Fans filled Spartan Stadium for the 1966 Michigan State Notre Dame game
1 THE GAME OF THE CENTURY MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SENIOR BUBBA SMITH WAS HIS DORM ROOM ON A CRISP FALL NIGHT IN 1966. A FAMILIAR CHANT AROSE FROM OUTSIDE HIS WINDOW A CROWD OF APPROXIMATELY 5,000 STUDENTS HAD GATHERED OUTSIDE ON THE LAWN THEY WERE CHANTING KILL BUBBA KILL THAT CHEER WAS USUALLY RESERVED FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOONS THAT'S WHEN SMITH A 6 FOOT 6 INCH 280 POUND DEFENSIVE END USUALLY SPENT HIS DAY TERRORIZING OPPOSING QUARTERBACKS But this was a special week On November 19 1966 second ranked Michigan State would play No. I Notre Dame Fans and media began calling it The Game of the Century The rivalry between the Spartans and the Fighting Irish dated to 1897. Now they were about to meet as the two highest ranked teams in the country The Spartans had already won five national titles But the Fighting Irish were ranked No. I for good reason They had outscored their
opponents by a whopping 301 28 in winning their first eight games of the season Michigan State boasted a talented roster Its bone crunching defense was led by Smith and defensive back George Webster The Spartans entered the game 9 0 on the season and had won their previous 19 regular season games The Notre Dame defensive line featured All Americans Alan Page Pete Duranko and Kevin Hardy Linebacker Jim Lynch won the Maxwell Award that season as the nation's best college football player The game featured 25 All Americans and eight future first round draft picks in the National Football League NFL A REAL CROWD PLEASER The United States had troops overseas fighting in the Vietnam War 1954–1975 Military leaders tried to make them feel at home as much as possible One way to do that was by helping them keep in touch with the sports world back in the United States And the troops couldn't miss The Game of the Century So the Michigan State Notre Dame game broadcast overseas to US troops People at home were clamoring to see it too ABC TV received approximately 50,000 letters and petitions to air the game The network decided to cover what was essentially the 1966 national championship game That proved to be a wise move The game drew a national television audience of more than 30 million viewers That would be a huge number even by today's standards The Game of the Century even attracted more viewers than the first Super Bowl which was played two months later in Los Angeles
Bubba Smith 95 and Patrick Gallinagh 55 close in on Notre Dame quarterback Terry Hanratty On game day more than 80,000 fans packed Spartan Stadium Millions more watched on television Notre Dame won the coin toss and elected to open the game on offense But the Michigan State defense would set the early tone THE GAME OF THE CENTURY
