1946 Michigan State Spartans football team
The 1946 Michigan State Spartans football team was an American football team that represented Michigan State College as an independent during the 1946 college football season. 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 (19–16), Maryland (26-14), and Washington State (26-20), but lost to Boston College (34–20), Mississippi State (6–0), and Kentucky (39–14).
| 1946 Michigan State Spartans football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Independent |
| Record | 5–3–1 |
| Head coach |
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| MVP | George Guerre |
| Captain | Kenneth E. Balge, Robert B. McCurry |
| Home stadium | Macklin Field |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 1 Notre Dame | – | 8 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit | – | 6 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan State | – | 5 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marquette | – | 4 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
George Guerre led Michigan State, ranked 13th nationally with 633 rushing yards, and averaged 7.03 rushing yards per carry.
Michigan State was ranked at No. 51 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System rankings for 1946.
In mid-December 1946, Michigan State hired Clarence Munn to replace Bachman as head coach.