Rogers began his second season with another new helmet design, this time keeping the Kelly green headgear and "gapped" striping arrangement that consisted of a one-inch white center stripe, a one-half-inch gap and a one-half-inch white flanking stripe. Instead of the side numerals, Rogers placed a silhouette Spartan head logo on each side and again used the Kelly green masks. The surprising 7-3-1 turnaround was led by QB Ed Smith who threw for 1731 yards, very much matching his '76 output. Receiver Kirk Gibson again was a great target at 6'2" and 212 pounds, snaring twenty-two throws for 531 yards. All Big Ten center Al Pitts opened the holes while inside LB Dan Bass closed them on the other side of the line as the Spartans' leading tackler. Active DT Larry Bethea was stout in the D-line and later played with the Cowboys for six seasons.

If interested in any of these MSU helmets please click on the photos below.