1971 NCAA University Division football season
1971 NCAA University Division football season | ||
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Preseason AP No. 1 | Notre Dame[1] | |
Regular season | September 10 – December 4, 1971 | |
Number of bowls | 12 | |
Bowl games | December 18, 1971 – January 1, 1972 | |
Champion(s) | Nebraska (AP, Coaches FWAA, NFF) | |
Heisman | Pat Sullivan (quarterback, Auburn) | |
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The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions.[2][3] Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, remained there for the rest of 1971, and convincingly won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game against Alabama.[4]
Prior to the 1971 season, two programs were elevated to the University Division. The new programs were Temple and Texas–Arlington. The change brought the total number of programs in the University Division to 119.[5]
During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for major college football in its University Division (now the
Rule changes
- The crackback blockwas outlawed.
- Punts that land in the end zone untouched will result in an automatic touchback.
- Team time-outs were reduced from four to three.
- After penalties, the clock restarts on the ready-for-play signal. Previously, the clock started after penalties on the snap.
- Penalties occurring behind the scrimmage line are enforced from the previous spot instead of the spot of the foul.
- Source:[6]
Conference and program changes
- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference played its first season of football this year, albeit in the NCAA College Division, not the NCAA University Division; membership included Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, and South Carolina State.
- The New England Small College Athletic Conference, now a Division III conference, began football play in 1971.
School | 1970 Conference | 1971 Conference |
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Bradley Braves | Independent | Dropped Program |
Buffalo Bulls | Independent | Dropped Program |
Drake Bulldogs | Independent | Missouri Valley |
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | Gulf States | Southland |
Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns | Gulf States | Southland |
South Carolina Gamecocks | ACC | Independent |
West Texas State Buffaloes | Independent | Missouri Valley |
Regular season
September
In the preseason poll released on September 6, Notre Dame was ranked No. 1, and defending champion Nebraska was second. Nebraska had more first place votes (26) than Notre Dame (15), but fewer points overall (870 vs. 885). Texas, Michigan and USC rounded out the Top Five.
September 10–11
On Friday night in Los Angeles, No. 16
September 18
No. 1 Nebraska beat Minnesota 35–7, and No. 2 Notre Dame opened with a 50–7 win over Northwestern. No. 3 Texas won its opener 28–10 at UCLA, and No. 4 Michigan shut out Virginia 56–0,. No. 5 Ohio State was idle, and No. 7 Auburn, which beat UT-Chattanooga 60–7, moved up to fifth place in the next poll. The top four remained the same.
September 25
No. 1 Nebraska beat Texas A&M, 34–7. No. 2 Notre Dame narrowly won at Purdue, 8–7. No. 3 Texas beat Texas Tech 28–0, and No. 4 Michigan defeated visiting UCLA 38–0. No. 5 Auburn edged No. 9 Tennessee at home, 10–9. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Auburn.
October
October 2
Fifteen of the Top 20 teams remained unbeaten, including the Top 12. No. 1 Nebraska handled Utah State in Lincoln, 42–6, while No. 2 Michigan registered its third straight shutout at home, beating Navy 46–0. No. 3 Texas defeated Oregon 35–7, No. 4 Notre Dame beat Michigan State 14–2, but fell to seventh in the next poll. No. 5 Auburn beat Kentucky 38–6. No. 6 Colorado, which had defeated Ohio State in Columbus the previous week, beat Kansas State 31–21. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Colorado.
October 9
In their first Big Eight conference game and first on the road, No. 1 Nebraska shut out
October 16
Top-ranked Nebraska crushed Kansas 55–0, raising its record to 6–0 and outscoring its opposition 238–27. No. 2 Oklahoma beat visiting No. 6 Colorado 45–17 and No. 3 Michigan beat Illinois 35–6. No. 4 Alabama beat No. 14 Tennessee 32–15 at Birmingham and No. 5 Auburn won over Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 31–14. The top five remained the same.
