Sports74 Gold: College Football '74

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]

Sports74 Gold: College Football '73

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

[EDIT 12/31/2023: Changing title]

[EDIT 2/9/2024: Changing title again]

Every three weeks, I will post a newly expanded version of the retrospective from 2013-14. This is the first in an 18-part series, featuring not just the greatest hits, but the greatest misses. What follows is a generous sampling of the season that ended with the bowl games of 1973 and '74.

Notre Dame defeats Alabama 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl. The AP declares the 11-0 Fighting Irish champions, but the coaches' poll sticks with the 11-1 Crimson Tide.

Penn State defeats LSU 16-9 in the Orange Bowl. Nittany Lions halfback John Cappelletti wins the Heisman Trophy as well as its less prestigious parallel, the Maxwell Award. The consensus All-American running back has 1,522 yards on 286 rushes and 17 rushing touchdowns.

Ohio State wins the Rose Bowl 42-21 against USC. The Buckeyes actually tie for the Big Ten championship with archrival Michigan, but a 6-4 vote among the conference schools' athletic directors determines Ohio State will play in Pasadena. Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler says "petty jealousies were involved."

Buckeyes offensive tackle John Hicks wins the Outland Trophy for best interior lineman and the Lombardi Award for best overall lineman. Hicks is also the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Alabama's Bear Bryant is named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. The FWAA gives Johnny Majors of Pittsburgh that honor, as the Panthers improved from 1-10 in '72 to 6-5-1, including a Fiesta Bowl loss to Arizona State, in '73.

Tom Osborne coaches Nebraska for the first of what will prove to be 25 years (finishing the initial campaign with a 19-3 Cotton Bowl win against Texas). The Cornhuskers go 9-2-1, as they had the year before, having slipped from going undefeated in '70 and '71.

Barry Switzer begins his 17 years as Oklahoma head coach. Steve Davis begins a three-season, 32-1-1 run as Sooners QB.

This is the first season as Pitt head coach for Majors and the first of four years on the Panthers for running back Tony Dorsett, both of whom will help the team win a national title in 1976.

The consensus All-American quarterback is Dave Jaynes of Kansas with 196 completions for 2,349 yards and 14 touchdowns. His marks in the Big 8 (172 completions, 2,131 yards, 13 touchdowns) are tops in the conference.

The passing leader and total offense leader is Jesse Freitas of San Diego State (Pacific Coast Athletic Association, 9-1-1) with 227 completions in 11 games. He throws for 2,293 yards and 21 touchdowns, and his total offense is 2,901 yards.

Mark Kellar of independent, 6-5 Northern Illinois is the leading rusher in the University Division with 1,719 yards in 11 games. In second and third place for that stat are Dorsett (1,670) and Cappelletti (1,591).

Jay Miller of 5-6 Western Athletic Conference member Brigham Young University gets 22 catches in a game Nov. 3 against New Mexico. This is a record that will stand until 1994. Miller is the receptions leader for the season with 100 in 11 games. He has 1,181 yards and 8 TDs.

During the Texas-Texas A&M game Nov. 22, Aggies center Ricky Seeker isn't on the field when he's needed with seconds to go before halftime. Seeker expected the team to try a field goal and use a different center for that, but he was wrong. Texas leads 21-7 at halftime and wins 42-13.

Florida State goes 0-11, with its players having been subjected to "The Room" prior to spring practice. Head coach Larry Jones would have players do drills and fight as they bent to avoid chicken wire just four feet above the floor. Twenty-eight players quit the team, and at the end of it all, FSU is on probation and Jones is no longer the head coach.

This is the University of Kentucky's first year at Commonwealth Stadium.

In the College Division (as opposed to the University Division), the first-ever Division II champions are the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. The first-ever Division III champions are the Tigers of Wittenberg University.

In the Senior Bowl, a postseason all-star game, Lynn Swann of USC (Pac-8 leader with 37 receptions) catches the winning touchdown pass for the North. The Pittsburgh Steelers will pick the consensus All-American in the first round of the '74 draft.

From passer rating to pantyhose commercials, the NFL in 1973 is coming Nov. 17.

College Football: The 1974 Season

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

I'm happy that it's summer and I've got time to enjoy that period around graduation. But I can't deny that college football season is around the corner, so here's my piece about pigskin.

USC defeats Ohio State 18-17 at the Rose Bowl. The coaches' poll, the Football Writers, and the National Football Foundation all declare the Trojans national champions, but the AP ranks USC second and gives the title to Oklahoma, whose team – although they won all 11 of their games – is on probation and prevented from playing in bowl games. The Sooners are undefeated for a second year in a row.

