	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	L 13–15	70,398
October 27	1:05 p.m.	Purdue		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		W 55–33	77,343
November 3	12:30 p.m.	Indiana		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ESPN	W 45–20	74,261
November 11	2:30 p.m.	at Minnesota		Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis, MN		W 28–16	38,731
November 17	2:05 p.m.	at Northwestern	No. 24	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL		W 29–22	24,953
November 24	1:05 p.m.	Wisconsin	No. 24	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		W 14–9	60,517
December 31	2:30 p.m.	vs. No. 21 USC*	No. 22	Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (John Hancock Bowl)	CBS	W 17–16	50,562
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

OT No. 77 Eric Moten, Sr.

Game summaries

Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Michigan State	7	0	7	14	28
Michigan	7	0	7	13	27

Date: October 13
Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Game attendance: 106,180
Game weather: Sunny
TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Bob Griese & Jack Arute

Scoring summary

1		MICH	Alexander 16-yard pass from Grbac (Carlson kick)	MICH 7-0

1		MSU	Enos 8-yard run (Langeloh kick)	Tied 7-7

3		MICH	Bunch 1-yard run (Carlson kick)	MICH 14-7

3		MSU	Hickson 4-yard pass from Enos (Langeloh kick)	Tied 14-14

4		MSU	Hickson 26-yard run (Langeloh kick)	MSU 21-14

4	5:50	MICH	Howard 95-yard kickoff return (Carlson kick)	Tied 21-21

4		MSU	Duckett 9-yard run (Langeloh kick)	MSU 28-21

4	0:06	MICH	Alexander 7-yard pass from Grbac (pass failed)	MSU 28-27

^[1]

Team members in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Franchise
Bobby Wilson		1	17	Washington Redskins
Dixon Edwards	Linebacker	2	37	Dallas Cowboys
Eric Moten	Guard	2	47	San Diego Chargers
Carlos Jenkins	Linebacker	3	65	Minnesota Vikings
Duane Young	Tight end	5	123	San Diego Chargers
James Bradley	Wide receiver	7	181	Indianapolis Colts
Hyland Hickson	Running back	10	265	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Cliff Confer	Defensive end	12	332	San Francisco 49ers

^[2]

References

^ "Michigan's lament: No call, no catch, no victory." Eugene Register-Guard. October 14, 1990
^ "1991 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on December 20, 2007.

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 2015 Michigan game
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders NFL draftees
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
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Ten Conference football champions
Western Conference	Wisconsin (1896) Wisconsin (1897) Michigan (1898) Chicago (1899) Iowa & Minnesota (1900) Michigan & Wisconsin (1901) Michigan (1902) Michigan, Minnesota, & Northwestern (1903) Michigan & Minnesota (1904) Chicago (1905) Michigan, Minnesota, & Wisconsin (1906) Chicago (1907) Chicago (1908) Minnesota (1909) Illinois & Minnesota (1910) Minnesota (1911) Wisconsin (1912) Chicago (1913) Illinois (1914) Illinois & Minnesota (1915) Ohio State (1916)
Big Ten	Ohio State (1917) Illinois, Michigan, & Purdue (1918) Illinois (1919) Ohio State (1920) Iowa (1921) Chicago, Iowa, & Michigan (1922) Illinois & Michigan (1923) Chicago (1924) Michigan (1925) Michigan & Northwestern (1926) Illinois & Minnesota (1927) Illinois (1928) Purdue (1929) Michigan & Northwestern (1930) Purdue, Michigan & Northwestern (1931) Michigan & Purdue (1932) Michigan & Minnesota (1933) Minnesota (1934) Minnesota & Ohio State (1935) Northwestern (1936) Minnesota (1937) Minnesota (1938) Ohio State (1939) Minnesota (1940) Minnesota (1941) Ohio State (1942) Michigan & Purdue (1943) Ohio State (1944) Indiana (1945)
Big Nine	Illinois (1946) Michigan (1947) Michigan (1948) Michigan & Ohio State (1949)
Big Ten	Michigan (1950) Illinois (1951) Purdue & Wisconsin (1952) Illinois & Michigan State (1953) Ohio State (1954) Ohio State (1955) Iowa (1956) Ohio State (1957) Iowa (1958) Wisconsin (1959) Minnesota & Iowa (1960) Ohio State (1961) Wisconsin (1962) Illinois (1963) Michigan (1964) Michigan State (1965) Michigan State (1966) Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue (1967) Ohio State (1968) Michigan & Ohio State (1969) Ohio State (1970) Michigan (1971) Michigan & Ohio State (1972) Michigan & Ohio State (1973) Michigan & Ohio State (1974) Ohio State (1975) Michigan & Ohio State (1976) Michigan & Ohio State (1977) Michigan & Michigan State (1978) Ohio State (1979) Michigan (1980) Iowa & Ohio State (1981) Michigan (1982) Illinois (1983) Ohio State (1984) Iowa (1985) Michigan & Ohio State (1986) Michigan State (1987) Michigan (1988) Michigan (1989) Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, & Michigan State (1990) Michigan (1991) Michigan (1992) Ohio State & Wisconsin (1993) Penn State (1994) Northwestern (1995) Ohio State & Northwestern (1996) Michigan (1997) Michigan, Ohio State, & Wisconsin (1998) Wisconsin (1999) Michigan, Northwestern, & Purdue (2000) Illinois (2001) Ohio State & Iowa (2002) Michigan (2003) Iowa & Michigan (2004) Ohio State & Penn State (2005) Ohio State (2006) Ohio State (2007) Ohio State & Penn State (2008) Ohio State (2009) Michigan State & Wisconsin (2010) Wisconsin (2011) Wisconsin (2012) Michigan State (2013) Ohio State (2014) Michigan State (2015) Penn State (2016) Ohio State (2017) Ohio State (2018) Ohio State (2019) Ohio State (2020) Michigan (2021) Michigan (2022) Michigan (2023)
National championships in bold