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 was played in Michigan State’s Spartan Stadium on November 19, 1966. Michigan State entered the competition 9–0 and ranked No. 2, while Notre Dame entered 8–0 and ranked No. 1. Notre Dame elected to not try for a score on the final series. Notre Dame went on to win or share the national title in two polls (including both AP and UPI); Michigan State shared or won in three small polls, and Alabama, who finished with all the only undefeated and untied album, won two minor surveys.
Notre Dame, which had won a national championship in 1964 (non consensus), ranked No. 1 both AP and Coaches’ polls. Defending National Champion Michigan State, who had finished the 1965 season No. 1 in the UPI Coaches’ poll, but was upset by UCLA in 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 years earlier was snuffed out by USC, were hungry, although the Spartans had background and home-field advantage in their side. This was the first time in 20 years a college football matchup was given the”Game of the Century” label by the national press, and ABC had the nation’s audiences in its clasp, with equal parts Notre Dame lovers and Michigan State fans. This was the very first time at the 30-year history of the AP poll that the No. 1 team played the No. 2 team. The Spartans had conquered Notre Dame the previous year 12–3 holding Notre Dame to minus-12 yards rushing.
A fortuitous quirk in scheduling brought these two teams together late in the season. When the 1966 programs were drawn up, they weren’t even supposed to fulfill. Michigan State had only nine games scheduled (even though they were permitted to possess ten) while Notre Dame was initially scheduled to play with Iowa that week, as had been the custom since 1945. However, in 1960, the Hawkeyes abruptly dropped the Irish out of 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 on national TV. Each team was allotted one nationwide television appearance and also two regional television appearances each season. Notre Dame had used their national TV slot at the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives didn’t want to show the match everywhere but the regional area, but pressure in the West Coast and the South (to the tune of 50,000 letters) made ABC air the game on tape delay. ABC relented and blacked from the Michigan State-Notre Dame match in just two states (allegedly North Dakota and South Dakota), therefore it might theoretically be called a regional broadcast. It would also be the first time that a school football game was broadcast to Hawaii and to U.S. troops in Vietnam. [5] The official attendance was declared at 80,011 (111% potential ) and has been the most attended match 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 school legends.
Much of the ABC telecast footage survives. The second half is present in its entirety, as do both scoring drives starting in the second quarter (Michigan State’s field goal and Notre Dame’s touchdown).
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