Battle for the Land Grant Trophy
Since Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993, the Nittany Lions and Spartans have played each other for the trophy in the last week of conference play. The trophy, designed by former Michigan State coach George Perls, features pictures of Penn State's Old Main and Michigan State's Beaumont Tower. Michigan State won the most recent meeting 31-27 on November 19, 2011, at Beaver Stadium. Currently, Michigan State leads the overall series 15–14–1, though many of the games were played prior to Penn State joining the Big Ten and are thus not included in the trophy count.
Michigan State University and Penn State University are the nation's oldest land-grant universities, hence the name for the trophy. In 1955 on the 100th year anniversary of the founding of the land grant system, Michigan State and Penn State were commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the "First of the Land-Grant Colleges". These two universities were the first ever universities to be placed on a U.S. postage stamp.
They are also the most recent additions to the Big Ten. Fellow Big Ten members Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin are also land-grant schools.
#14 6-3(5-2) vs 
#12 9-1(6-1)
Overall Rating: B+ ------ B
Offense Rating: B+ ------ B
Defense Rating: B+ ------ B
Points per Game: 23.4(#33) ---- 28.6(#13)
Total Offense: 3380(#89) ---- 3588(#79)
Rush Offense: 1209(#70) ---- 1759(#21)
Pass Offense: 2171(#45) ---- 1829(#78)
Total Defense: 2264(#7) ---- 2171(#5)
Rush Defense: 1147(#33) ---- 834(#5)
Pass Defense: 1117(#1) ---- 1337(#9)
Turnover Diff: 6(#21) ---- 3(#35)
Lee = PSU
Kirk = PSU