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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4246829, member: 289"] 1966 [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.tiptop25.com/champ1966.html[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_NCAA_University_Division_football_rankings[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.tiptop25.com/fixing1966.html[/URL] The 1966 Notre Dame-Michigan State game was the great college football confrontation of my youth. The 1/1/63 Rose Bowl game, (Southern California 42 Wisconsin 37), was the greatest game but this was the biggest one. It was the first regular season confrontation between teams ranked #1 and #2 since the famous “Game of the Century” between Notre Dame and Army), that ended in a tie just as this game did. The game came at the end of Michigan State’s season and one game short of the end of Notre Dame’s and everyone could see that these were the strongest teams, not only in the country but of that era. It was like two locomotives headed for the same intersection and people were talking about the coming confrontation all season. The big game was an anti-climax, being played very conservatively and ending with Ara Parseghian’s controversial decision to run out the clock at the end rather than to fill the air with footballs trying to pull out the win, at the risk of his back-up quarterback throwing an interception. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Notre+Dame+Michigan+State+1966&&view=detail&mid=EA502B2ECD3B07450373EA502B2ECD3B07450373&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DNotre%2BDame%2BMichigan%2BState%2B1966%26FORM%3DHDRSC3[/URL] [MEDIA=youtube]dLLhbtwrWXo:3[/MEDIA] As Vautravers pointed out, Parseghian was heavily criticized for running out the clock, (see 52:15 in the second link) as he did but he wound up with a national championship whereas Tom Osborne in 1983, tried for two when he could have tied the game against U of Miami by kicking and extra point but was highly praised for going for two, even though they didn’t make it – and he did not come away with a championship. Parseghian was focused on the greater goal of winning the national championship and he achieved it, knowing that his team was already ranked #1, was playing the Spartans on their home field and had another chance the next week to certify their claim to the title against Southern California, (which they did, most affirmatively, 51-0). Michigan State couldn’t got to the Rose Bowl to take on 9-1 UCLA due to that stupid ‘no-repeat’ rule the Big Ten still had and would soon rid itself of. Alabama was bummed out that they were 11-0-0 and got beat out by two 9-0-1 teams. In a way it was karma for what had happened the previous two seasons. In 1964 they were 10-0-0 and ranked #1 at the end of the regular season. There was no poll after the bowls so they went into the ‘books’, (whoever keeps the books), as the national champion when it should have gone to Arkansas, also 10-0-0 who won their bowl game over Nebraska. In 1965 the Tide lost by a point to Georgia and tied Tennessee and was ranked behind three 10-0-0 teams: Michigan State, Arkansas and Nebraska, all of whom lost on New Year’s Day, Nebraska to Alabama, who was voted #1 in the first post bowl AP poll, even though the Spartans, Razorbacks and Cornhuskers still had better records. Now Bama had a team better than either one of those, (They outscored their opposition 250-88 in ’64, 256-107 in ’65 but 301-44 in ’66). [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9LT-que8k"]Bama's Greatest Games-Volume 2: 1967 Nebraska (Sugar Bowl)[/URL] Under LiMu’s system, let’s give ‘em a shot, first at Michigan State and, if they win that, with Notre Dame. Michigan State vs. Alabama Michigan State tied Notre Dame 10-10 who beat North Carolina 32-0 who lost to Kentucky 0-10 who lost to Mississippi 0-19 who lost to Alabama 7-17 = +7 for Alabama Michigan State beat Purdue 41-20 who beat Indiana 51-6 who lost to U of Miami 7-14 who lost to Louisiana State 8-10 who lost to Alabama 0-21 = +36 for Michigan State Michigan State beat Michigan 20-7 who beat Wisconsin 28-17 who lost to Nebraska 3-31 who lost to Alabama 7-34 = +31 for Alabama Michigan State beat North Carolina State 28-10 who beat Clemson 23-14 who lost to Alabama 0-26 = +1 for Michigan State Michigan State beat Penn State 42-8 who lost to Georgia Tech 0-21 who beat Tennessee 6-3 who lost to Alabama 10-11 = +15 for Michigan State Result: +14/5 = Michigan State wins by 3 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State II Notre Dame tied Michigan State 10-10 = Even Notre Dame beat Purdue 26-14 who lost to Michigan State 20-41 = +9 for Michigan State Notre Dame beat Northwestern 35-7 who lost to Michigan State 0-22 = +6 for Notre Dame Notre Dame beat Army 35-0 who beat Penn State 11-0 who lost to Michigan State 8-42 = +12 for Notre Dame Notre Dame beat Southern California 51-0 who beat California 35-9 who lost to Michigan 7-17 who lost to Michigan State 7-20 = +54 for Notre Dame Result: +63/5 = Notre Dame wins the national championship by 13 points. In the first half of the 20th century, Michigan was the dominant team in the state. The Spartans were a wannabe. In the 50’s and 60’s, Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty flipped the script. But Bo Schembechler arrived in Ann Arbor in 1969 and flipped it back. The Spartans would be second fiddle until the 21st century when the rivalry would finally even out. But they’ve never gotten back to the national stature they had from 1950-66, when they went 117-37-4, the fourth best record in the country over that span, behind Mississippi, (who also faded after this year), Oklahoma and Princeton. [/QUOTE]

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