1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Consensus national champion Big Eight champion Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 38–6 vs. Alabama
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
1971 record	13–0 (7–0 Big 8)
Head coach	Bob Devaney (10th year)
Offensive coordinator	Tom Osborne (3rd year)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	John Melton
Base defense	5–2
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (capacity 67,500)

The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska in the 1971 college football season. Nebraska was coached by Bob Devaney and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The Huskers were undefeated at 13–0, repeating as national champions.

Schedule

The 1971 Cornhuskers were one of the most dominant teams in college football history, winning twelve of their thirteen games by 24 points (or more) and defeating the next three teams in the final AP poll. The sole close game of the season was the Game of the Century at #2 Oklahoma on Thanksgiving. Nebraska decisively beat #3 Colorado (then #9) 31–7 in Lincoln and #4 Alabama (then #2) 38–6 in the 1972 Orange Bowl in Miami. ^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 11		Oregon*	No. 2	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 34-7	67,437
September 18		Minnesota*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 35–7	68,187
September 25		Texas A&M*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 34–7	67,993
October 2		Utah State*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 42–6	67,421
October 9		at Missouri	No. 1	Faurot Field • Columbia, Missouri		W 36–0	61,200
October 16		Kansas	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 55–0	68,331
October 23		at Oklahoma State	No. 1	Lewis Field • Stillwater, Oklahoma		W 41–13	37,000
October 30		No. 9 Colorado	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 31–7	66,776
November 6		Iowa State	No. 1	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 37–0	67,201
November 13		at Kansas State	No. 1	KSU Stadium • Manhattan, Kansas		W 44–17	42,300
November 25		at No. 2 Oklahoma	No. 1	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma (Game of the Century)	ABC	W 35–31	62,884
December 4		at Hawaii*	No. 1	Honolulu Stadium • Honolulu, Hawaii		W 45–3	23,002
January 1, 1972	7:00 pm	vs. No. 2 Alabama*	No. 1	Orange Bowl • Miami, Florida (Orange Bowl)	NBC	W 38–6	73,151
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Central Time.

Roster

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Coaching staff

Game notes

Oregon

The Nebraska reserves were on the field in the 4th quarter, working under a comfortable 34-0 lead, when a fumbled punt allowed Oregon to put in a late score to avoid the shutout with 3 minutes to play.

Minnesota

Minnesota managed a 2nd-quarter touchdown, but the game was never really in doubt as Nebraska extended their unbeaten streak to 21 games.

Texas A&M

Two huge plays left Nebraska's signature on the Texas A&M win, as Johnny Rodgers tore off a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and Bill Kosch returned an interception 95 yards for a score of his own. The Aggies also managed a big score for their only points, an equally-impressive 94-yard kickoff return touchdown.

Utah State

Utah State was behind 0-35 when they managed to avoid the shutout with a 3rd-quarter touchdown, but the PAT was blocked. The Cornhuskers ran the margin of victory back up again with a final fourth-quarter touchdown.

Missouri

Nebraska was held scoreless for over 20 minutes, but Missouri eventually succumbed to the pressure as Nebraska then ran up 36 points and shut out the Tigers in Columbia.

Kansas

Nebraska smashed Kansas at Homecoming for another shutout, holding the Jayhawks to 56 yards of total offense, barely more than one tenth of the Cornhuskers' 538 yards.

Oklahoma State

All of Oklahoma State's entire scoring was picked up in the last 2 minutes against Nebraska reserves, making the game appear closer than it was, if 41-13 can be called close.

Colorado

Nebraska rolled right out to a 24-0 lead by halftime and was cruising against #9 Colorado without much effort. The Buffaloes did manage a 3rd-quarter touchdown on a broken play, but Nebraska matched it and easily held on for the win.

Iowa State

The Cornhuskers held Iowa State to just 105 yards of offense and had no trouble holding the Cyclones off the scoreboard for another shutout on the season.

Kansas State

Nebraska QB Jerry Tagge became the first Cornhusker to exceed 5000 career yards at Kansas State as Nebraska scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions. Johnny Rodgers also entered the record book with his 10 season touchdown receptions, 45 receptions on the season, and 84 receptions for his career. No other team managed to score so many points on Nebraska this season as did the Wildcats, but another convincing win was behind them as Nebraska prepared for a showdown with #2 Oklahoma to decide the Big 8 title and potentially the national championship.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma and Nebraska battled back and forth in the Game of the Century in front of a sold-out crowd in Norman and over 55 million viewers on ABC-TV on Thanksgiving Day. Nebraska struck first with a 72-yard Johnny Rodgers punt return, but Oklahoma pulled ahead by 3 by halftime. The Cornhuskers came back strong in the third quarter with two more touchdowns, but the Sooners responded with two of their own to retake the lead with only 7:10 remaining. Down by 3 points, the Huskers went on a final drive and with only 1:38 remaining, Jeff Kinney scored his fourth touchdown of the day for the lead and the win.

Hawaii

Almost 1/3 of the fans in the relatively sparse crowd were dressed in red and rooting for the Cornhuskers as Nebraska handily won this game almost as an afterthought to the vacation in Honolulu. It was 24-3 at the half, and Hawaii never saw the scoreboard again.

Alabama

In the 1972 Orange Bowl, the Huskers battled a #2 team for the second time this season, but Alabama hardly posed the challenge that the Oklahoma Sooners had been, as Nebraska sent the Crimson Tide to the locker room at the half trailing by an embarrassing 28-0. Alabama managed a feeble third-quarter touchdown but failed in the following 2-point conversion and never scored again, while Nebraska responded with 10 more points of their own to close the game and ended the season as national champions for the second consecutive year.

Rankings

Awards

^[3]

Jerry Tagge finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1971,^[4]
teammate Johnny Rodgers would win in 1972.^[5]

1971 team players in the NFL

The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers seniors selected in the 1972 NFL Draft:^[6]

The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers juniors selected in the following year's 1973 NFL Draft:^[7]

The 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers sophomores selected in the 1974 NFL Draft:^[8]

NFL and Pro Players

The following is a list of 1971 Nebraska players
who joined a professional team as draftees or free agents.^[9]

References