1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game

The 1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game is considered one of the most significant and most controversial games in college football history played between Michigan State and Notre Dame. The game 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 rated No. 1. Notre Dame elected not to try to find a score over the last series; thus, the game ended at a 10–10 tie. Notre Dame went on to win or share the national title in two polls (such as both AP and UPI); Michigan State won or shared in three small polls, and Alabama, who ended with the only undefeated and untied record, won 2 minor polls.
Notre Dame, which had 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 season No. 1 in the UPI Coaches’ survey, but had been upset by UCLA in the Rose Bowl the past year, entered the game ranked No. 2 in the polls. The Fighting Irish, whose bid for a national championship two decades earlier had been snuffed out by USC, were hungry, although the Spartans had history and home-field advantage on their side. This was the very first time in 20 years that a college football matchup was awarded the”Game of the Century” label by the national press, and ABC had the country’s audiences in its clasp, with equal portions Notre Dame lovers and Michigan State fans. This was the very first time at the 30-year history of the AP poll the No. 1 team played the No. 2 team. The Spartans had defeated Notre Dame the prior 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 schedules were drawn up, they were not even supposed to meet. Michigan State had only nine games scheduled (although they had been permitted to have ten) while Notre Dame was originally scheduled to play with Iowa that week, as had been the custom since 1945. However, in 1960, the Hawkeyes suddenly dropped the Irish from their schedule, from 1964 onward. Michigan State was accessible and agreed to return to Notre Dame’s schedule in 1965–66.
The game wasn’t shown on national TV. Each team has been allotted one national television appearance and also two regional television appearances every year. Notre Dame had utilized their nationwide TV slot at the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives didn’t want to show the match anywhere but the regional area, but pressure from 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 out the Michigan State-Notre Dame game 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 college football game was broadcast to Hawaii and also to U.S. troops in Vietnam. [5] The official attendance was announced at 80,011 (111% capacity) 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 educated by Ara Parseghian and Michigan State was coached by Duffy Daugherty, both school legends.
A lot 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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