October 23
Seven of the top eight teams stayed unbeaten, all playing unranked opponents. No. 1 Nebraska allowed Oklahoma State to reach double digits (all previous opponents had scored 7 points or less), but easily won at Stillwater, 41–13. No. 2 Oklahoma decimated Kansas State 75–28 in Manhattan. No. 3 Michigan won 35–7 at Minnesota, No. 4 Alabama hosted Houston and won 34−20, while No. 5 Auburn beat Clemson 35–13. The top five remained the same.
October 30
No. 1 Nebraska handed visiting No. 9 Colorado a 31–7 defeat, and No. 2 Oklahoma beat Iowa State 43–12. No. 3 Michigan rolled over Indiana 61–7, and No. 4 Alabama beat Mississippi State 41–10 at Jackson. No. 5 Auburn beat Florida 40–7. The top five again remained the same.
All of the aforementioned games were overshadowed by the death of TCU head coach
November
November 6
No. 1 Nebraska beat Iowa State 37–0 and No. 2 Oklahoma won 20–3 at Missouri. No. 3 Michigan crushed Iowa, 63–7, and No. 4 Alabama won at No. 18 LSU, 14–7. No. 5 Auburn beat Mississippi State 30–21, while No. 6 Penn State won 63–27 over Maryland. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Penn State, with all five teams (as well as No. 6 Auburn and No. 7 Georgia) being undefeated and untied.
November 13
No. 1 Nebraska won at
November 20
Four of the top five teams were idle. No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Oklahoma prepared for their Thanksgiving Day meeting in Norman, while No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn prepared for their season closer in the Iron Bowl in Birmingham. Unusually for a game during the evenly-matched "Ten Year War", undefeated Michigan had already clinched the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth against Pac-8 champion Stanford, while Ohio State was unranked with a relatively pedestrian 6−3 record. The Buckeyes gave the No. 3−ranked Wolverines all they could handle, but Michigan prevailed 10–7. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Auburn.
November 25–27
As the regular season neared its close, four undefeated and untied teams met in rivalry games which were de facto semifinals for the national championship. On
December
December 4
No. 1 Nebraska (11–0) had NCAA permission to play a twelfth game against Hawaii; they beat the Rainbows 45–3 and ended the regular season at 12–0. No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Michigan had finished their seasons. No. 3 Oklahoma's season ender was in state at Stillwater against Oklahoma State, which the Sooners easily won 58–14. No. 5 Penn State faced No. 12 Tennessee (8–2), at Knoxville but lost 31–11 for their only defeat of the season. Nevertheless, the Nittany Lions would play SWC champion Texas in the Cotton Bowl. With the exception of Big Ten champion Michigan, the final regular season poll was dominated by Big 8 and SEC teams: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma (lost only to Nebraska), No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Auburn (lost only to Alabama), No. 6 Georgia (lost only to Auburn), and No. 7 Colorado (lost only to Nebraska and Oklahoma).
Conference standings
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Bowl games
Major bowls
Saturday, January 1, 1972
BOWL | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
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COTTON | No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions | 30–6 | No. 12 Texas Longhorns |
SUGAR | No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners | 40–22 | No. 5 Auburn Tigers |
ROSE | No. 16 Stanford Indians ^ | 13–12 | No. 4 Michigan Wolverines |
ORANGE | No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers | 38–6 | No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide |
^ Last game in which Stanford used nickname "Indians"; it was changed to "Cardinals" early in 1972, and to the singular "Cardinal" in 1982.
With No. 1 Nebraska slated to play No. 2 Alabama in the Orange Bowl on New Year's night, there was little suspense as to which game or games would decide the national title. No. 3 Michigan held out the slim hope that, if they handily defeated Stanford while Nebraska or Alabama barely won or tied, they could leapfrog both teams into the top position. For the second year in a row in the Rose Bowl, underdog Stanford rallied to defeat the undefeated Big Ten champion, besting Michigan 13–12 on a last second field goal by Rod Garcia. (He had missed all five of his kicks (four field goals and an extra point) when Stanford was upset by San Jose State on November 13, by the same score.)[11]
In the final game of the day, Nebraska walloped Alabama in the Orange Bowl 38–6 to claim its second straight national title.[4] Earlier in the day at the Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma intercepted Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan three times and easily handled Auburn 40–22,[12]and regained the runner-up ranking in the final poll. With bowl losses by No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Michigan, and No. 5 Auburn, sixth-ranked Colorado, winner of the Bluebonnet Bowl, rose to third. The Big Eight occupied the top three spots in the final AP poll, with Nebraska receiving all 55 first place votes; Oklahoma was second, and Colorado (whose only losses were to Nebraska and Oklahoma) climbed to third.[2] This was the first time that two teams from the same conference topped the final poll,[3] and it remains as the only time that a conference had the top three.
