1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game
The 1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football match is considered among the greatest and most controversial games in college football history played between Michigan State and Notre Dame. The match has been played in Michigan State’s Spartan Stadium on November 19, 1966. Michigan State entered the contest 9–0 and ranked No. 2, while Notre Dame entered 8–0 and ranked No. 1. Notre Dame elected not to try for a score over the last series the match ended at a 10–10 tie. Notre Dame went on to win or share the national title in two polls (including both AP and UPI); Michigan State won or shared in three minor surveys, and Alabama, who finished with the only undefeated and untied record, won 2 small polls.
Notre Dame, which had last won a national championship in 1964 (non consensus), rated No. 1 both the AP and Coaches‘ polls. Defending National Champion Michigan State, who’d completed the 1965 year No. 1 in the UPI Coaches‘ survey, but was upset by UCLA at the Rose Bowl the previous calendar year, entered the game ranked No. 2 in the polls. The Fighting Irish, whose bid for a national championship two decades before had been snuffed out by USC, were hungry, while the Spartans had history and home-field edge in their side. This was the first time in 20 years a school football matchup was given the“Game of the Century“ tag by the national media, and ABC had the nation’s viewers in its clasp, with equal parts Notre Dame lovers and Michigan State fans. It was the very first time at the 30-year history of this AP poll the No. 1 group played the No. 2 team. The Spartans had conquered Notre Dame the prior year 12–3 holding Notre Dame to minus-12 yards rushing.
A fortuitous quirk in scheduling attracted these 2 teams together late in the season. They were not even supposed to fulfill when the 1966 schedules were drawn up. Michigan State had only nine matches scheduled (even though they were permitted to have eight ) while Notre Dame was initially scheduled to play with Iowa that week, as had been the custom since 1945. But in 1960, the Hawkeyes suddenly dropped the Irish from their program, from 1964 onward. Michigan State was available and agreed to return to Notre Dame’s schedule in 1965–66.
The game was not shown live on nationwide TV. Each group has been allotted one nationwide television appearance and two regional television appearances each season. Notre Dame had used their national TV slot at the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives did not even want to demonstrate the game anywhere but the regional area, but pressure in the West Coast and the South (to the tune of 50,000 letters) made ABC atmosphere the game on tape delay. ABC relented and blacked from the Michigan State-Notre Dame match in just two states (reportedly North Dakota and South Dakota), therefore it could technically be called a regional broadcast. It would also be the first time a school football game was broadcast to Hawaii and also to U.S. troops in Vietnam. [5] The official attendance was declared at 80,011 (111% capacity) and has been the most attended game in Michigan State football history at the time (the present record is 80,401 on Sept. 22, 1990 vs. Notre Dame).
Notre Dame was coached by Ara Parseghian and Michigan State was coached by Duffy Daugherty, both college legends.
Much of the original ABC telecast footage survives. The second half is present in its entirety, as do both scoring drives starting in the next quarter (Michigan State’s field goal and Notre Dame’s touchdown).
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