IRISH LORE NEWSLINK 1966 Article: “An Upside-Down Game [Archive Article: Notre Dame vs. Michigan State 1966]”- Sports Illustrated 11.28.66
[archived Sports Illustrated article from 1966, contemporary with Notre Dame’s national championship-deciding game at Michigan State; to be fair, in a #1 vs. #2 match-up on the road, Notre Dame knew that, because it was harder for the visiting team, a tie would favor the visiting team in the polls; when an injury-riddled Notre Dame team that had lost its starting quarterback early on and, among other back-ups, was playing a back-up quarterback who was an insulin-dependent diabetic, nevertheless still had a tie in hand that would preserve their #1 ranking, in the closing moments, the head coach made a strategic judgment that it would be most prudent and most fair to the team to simply hang onto the tie and ranking in the closing moments; and it was not the last game of the year; Notre Dame went on to ratify their #1 ranking by blowing out a top-10 Southern Cal team in the L.A. Coliseum]