Notre Dame wins the Orange Bowl 13-11 over Alabama. The Sugar Bowl on New Year's Eve is a 13-10 victory for Nebraska against Florida.

In their game against Notre Dame, USC trails at halftime, but then scores 55 points.

Ohio State halfback Archie Griffin wins the Heisman Trophy, and he will win that award again the next year. He has 1,695 yards on 256 attempts and 12 touchdowns.

The Maxwell Award goes to Steve Joachim, a Temple quarterback with 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 Division I best.

Maryland defensive tackle Randy White wins the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award. Dallas will make this unanimous All-American the second overall pick in '75.

Steve Bartkowski of California is the leading passer in terms of completions, going 182 for 325. He throws for 2,580 yards and 12 TDs. 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 of a low-key career at Jackson State. His totals are 3600 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.

John Provost finishes his three-year career at Holy Cross with only 27 interceptions. This record is second only to the one set by Al Brosky of Illinois (29 INTs from '50 to '52).

Heisman runner-up Anthony Davis of USC sets a record for kickoff return average with a mark of 35.1 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 sets a single-season record with 302 yards on interception returns.

The writers and coaches agree: third-year Baylor coach Grant Teaff is Coach of the Year. The Bears improve from a 2-9 season last year to an 8-4 season and Cotton Bowl appearance for '74.

Louie Giammona of Utah State is the 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 is the receiving leader with 86 catches in 11 games. He gets 1,157 yards and 7 TDs.

Chris Sizemore finishes at Bridgewater College with 32.7 rushes per game over three years, a Division III record.

Former Michigan center Gerald Ford is sworn in as President August 9.

A Sooners retrospective from the Tulsa World Web site
What OU's probation started, according to Berry Tramel on NewsOK.com
The USC-Notre Dame game and other highlights of the teams' rivalry from ESPN
Archie Griffin on ESPN Classic
Walter Payton's college football career on the Division II Football Hall of Fame Web site
1974 season homepage at Sports Reference

College Football: The 1973 Season

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Assuring apostrophe uniformity]

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Removing justification and introducing "football" label]

I've laid out a monthly schedule for this blog, but I haven't edited the list of bullet points so it isn't boring. Here's the first installment.

Notre Dame defeats Alabama 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl. The AP declares the 11-0 Fighting Irish champions, but the coaches' poll sticks with the 11-1 Crimson Tide.

Penn State defeats LSU 16-9 in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State wins the Rose Bowl 42-21 against USC.

 

Penn State halfback John Cappelletti wins the Heisman Trophy as well as its less prestigious parallel, the Maxwell Award. The consensus All-American running back has 1,522 yards on 286 rushes and 17 rushing touchdowns.

 

Ohio State offensive tackle John Hicks wins the Outland Trophy and the Lom­bardi Award, both of which are awards for line­men, the former for interior line­men. Hicks is also the runner-up for the Heisman.

 

Alabama's Bear Bryant is named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. The FWAA gives Johnny Majors of Pittsburgh that honor, as the Panthers improved from 1-10 in '72 to 6-5-1, including a Fiesta Bowl loss to Arizona State, in '73.

 

Tom Osborne coaches Nebraska for the first of what would prove to be 25 years. The Cornhuskers go 9-2-1, as they had the year before; they went 11-0-1 in 1970 and 13-0-0 in 1971.

 

Barry Switzer begins his 17 years as Oklahoma head coach. Steve Davis begins a three-season, 32-1-1 run as Sooners QB.

 

The consensus All-American quarterback is Dave Jaynes of Kansas with 196 completions for 2,349 yards and 14 touchdowns.

 

Mark Kellar of Northern Illinois is the leading rusher with 1,719 yards in 11 games.

 

The passing leader and total offense leader is Jesse Freitas of San Diego State with 227 completions in 11 games. He throws for 2,293 yards and 21 touchdowns, and his total offense is 2,901 yards.

 

Jay Miller of Brigham Young University gets 22 catches in a game Nov. 3 against New Mexico. This is a record that will stand until 1994. Miller is the receptions leader for the season with 100 in 11 games. He has 1,181 yards and 8 touchdowns.

 

This is the University of Kentucky's first year at Commonwealth Stadium.

 

The first-ever Division II champions are Louisiana Tech. The first-ever Division III champions are Wittenberg University.

 

In the Senior Bowl, a postseason all-star game, Lynn Swann of USC catches the winning touchdown pass. The Pittsburgh Steelers will pick the consensus All-American in the first round of the '74 draft.

LINKS

More on the '73 season from Sports-Reference.com

Week-by-week AP polls

Bowl game results

 

 

NEXT MONTH: The '73 NFL season