🏈 Remembering the 1972 Orange Bowl

[MissingRing]

I was 13 when Nebraska beat Alabama 38-6 in the 1972 Orange Bowl. As a kid, I couldn't fathom how the same Tide team that had beaten Southern Cal 17-10 to start the 1971 season and dominated a previously unbeaten Auburn team 31-7 to end the season could lose to Nebraska, or to any team, in such a lopsided fashion. The 1972 Orange Bowl game is on You Tube, so I decided to subject myself to another viewing.

My assessment is that Alabama did not play like a typical Bryant coached team that night. The game was a compendium of unforced errors and poor execution on the part of Alabama: a fumbled punt snap; a special teams breakdown on a punt return leading to a 77 yard score by Nebraska; a fumbled kickoff giving Nebraska the ball on the Alabama 27. I could go on, but I won't. The score was 28-0 by the middle of the second quarter.

The QB, Terry Davis, couldn't pass effectively, or get the wishbone going, except briefly in the third quarter when Davis himself did most of the running. Alabama needed a 4th down run to score its lone touchdown. Musso was mostly a non-factor. I found the game a head-scratcher, then and now.

 

[TerryP]

Game of the Century...heard that before, eh?

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From the Nebraska Media Guide:

HUSKERS ROUT ALABAMA, 38-6,
IN SECOND GAME OF CENTURY

Miami, Florida (January 1, 1972) — The heralded national championship showdown between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Alabama barely got started before the Cornhuskers erased all doubt.

Nebraska had won the National Championship on Thanksgiving by edging Oklahoma, and the Orange Bowl meeting was simply frosting on the coveted title cake.

Heavy rain preceded the game but stopped before the kickoff. The powerful Cornhuskers led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at halftime, en route to a convincing 38-6 thrashing of the No. 2 ranked Crimson Tide. It was sweet revenge for Coach Bob Devaney, whose 1965 and 1966 teams had lost to Bear Bryant's Alabama clubs.
Nebraska unlimbered early, taking advantage of a Tide error, and marched 47 yards in five plays for a 6-0 lead on Jeff Kinney's plunge with 12:59 gone in the game.

On the last play of the quarter, Husker Johnny Rodgers recorded another of his sensational punt returns, this time for 77 yards and a 14-0 lead.

Demoralized, Alabama immediately fumbled the kickoff and Nebraska had to march only 27 yards to make it 21-0 with 2:17 gone in the second period. Jerry Tagge got the TD on a one-yard plunge.

Then came some dipsy-do as Tagge hit Rodgers with a 30-yard pass, but Johnny fumbled and Alabama recovered on the Tide one. Alabama then was forced to fumble by Rich Glover, and Bob Terrio recovered for the Huskers at the Tide four. Two plays later, Gary Dixon scored to make It 28-0 with 6:11 gone in the second quarter.

Midway in the third quarter, Alabama put together a 55-yard drive, but Nebraska countered immediately with an 80-yard march which ended in a Rich Sanger field goal of 21 yards. That made it 31-6 going into the final quarter.

Nebraska's final TD came when Jim Anderson — on his last play after starting 36 straight Husker games — intercepted a Tide pass and returned it 31 yards to the Alabama one, from where Van Brownson scored.

It was an anti-climactic victory in the wake of the Oklahoma conquest, but nevertheless the Nebraska Cornhuskers celebrated one of their more convincing and most satisfying victories in the 1972 Orange Bowl — they were No. 1 and no more questions were going to be asked.
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[rick4bama]

I was a sick fellow that night.

 

[TheChief]

I think my mother covered my ears to shelter me from the news of that game.

 

[MissingRing]

One bright note: defensive end Robin Parkhouse had an outstanding night. Kudos to him!

 

[252BAMA]

The 1971 Oklahoma team just might have been the second best football team in CFB history. Kind of like Sham. Bama fans should not be ashamed of losing to Secretariat!

 

[psychojoe]

1971 was indeed a great season, but it was also a transition year. We were moving from a pro style passing attack to the bone, moving from a finesse style of play to a physical one, and moving from the smaller, quicker players that made us so dominant in the sixties, to the larger, stronger players called for by the unlimited substitution rules that had just gone into effect in the mid sixties.

Not only did we not play well that night, we were up against a superior foe, both size wise and talent wise.

 

[252BAMA]

We all learned in that game that the wishbone was not a "catch-up" offense.

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

First time I ever heard my Dad cuss. I used a few of those words he used a few days later and got a woopin. I had a all around bad week then. :over:

 

[MissingRing]

1971 was indeed a great season, but it was also a transition year. We were moving from a pro style passing attack to the bone, moving from a finesse style of play to a physical one, and moving from the smaller, quicker players that made us so dominant in the sixties, to the larger, stronger players called for by the unlimited substitution rules that had just gone into effect in the mid sixties.

Not only did we not play well that night, we were up against a superior foe, both size wise and talent wise.

Excellent points. Also, at the time of that 1971 game, it had been five years since Alabama was last in a position to win a national title. There may have been a bit of a ring rust factor in play.