Then a sophomore at MSU, the self-proclaimed “top-echelon fanatic” made the trek to Pasadena, Calif., to watch his Spartans play in their third ever Rose Bowl appearance. Although he has long since graduated, moved away from East Lansing and retired, Hoopingarner said he still can remember everything about that day in complete detail.

“I’ve never had more fun than that Rose Bowl,” 64-year-old Hoopingarner said. “The kids you met, the things you did — you don’t let it go.”

A student at MSU from 1964-68, Hoopingarner witnessed firsthand two of the best back-to-back seasons in the history of Spartan football. Led by head coach Duffy Daugherty, MSU went a combined 19-1-1 in 1965 and 1966, winning at least a share of the NCAA and Big Ten Championships both years.

More than four decades later, the Spartans finally are on the verge of experiencing success comparable to the days when Hoopingarner was roaming campus.
With a 7-0 record, MSU is off to its best start since 1966. For the first time since the same era (1965-67), the Spartans have beaten rival Michigan three consecutive times.

Just a junior in college the last time MSU won its first seven games, Hoopingarner said the Spartans created a buzz not familiar to those in East Lansing at the time.

“To see the ABC trucks on campus, the big satellites being set up and to see them bringing in the lights, it was all brand new to Michigan State,” Hoopingarner said. “It had never happened before. It was incredibly exciting.”

MSU football was bigger than it had ever been, Hoopingarner said. Students and professors alike were discussing the team in class and throughout campus, and finding a way into the game became increasingly more difficult as the Spartans kept winning.

“Those tickets were at a premium,” Hoopingarner said. “People were bartering for them, basically selling their souls to get a couple seats for their friends or girlfriends. It was just unbelievable.”

When Hoopingarner graduated in 1968, he did not give up on his love for MSU and the football team. To this day, he still is a season ticket holder in spite of living nearly 750 miles away.

But throughout the last 40 years as a devout fan, Hoopingarner said he has yet to see the same type of excitement surrounding the football program as he did while in school — until now.

“It’s been a long dry spell,” Hoopingarner said. “But this season absolutely feels different.”

Reliving the past

The comparisons between the 2010 and 1966 Spartans have been popping up more and more with each win. And after now-No. 8 MSU beat Illinois, 26-6, last Saturday to move to 7-0, it became impossible to ignore the fact this year’s team has the same potential as the program’s last national champion.

“To be able to have a record at this point in time that steps back to that era, I think, is a statement for this football team,” head coach Mark Dantonio said.

Rarely do football coaches or players talk much about the past or the future, instead harping on the importance of the present and the next game. Since his arrival in 2007, Dantonio has placed an emphasis on the history of Spartan football.

Dantonio’s idea of recognizing the past has held especially true this year, with his team in the midst of an already historic season.

“I want our players to know about the past, I want them to know who those players were,” Dantonio said. “I’ve always pointed out that tradition to our players and tried to make that type of analogy, equating what true success is.”

Rather than just talk about the previous great players and teams at MSU, Dantonio has found alternative ways to educate his current team about the past.

Each week, the Spartans have an honorary captain. Last Saturday that captain fittingly was Jimmy Raye, quarterback for the 1966 team.

Junior quarterback Kirk Cousins said Raye addressed the whole team Saturday morning and stood on the sideline during the game. In his talks with the team, Cousins said Raye gave the players numerous pieces of advice, but he emphasized the importance of enjoying what could be a very special season.

“When (Raye) looks back on all of it, he said his best years were here at Michigan State,” Cousins said. “So I guess a season like this one, we’re trying to work and keep moving, but at the same time, enjoy the process.”

Part of something special

While the football players look back to the best years of MSU football for guidance, fans and students also look back to gain more of an appreciation for the 2010 team’s accomplishments.

Psychology senior Adam Sucher has had tickets to football games every year of his college career. In the previous three years, he’s seen the Spartans lose three bowl games and has never seen more than a nine-win season.

Seven games into his last season as an MSU student, Sucher said he can tell things are different than the previous three.

“This year, there’s been way more hype,” Sucher said. “I think more people are talking about them, and it’s because we’ve never seen Michigan State like this before.”

As Hoopingarner makes his trips back to East Lansing for every game, he said he also has noticed a new attitude among fans and an excitement that hasn’t been on campus in a long time. Hoopingarner said the excitement might have even reached a new level because of the way its organized, citing specifically the BEAT T-shirts made available by the Student Alumni Foundation, or SAF.

Megan Hall, a marketing senior and the vice president of membership for SAF, is in charge of the distribution of the BEAT T-shirts. SAF began handing out the T-shirts for free to SAF members at 7 a.m. the Friday before Big Ten games last season, and Hall said shirts often would be left over at the end of the day.

This season, the SAF is handing out the shirts again, but has seen a much different response.

“I think the latest we’ve been there in the office handing them out is 10 a.m.,” Hall said.

“With Michigan, we were out by 8:06 a.m., and we would have been out sooner if we had more manpower.”

As the governing body behind the Izzone, SAF members usually are looking forward to basketball season at this point, Hall said. But now, she and the rest of the students involved in SAF are completely focused on an undefeated football team.

And Sucher, who said he has high hopes for the rest of the season, said he plans on doing exactly what Raye told the players to do: Enjoy the happenings surrounding the MSU football team.

“I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life,” Sucher said.

“It’s going to be something I take with me when I leave here and tell everybody I was there when Michigan State was one of the best in college football.”