The 1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game is regarded as one of the most significant and most controversial games in college football history played between Michigan State and Notre Dame. The game was 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 on the series; consequently, the match finished at a 10–10 tie. Notre Dame went on to win or share the national title in two polls (including the AP and UPI); Michigan State won or shared in three small surveys, and Alabama, who finished with the only undefeated and untied record, won two 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 finished the 1965 season No. 1 in the UPI Coaches’ survey, but was 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 years before was snuffed out by USC, were hungry, although the Spartans had background and home-field edge in their side. This was the first time in 20 years that a school football matchup was awarded the”Game of the Century” label by the national press, and ABC had the nation’s viewers in its grip, with equal portions Notre Dame lovers and Michigan State fans. It was the very first time in the 30-year history of the AP poll that the No. 1 group played with the No. 2 team. The Spartans had defeated Notre Dame the previous year 12–3 holding Notre Dame to minus-12 yards rushing.
A fortuitous quirk in scheduling attracted these two teams together late in the season. When the 1966 programs were drawn up they were not even supposed to meet. Michigan State had just nine matches scheduled (even though they were allowed 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 from their program, from 1964 onward. Michigan State was available and agreed to come back to Notre Dame’s schedule in 1965–66.
The match wasn’t shown on nationwide TV. Each group was allotted one nationwide television appearance and also two regional television appearances every year. Notre Dame had used their national TV slot at the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives didn’t want to demonstrate the match anywhere but the regional place, 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 game in just two countries (allegedly North Dakota and South Dakota), so it might technically be called a regional broadcast. It would also be the first time that 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% potential ) and was 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 coached by Ara Parseghian and Michigan State was coached by Duffy Daugherty, both college legends.
A lot of the ABC telecast footage survives. The second half exists 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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