The lesser known, "Tie one for the Eddy"
 

Write up by Pete Fiutak
Notre Dame 10 Michigan State 10 | November 19, 1966
Win one for the Gipper it wasn't. When soliciting the thoughts of various media members and fans for the greatest game of all time, this one was mentioned in a surprising amount of the responses. In the history of college football, there might not have been a game with more of a feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction than this one. If a tie is like kissing your sister, this chick looked like Beano Cook. The No. 1 ranked Irish and No. 2 ranked Spartans battled and bruised each other to no avail.  Star Irish quarterback Terry Hanrattay was knocked out after getting crushed in the first quarter by Spartan defensive lineman Bubba Smith.  Starting Notre Dame running back Nick Eddy was out entirely after hurting his shoulder getting off the train in East Lansing.

Even without their stars, the Irish found themselves tied 10-10 with the ball on their 30-yard line with time to go for the touchdown, or at least a game-winning field goal. But head coach Ara Parseghian elected to run the clock out and take the tie. Why? Excuse No. 1: The backup Irish quarterback Coley O Brien, a diabetic, was completely run down and couldnt throw. You'd think they could've found an apple for him to eat. Excuse No. 2: After being down 10-0, the Irish totally dominated the second half and didnt want to make a mistake and give the game away. Whatever. In the eyes of college football fans, the disappointment turned into contempt for the Irish for playing it so safe when Michigan State pulled out all the stops to try and win the game. The reality was that the tie gave the Irish their best shot at the national title. After throttling USC 51-0, Notre Dame won the national championship while Michigan State ended up second.

Historical Significance
These two teams were absolute monsters. Notre Dame gave up fourteen points in the season opening win over Purdue, ten points to Michigan State, and a total of fourteen points to its other seven opponents shutting out six of them. Michigan State was coming off a 10-1 1965 season only losing to UCLA by two points in the Rose Bowl in what was considered a major upset. After 1966, Spartan football fell off the map for a while going 3-7 in 1967. Fans were so disappointed in the outcome of this game that they were absolutely giddy when the Texas-Arkansas game of 1969 and the Nebraska-Oklahoma classic of 1971 lived up to the hype.

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Courtesy of College Football News

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