The 1976 Michigan State Spartans football team is 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 wi ...

team that represented Michigan State University in the

1976 Big Ten Conference football season The 1976 Big Ten Conference football season was the 81st season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. The 1976 Michigan Wolverines football team, und ...

. In their first season under head coach

Darryl Rogers Darryl Dale Rogers (May 28, 1934 – July 10, 2018) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at California State College at Hayward—now known as California State University, East Bay (1965), California State Univers ...

, the Spartans compiled a 4–6–1 overall record (3–5 against Big Ten opponents) and finished in a three-way tie for seventh place in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Seven Spartans were selected by either the

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(AP) or the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

(UPI) for the

1976 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1976 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Big Ten Conference teams for the 1976 Big Ten Conference football season. Seven players were unanimously selected as first ...

s: tight end

Mike Cobb Michael Cobb (born December 20, 1955) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League (NFL). Cobb played football for Michigan State University. He was selected in the first round (22nd overall) by the Cincinnati Benga ...

(AP-1, UPI-1); defensive back

Tommy Hannon Thomas Edward Hannon (born March 5, 1955) is a former American football player. He played professionally as a safety for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Minnesota Vikings. He was a starter in 103 of the 117 games he pla ...

(AP-1, UPI-1); flanker

Kirk Gibson Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He is currently a color commentator for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sports Detroit and a special assistant for the Tigers. As a player, Gibson ...

(AP-2, UPI-2); center Al Pitts (AP-2, UPI-2); defensive tackle

Larry Bethea Larry Bethea (July 21, 1956 – April 24, 1987) was an American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders and Houston Gamblers of the Unite ...

(AP-2, UPI-2); offensive tackle Tony Bruggenthies (AP-2); and defensive end Otto Smith (UPI-2).

Schedule

Roster

* DB No. 16 Mark Anderson, Fr. * TE

, Sr. * WR

, So. * LB No, 57 Larry Savage, Fr.

Game summaries

Michigan

On October 9, 1976, Michigan State played its cross-state rival Michigan in the annual battle for the

Paul Bunyan Trophy Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. The Wolverines had won six straight games with the last victory for the Spartans dating back to 1969. Michigan extended the streak to seven games with a 42-10 victory at

Michigan Stadium Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...

.(To retrieve team statistics, enter the applicable year in the "Enter Year" box under the heading "Games & Totals by Season." Press "Display Season." At the next prompt, click the box for "Michigan State" and then click icon for "Display Chosen Game Stats".) Michigan's 42 points was the most it had scored against Michigan State since 1947. Fullback

Rob Lytle Robert William Lytle (November 12, 1954 – November 20, 2010) was an American football player. Lytle played college football at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1976. A running back, he broke Michigan's career record with 3,317 rushing ...

rushed for 180 yards on 10 carries, including a 45-yard gain on a fake punt and a 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. After the game, Bo Schembechler said of Lytle, "If that guy isn't an All-American, I don't know who is." Lytle added, "All backs like to break away on a long one like that. It was the longest run I've had at Michigan. In fact, I think this was my biggest day ever."

Harlan Huckleby Harlan Charles Huckleby (born December 30, 1957) is a former professional American football running back and kick returner who was drafted by the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). Over the course of his NFL career he ac ...

rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Russell Davis added 91 yards on 13 carries. In all, the Wolverines rushed for 442 yards on 62 carries against the Spartans. Quarterback

Rick Leach Rick Leach (born December 28, 1964) is a former professional tennis player and a coach from the United States. A doubles specialist, he won five Grand Slam doubles titles (three at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Ope ...

completed five of seven passes for 93 yards and rushed for 36 yards on 11 carries. Wolfman Jerry Zuver scored Michigan's final touchdown on a 60-yard interception return in the fourth quarter. In the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

released on the Monday after the game, Michigan retained its #1 ranking with 57 out of 60 first-place votes and 1,194 points out of a possible 1,200 points. Pittsburgh was ranked #2 with the remaining three first-place votes.

References

{{Michigan State Spartans football navbox

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 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 ...