- Nebraska, 1100 (55), 13–0
- Oklahoma, 990, 11–1
- Colorado, 746, 10–2
- Alabama, 674, 11–1
- Penn State, 666, 11–1
- Michigan, 479, 11–1
- Georgia, 471, 11–1
- Arizona State, 414, 11–1
- Tennessee, 379, 10–2
- Stanford, 347, 9–3
Other bowls
BOWL | City | State | Date | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
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SUN | El Paso | Texas | December 18 | No. 11 LSU | 33–15 | Iowa State |
GATOR | Jacksonville | Florida | December 31 | No. 6 Georgia | 7–3 | North Carolina |
TANGERINE | Orlando | Florida | December 28 | No. 14 Toledo | 28–3 | Richmond |
ASTRO-BLUEBONNET | Houston | Texas | December 31 | No. 7 Colorado | 29–17 | No. 15 Houston |
LIBERTY | Memphis | Tennessee | December 20 | No. 9 Tennessee | 14–13 | No. 18 Arkansas |
PEACH | Atlanta | Georgia | December 30 | No. 17 Mississippi | 41–18 | Georgia Tech |
FIESTA (debut) | Tempe | Arizona | December 27 | No. 8 Arizona State | 45–38 | Florida State |
MERCY | Los Angeles | California | December 11 | Cal State Fullerton | 17–14 | Fresno State |
PASADENA | Pasadena | California | December 18 | Memphis State | 28–9 | San Jose State |
- Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.
- Notre Dame refused an invitation to the Gator Bowl after Irish players overwhelmingly voted to turn down any invitation from a non-New Year's Day bowl.
Heisman Trophy voting
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player
Player | School | Position | 1st | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pat Sullivan | Auburn | QB | 355 | 1,597 |
Ed Marinaro | Cornell | RB | 295 | 1,445 |
Greg Pruitt | Oklahoma | RB | 64 | 586 |
Johnny Musso | Alabama | RB | 23 | 365 |
Lydell Mitchell | Penn State | RB | 29 | 251 |
Jack Mildren | Oklahoma | QB | 35 | 208 |
Jerry Tagge | Nebraska | QB | 23 | 168 |
Chuck Ealey | Toledo | QB | 31 | 137 |
Walt Patulski | Notre Dame | DE | 8 | 121 |
Eric Allen | Michigan State | RB | 15 | 109 |
See also
References
- ^ "1971 Preseason Football Polls - College Poll Archive - Historical College Football and Basketball Polls and Rankings". collegepollarchive.com.
- ^ a b c "Nebraska king with Big Eight in 1-2-3 spots". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. January 4, 1972. p. 1-C.
- ^ a b c "Voters unanimously pick Nebraska as top grid team". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. January 4, 1972. p. 11.
- ^ a b "Nebraska rips Alabama to take national crown". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. January 2, 1972. p. 11.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nissenson, Herschel (September 5, 1971). "1971 college football season opens next Saturday". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. p. 16.
- ^ "'Huskers dump Sooners". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. November 26, 1971. p. 4B.
- ^ "Kinney leads Nebraska triumph". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. November 26, 1971. p. 42.
- ^ "1971 Atlantic Coast Conference Year Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- ^ "College football standings". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 6, 1971. p. 14.
- ^ "San Jose surprises Stanford". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. November 14, 1971. p. 11, sports.
- ^ "Sooners zap Eagles 40–22". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 2, 1972. p. 1, sports.
- ^ "Auburn's Pat Sullivan tops Ed Marinaro for Heisman". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. November 26, 1971. p. 43.
- ^ Heisman.com Archived 2009-12-15 at the Wayback Machine – Pat Sullivan – 1971