There are two legends or myths in that notion.
1. Notre Dame didn’t try to score on their final drive.
2. O’Brien was having issues due to low blood sugar and was dizzy late in the game.
Let’s tackle No. 1 first.
I shudder to think how the modern college football commentary would react to the end of the 1966 Notre Dame - Michigan State game. It was crazy 60 years ago and in today’s social media environment you can only imagine what the pundits would have come up with.
Two days after the game ended The Elkhart Truth reported that police had to break up a gathering of Notre Dame students burning copies of Sports Illustrated outside the Rockne Memorial incensed by the SI headline “Notre Dame runs out clock. Old Notre Dame will tie overall.”
Many more talented writers have analyzed the ‘66 Notre Dame - Michigan State game all the way through the hype of the game, the incredible players who took part in the contest and the rash of injuries that the Irish were dealing with. Here is what you really need to know: MSU’s Bubba Smith was a one-man wrecking crew for the Spartans who could single-handedly shut down opposing offenses. His crushing tackle of Irish starting quarterback Terry Hanratty in the first quarter of that ‘66 game is what brought O’Brien off the bench.
O’Brien helped the Irish rally from down 0-10, throwing a touchdown pass to Bob Gladieux and leading a drive that tied the game with a field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter. Michigan State got one first down on its next drive, then each team went three-and-out for six consecutive drives and a seventh drive was a one-play effort that ended with a Notre Dame interception.
Notre Dame took over its final possession at its own 30-yard line with 1:24 left in the game. This is how Notre Dame ‘ran out the clock.’
- O’Brien dropped back to pass on the first play during an MSU blitz, almost escaped but only gained four.
- O’Brien dropped back again, the Spartans blitzed yet again and he found Rocky Bleier for three yards.
- Larry Conjar then tried a trap play/draw that, if it worked, would have looked like a genius call at the time and the run got within a foot of the first down.
- Now on their own 39, Parseghian ‘tried not to score’ by going for it on fourth and one when O’Brien powered for the first down. Imagine if Notre Dame had not converted here.
- O’Brien dropped back on the next play and the game wrecker, Bubba Smith, sacked him with just seconds remaining.
- O’Brien kept for five yards on the final play of the game.
Did Notre Dame try to throw it? Yes.
Now, did Notre Dame try to throw it deep? Probably not.
Even Ara told the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel in 1991 that “I would have been the dumbest coach in America – I would be castigated today – if I had gone ahead and thrown an interception in the waning minutes and let them kick a field goal to beat us 13-10.”
If any of those first two plays had gained a first down on that final drive, odds are that the Irish would have been more aggressive. You have to acknowledge the reality of the game, however. Neither team was very aggressive because the defenses were just that good. There were only 15 completed passes by both teams combined that day.
My take is that it is a myth that Notre Dame ran out the clock intentionally when they took over with just under 90 seconds remaining. Once Smith sacked O’Brien on the game’s penultimate play, the most prudent thing to do was secure the tie.
Let’s next tackle No. 2 and the notion that O’Brien was struggling with his vision at the end of the game. Many of the post game stories mentioned this, including the Chicago Daily News which wrote “During the last quarter Coley was given a chocolate bar for quick energy because he was becoming a little dizzy.”
I’ll just let Coley himself debunk this in a 1986 interview with the Chicago Tribune. “I should have corrected it at the time. If you keep your sugar level high, it doesn't affect you. I was taking candy bars all day on the sideline. I felt fine."
I am going with the direct quote. It is a myth that Notre Dame shut down the offense because O’Brien couldn’t see.
Everyone knows the mantra that ‘hindsight is 20/20’ and there might not be a more apt usage of that statement for the eventual end of the 1966 season for Notre Dame.
Inane Big Ten Conference rules forbade the Spartans back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances (the conference didn’t allow a team to go to consecutive Rose Bowls) and also forbade MSU from going to any other bowl game. The hard-fought tie with Notre Dame would be Michigan State’s last game of the season.
The Irish had one more game remaining on the schedule at No. 10 Southern Cal. O’Brien was still the starting quarterback with Hanratty sidelined and helped Notre Dame unequivocally claim the national title with a 51-0 shellacking of the Trojans. O’Brien completed 21 of 31 passes in the game for 255 yards and three touchdowns. The performance included two touchdown passes to Jim Seymour in the second quarter just 41 seconds apart which is O’Brien’s second appearance on the quickest back-to-back touchdown list.
O’Brien continued as the back up quarterback in 1967 before shifting to running back/receiver in 1968. Over the course of his career he threw for six touchdowns, rushed for six touchdowns and caught four touchdowns. He had some opportunities to play football professionally but listened to Ara who pushed him to go to law school, which he did, graduating from the Notre Dame Law School and went on to a very successful career.
Coley and Ara had one more game together, however. After the 1968 season Parseghian coached the North team in the Hula Bowl (an all-star game featuring college players preparing to go on to professional football). O’Brien led his team to victory over a South team that featured Southern Cal’s O.J. Simpson.
The Notre Dame family unfortunately lost O’Brien when he passed away August 21, 2025 in Naples, Florida.
So this week as the Irish prepare to face Michigan State and the memories of the 1966 Game of the Century are recalled, I will think about Coley O’Brien, that 1966 team and the legends and myths that still follow the group as one of the most dominating teams to ever don Irish football uniforms.
Irish Items
☘️I am limiting myself to just one Irish Item today because I am pushing the length of what we want our weekly updates to be. An amazing statistic for you today that I have to share. The Rice game was Marcus Freeman’s 57th game as head coach at Notre Dame and his record is 45-12. Through 57 games at ND, Lou Holtz was 45-12. Ara Parseghian was 45-8-4 in his first 57 games with the Irish. Don’t let anyone tell you that history doesn’t repeat itself.
☘️Okay, I am slipping in one more. Through those first 57 games, Coach Freeman and his teams have scored over 2,000 points, averaged 37.4 points per game (the most for any Notre Dame coach through the first 57 games) and held opponents to 17.8 points per game.
