1972 Orange Bowl # 2 Alabama Vs. #1 Nebraska NBC Broadcast

Nebraska Wins National Title 38-6
Beginning Too Much For 'Bama
MIAMI (AP) - The Nebraska Cornhuskers dazed Alabama with four touchdowns in the space of eight minutes, one of them a 77-yard punt return by Johnny Rodgers for a 38-6 Orange Bowl victory Saturday night that established them as the unchallenged No. 1 team in college football. The celebrated collegiate version of the Super Bowl, a matchup of the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams, turned into an embarrassing rout before a sellout crowd of 78,151.

It was the 32nd game without a defeat and the 23rd straight victory for the massive Midwesterners, who won the national title in 1970 and swept past 12 foes in marching through a second straight perfect season. It was one of the worst beatings in the 27-year coaching career of Paul "Bear" Bryant, whose 211 victories are the most of any active college coach. The Associated Press final poll to determine the national champion will be conducted Monday, but there seemed no real challenger to Nebraska after previously unbeaten Michigan's 13-12 loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Nebraska's massive. muscled defenders, with a front line averaging 236 pounds, stopped Alabama's vaunted Johnny Musso, the key man of Bryant's Wishbone-T, and turned a pass interference penalty, two recovered fumbles and a pass interception into a cascade of touchdowns. Four came within 8 minutes, 12 seconds in the first half. The tragic goat of this turn of events was an Alabama defensive halfback, Steve Williams, whose career was in jeopardy after he accidentally shot himself in the chest last fall. Williams committed the pass interference mistake that set up Nebraska's first touchdown. He fumbled a kickoff return that led to the third Nebraska score, after Rodgers' spectacular bolt for three quarters of the length of the field, and he was carried off the field unconscious in a collision that preceded the fourth Cornhusker score.

In the stands, an exuberant Nebraska fan hung up a bunting which appropriately read: "Low Tide." Alabama, throttled at almost every turn by Nebraska's tough 234-pound middle guard Rich Glover and his swarming mates, showed only one spark of the team that rushed an average of 324 yards a game and scored an average of 32.9 points a game in an 11-game winning season. Early in the third period, Terry Davis, a frail-looking, 173-pound quarterback marched his frustrated teammates 55 yards almost singlehandedly, ripping off runs of 28 and 13 yards, and sneaked over for Alabama's touchdown from the three. A try for a two-point conversion failed. The game demonstrated Nebraska's pro-like poise, hitting power and balanced strength. Six players participated in the scoring. Fullback Jeff Kinney went over from the one after Williams interfered with Woody Cox on a pass thrown to the Alabama three.
Rodgers' dramatic run came on the last play of the opening period. He took Greg Gantt's kick on his own 23, got a fine block by Bob Terrio and outran the Alabama secondary. Jerry Tagge, the Nebraska quarterback who called a skilled game, scored from the one and Gary Dixon from the two in the second period after Alabama fumbles in Tide territory. Rich Sanger, the Nebraska kicking specialist who missed from the earlier, kicked a 21-yard field goal midway of the fourth period. Nebraska ended its scoring spree when Jim Anderson plucked off a Davis pass and ran 31 yards Bryant Agrees Nebraska No.1


Nebraska 14 14 3 7--38 00 6 2 run (kick failed) Neb- 77 punt return (Damkroger pass from Tagge) Neb-Tagge 1 run (Sanger kick) Neb-Dixon 2 run (Sanger kick) Ala- -Davis 3 run (run failed) Neb-FG Sanger 21 Neb-Brownson 1 run (Sanger kick) A-78,151. Statistics First downs 15 16 Rushes-yards 47-133 58-241 Passing yardage 159 47 Return yardage 166 164 Passes 11-20-0 3-13-2 Punts 5-42 7-43 Fumbles lost 2 2 Yards penalized 50 58 Individual Statistics RUSHING -Nebraska, Kinney 20-97, Brownson 4-22; Alabama, Musso, 15-79, Davis 14-61.

PASSING -Nebraska, 11-18-0 159 yards; Alabama, Davis 3-9-1, yards. RECEIVING--Nebraska, Rodgers 4-82; Alabama, Wheeler 2-10..