The team was led by sixth-year head coach Sonny Holland and won the Division II national championship.
[1] The Bobcats played their home games on campus in Bozeman at Reno H. Sales Stadium.
Entering August practices, the Bobcats were expected to finish in the middle of the conference standings.
[5] In the Division II playoffs, the Bobcats hosted New Hampshire in Bozeman in the quarterfinals and won by a point, 17–16.
[6] In the semifinals at Fargo, MSU defeated North Dakota State for a second time in 1976, by a much closer 10–3 score in the Grantland Rice Bowl.