| Year: | 1974 |
| Team: | Michigan Tech Huskies |
| Sport: | football |
| Conference: | Northern Intercollegiate Conference |
| Short Conf: | NIC |
| Record: | 9–0 |
| Conf Record: | 6–0 |
| Head Coach: | Jim Kapp |
| Hc Year: | 2nd |
| Stadium: | Sherman Field |
| Champion: | NIC champion |
The 1974 Michigan Tech Huskies football team was an American football team that represented Michigan Technological University as a member of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC) during the 1974 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics NAIA season. In their second year under head coach Jim Kapp, the Huskies compiled a perfect 9–0 record, won the NIC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 269 to 90.[1] It was Michigan Tech's first perfect season since the 1948 team went 7–0. It was also the program's first nine-win season,[2] and its fourth NIC championship in six years.
The team played its home games on Sherman Field in Houghton, Michigan.
Jim Van Wagner, a 195-pound sophomore tailback from Novi, Michigan, led the team with 1,452 rushing yards,[5] breaking Michigan Tech's single-season record set by Larry Ras in 1971.[6] He led all Division II players with an average of 161.4 rushing yards per game.[6] [7] Sports Illustrated wrote of Van Wagner:
As a soph in 1974 he led Division II in rushing with 1,453 yards. Archie Griffin and Anthony Davis made national headlines, but that November VanWagner had perhaps the most productive month a running back ever had. He gained 231 yards in just 16 carries against Bemidji, rushed a conference record 48 times for 217 yards in a win over Minnesota-Morris that clinched the Northern Intercollegiate Conference title and then rambled through Southwest State for 286 yards and six touchdowns in 30 carries.[8]
In a 76–28 victory over, the Huskies set several NIC single-game records, including total offense (670 yards), rushing yards (511), touchdowns (11), and points (76). Van Wagner also established new individual single-game records against Southwest State with 286 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
After the season, Jim Kapp was named "NIC Football Coach of the Year", and six Michigan Tech players received first-team honors on the 1974 All-NIC team selected by the conference coaches. The first-team players were: sophomore tailback Jim Van Wagner; senior fullback Keith Morrison; senior tight end Dave Sprik; senior offensive guard Dan Rhude; junior offensive guard Tom Van Wagner; and junior linebacker Kurt Anderson. Rhude also received the NIC's "Glen Galligan Award" as the NIC's outstanding senior student-athlete.[9]