The 1897 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented Michigan Agricultural College (MAC), now known as

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, during the

1897 college football season The 1897 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Penn and Yale as having been selected national champions. Conference and program changes Conference establishments * ...

. The Aggies compiled a 4–2–1 record and outscored their opponents 146 to 106. The 1897 season was the first in which the MAC football team had a coach. Henry Keep, an engineering student who had transferred from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, was the first coach. The 1897 season also featured the first installment of the

Michigan State–Notre Dame football rivalry The Michigan State–Notre Dame football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Michigan State Spartans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The first game between the teams took place on November 25, 1897. Notre Dame leads the all ...

. Notre Dame won the game at

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

, by 34 to 6 score. Fullback Wells scored a touchdown for the Aggies. During the 1897 season, MAC also played two games each against nearby Olivet College and Alma College. The Aggies defeated Alma in both games and secured one win and one tie against Olivet. A game against

Michigan State Normal School Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

(later Eastern Michigan University) was cancelled, because MAC accused the Normal School of fielding a team that was "not made up entirely of college men."

Schedule

References

Michigan Agricultural Michigan State Spartans football seasons

Michigan Agricultural Aggies football The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University (MSU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Spartans are members of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State claims a ...

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