Another season of pigskin fast approaches, so let's focus our attention on the one that took place half a century ago.
The winning team at the Rose Bowl is Southern California, which defeats Ohio State 18-17. The UPI coaches' poll, the FWAA, and the National Football Foundation all decide the Trojans are the
No. 1 team in the country, but the AP ranks USC second and gives the national title to
11-0 Oklahoma, whose Big 8 champion team is on probation and prevented
from playing in bowls.
The Sooners are undefeated for a second year in a row. In
fact, this will become a 28-game winning streak and 37-game unbeaten streak
that ends in 1975. Head coach Barry Switzer wins his first national
championship.
Once again, Michigan and Ohio State are tied for the
Big Ten crown. The athletic directors, for a second season in succession, choose the Buckeyes to
face the Pacific-8 champions on New Year's Day. This time it's a 5-4 vote, with Michigan
State's A.D. being a faithless elector and voting for his school. From next
season on, there will be a different way of deciding which Big Ten team plays in the Rose
Bowl.
Notre Dame ekes out a 13-11
victory in the Orange Bowl over SEC champion Alabama, sending head coach
Ara Parseghian off as a winner and knocking the Crimson Tide out of the
No. 1 spot in the coaches' poll.
The Sugar Bowl, played on New Year's Eve, is a 13-10 victory for Nebraska
against Florida.
In a big Nov. 30 game against rival Notre Dame, USC is down 24-6 at halftime but makes it an incredible 55-24 victory, shutting out the Fighting Irish in the second half.
Ohio State halfback Archie Griffin wins the Heisman
Trophy, and he will win that award again the next year. On 256 carries, he has 1,695 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Maxwell Award goes to Steve Joachim, quarterback for independent, 8-2 Temple. Joachim has 1,950 passing yards and 20 TDs; he has a 150.1 rating. His 2,227 yards of total offense in 10 games are a University Division (Division I) best for the year.
Defensive tackle Randy White, playing for ACC
champion Maryland, wins the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award. The Dallas
Cowboys will make this unanimous All-American the second overall pick in
'75.
The writers and coaches agree: third-year Baylor
coach Grant Teaff is Coach of the Year. The Bears improve from a 2-9
season in '73 to an 8-4 season, Southwest Conference title, and subsequent Cotton
Bowl appearance (lost 41-20 to Penn State) for '74.
Steve Bartkowski of
7-3-1 Pac-8 member California is the leading passer in terms of
completions, going 182 for 325. He throws for 2,580 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The consensus All-American will be the first player picked in the '75 NFL Draft
and join the Atlanta Falcons.
Future pro star Walter Payton plays his last season
at Jackson State. His totals are 3,600 yards in 598 attempts, and he has
scored 63 TDs. Payton is the leading rusher in the Senior Bowl with 77 yards.
In '75, he will be the fourth player picked overall in the NFL Draft and start
a great career with the Chicago Bears.
Texas loses the Gator Bowl to Auburn
two days short of a year after the Longhorns lost the Cotton Bowl to Nebraska. In both
games, U.T. only manages a field goal.
Heisman runner-up Anthony Davis of USC sets a record for kickoff return average with a mark of 35.1 yards per return over three seasons. Davis is a consensus All-American running back (along with Griffin and Oklahoma's Joe Washington) whose 301 rushing attempts in '74 go for 1,421 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Also from USC, Charles Phillips attains a single-season high with 302 yards on interceptions.
Talking about interceptions, John Provost finishes his three years playing at Holy Cross (5-5-1 indie in '74) with 27 of them. This mark is second only to the standard set by Al Brosky of Illinois two decades past (29 from '50 to '52).
Louie Giammona of
independent, 8-3 Utah State is the season's University Division rushing leader with 1,534 yards on
329 carries. He is also the all-purpose yards leader with 1,984.
Dwight McDonald of San
Diego State (Pacific Coast Athletic Association, 8-2-1) is the receiving
leader with 86 catches in 11 games. He gets 1,157 yards and 7 TDs.
Chris Kupec, the N.C. State
quarterback, sets a record with his .693 completion percentage (minimum 150
attempts).
The Senior Bowl, Jan. 11, 1975, is a 17-17 tie between North and South. The Blue defeats the Gray 29-24 in the Dec. 17 Blue-Gray Classic, and the East wins the Dec. 28 Shrine Game 16-14 against the West.
Colorado State seems to win its Oct. 5 game against fellow WAC member BYU 34-33. However, the tying TD is followed by fans getting on the field and disrupting the game, and the Rams get a penalty. The extra point goes wide, but referee Jack Moyers can't find the ball to hold up for the end-of-game signal, so he holds up his hands without the ball. The scoreboard says CSU wins, but the conference officials' supervisor tells celebrating players that it's a 33-all tie.
In the College Division, Central Michigan wins the
Division-II Camellia Bowl 54-14 over Delaware, and Central College
(Iowa) defeats Ithaca 10-8 at the Division-III Stagg Bowl.
In a time of financial difficulty, the University of Vermont ends its football program, and reportedly some hard-up programs long for the days when players stayed in the game on both offense and defense.
Chris Sizemore finishes at Bridgewater College with 32.7 rushes per game over three years, a record for Division III.
The winners of the NAIA championship games are Texas A&I, defeating Henderson
State (Arkansas) 34-23, and Texas Lutheran, with a 42-0 shutout
against Missouri Valley.
Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.) embarks on a 50-game losing streak. This run of failure for the Scots will span the second half of the decade, lasting until the 1980 season.
Former Michigan center Gerald Ford becomes U.S. President on Aug. 9.
Amateur hour is done, and the game gets all too business-like, from players on the picket lines to an overbearing owner. The NFL in 1974 is coming Sept. 6.
[EDIT 10:02 a.m. EDT: Small but important Davis change]
[EDIT 10:03 a.m. EDT: Correcting inconsistent font]
[EDITS 8/20 2:04-2:22 p.m.: A few small things that might make this look a little better on mobile devices]
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