The 1946 Michigan State Spartans football team was an American football team that represented

Michigan State College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

as an independent during the

1946 college football season The 1946 college football season was the 78th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six C ...

. In their 13th and final season under head coach Charlie Bachman, the Spartans compiled a 5–5 record and were outscored by a total of 202 to 181. The 1946 Spartans lost their annual rivalry game with Michigan by a 55 to 7 score. In intersectional play, the Spartans beat

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

(19–16), Maryland (26-14), and Washington State (26-20), but lost to

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

(34–20), Mississippi State (6–0), and Kentucky (39–14). George Guerre led Michigan State, ranked 13th nationally with 633 rushing yards, and averaged 7.03 rushing yards per carry. In mid-December 1946, Michigan State hired

Clarence Munn Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn (September 11, 1908 – March 18, 1975) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at Albright College (1935–1936), Syracuse University (1946), and mos ...

to replace Bachman as head coach.

Schedule

Game summaries

Michigan

On November 9, 1946, Michigan State lost to Michigan by a score of 55 to 7. With attendance at 77,134, the game drew the largest crowd to that date in the history of the Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry. Michigan scored twice in each quarter. Michigan State's touchdown came on a pass from Horace Smith to Frank Waters covering 77 yards in the third quarter. Michigan gained 500 yards in the game, 293 on the ground and 207 in the air. Michigan was held to 212 yards of which only 47 yards were gained by rushing.

After the season

The 1947 NFL Draft was held on December 16, 1946. The following Spartans were selected.

References

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Michigan State Spartans football seasons Michigan State Spartans football {{Michigan-sport-team-stub