The 1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game is regarded as among the most significant 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 not to try for a score on the series; consequently, the match finished in a 10–10 tie. Notre Dame went on to acquire or share the national title in two polls (such as both AP and UPI); Michigan State shared or won in three minor polls, and Alabama, who ended with the only undefeated and untied record, won two small surveys.
Notre Dame, which had last won a national championship in 1964 (non consensus), rated No. 1 both AP and Coaches’ polls. Defending National Champion Michigan State, who’d finished the 1965 year No. 1 in the UPI Coaches’ survey, but had been upset by UCLA at the Rose Bowl the past calendar year, entered the game ranked No. 2 in the polls. The Fighting Irish, whose bid for a national championship two decades before was snuffed out by USC, were hungry, although the Spartans had background and home-field edge in their side. This was the very first time in 20 years a college football matchup was awarded the”Game of the Century” tag by the national press, and ABC had the nation’s audiences in its grip, with equal portions Notre Dame fans and Michigan State fans. It was the very first time at the 30-year history of the AP poll that the No. 1 group played with 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 2 teams together late in the season. When the 1966 schedules were first drawn up they weren’t even supposed to meet. Michigan State had just nine matches scheduled (although they were permitted to possess eight ) while Notre Dame was initially scheduled to play Iowa that week, as had been the custom since 1945. However, in 1960, the Hawkeyes abruptly dropped the Irish from their schedule, from 1964 onward. Michigan State was accessible and agreed to come back to Notre Dame’s schedule in 1965–66.
The match was not shown live on TV. Each team was allotted one nationwide television appearance and two regional television appearances each season. Notre Dame had used their national TV slot in the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives didn’t even 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 atmosphere the game on tape delay. ABC relented and blacked from the Michigan State-Notre Dame match in just two countries (allegedly North Dakota and South Dakota), therefore it could theoretically be called a regional broadcast. It would also be the first time 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% capacity) and has been the most attended game in Michigan State football history at the time (the current 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 college legends.
Much of the ABC telecast footage resides. The second half is present in its entirety, as do both scoring forces beginning in the second quarter (Michigan State’s field goal and Notre Dame’s touchdown).

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