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1972 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1972 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Nebraska Cornhuskers logo.svg
Big Eight co-champion
Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 40–6 vs. Notre Dame
Conference Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 9
AP No. 4
1972 record 9–2–1 (5–1–1 Big 8)
Head coach Bob Devaney (11th year)
Offensive coordinator Tom Osborne (4th year)
Offensive scheme I formation
Home stadium Memorial Stadium
(Capacity: 73,650)
Seasons
← 1971
1973 →
1972 Big 8 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#2 Oklahoma $ 6 – 1 – 0     11 – 1 – 0
#4 Nebraska $ 5 – 1 – 1     9 – 2 – 1
#16 Colorado 4 – 3 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Oklahoma State 4 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
Missouri 3 – 4 – 0     6 – 6 – 0
Iowa State 2 – 4 – 1     5 – 6 – 1
Kansas 2 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Kansas State 1 – 6 – 0     3 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • Due to a dispute over Oklahoma forfeiting games, both OU and Nebraska claim this title.
Rankings from AP Poll
#1 Nebraska at UCLA [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
#1 Nebraska 0 10 0 7 17
• UCLA 3 7 7 3 20
Texas A&M at #10 Nebraska [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
Texas A&M 0 0 0 7 7
• #10 Nebraska 14 7 7 9 37
#9 Nebraska at Army [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
• #9 Nebraska 14 21 28 14 77
Army 0 0 0 7 7
Minnesota at #7 Nebraska [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0
• #7 Nebraska 7 21 14 7 49
Missouri at #6 Nebraska [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
Missouri 0 0 0 0 0
• #6 Nebraska 7 14 27 14 62
#5 Nebraska at Kansas [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
• #5 Nebraska 0 28 14 14 56
Kansas 0 0 0 0 0
Oklahoma State at #3 Nebraska [box score]
1 2 3 4 Total
Oklahoma State 0 0 0 0 0
• #3 Nebraska 13 0 7 14 34

The 1972 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska in the 1972 college football season. The team was coached by Bob Devaney, in his eleventh and final season with the Huskers, and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Nebraska, national champions in 1970 and 1971, entered the season top-ranked in the polls, with a 23-game winning streak and 33-game unbeaten streak.

Source:

Unranked UCLA, sporting their new wishbone offense led by junior college transfer Mark Harmon, handed #1 Nebraska its first loss in 33 games, and broke Nebraska's 23-game winning streak, both at that time active NCAA records. The Cornhuskers were upset in Los Angeles after suffering four fumbles and giving up two interceptions, though the game was not decided until UCLA's Efren Herrera kicked a field goal to break the tie with just 22 seconds remaining.

Nebraska owned the game and had little difficulty with Texas A&M, whose sole touchdown came late in the 4th quarter against Cornhusker reserves.

Nebraska entirely stomped Army, with the Cornhusker reserves taking over in the 3rd quarter behind a very comfortable lead, and the Black Knights' lone score to prevent the shutout came on a 10-yard pass reception with just 35 seconds left to play.

For the third straight week, Nebraska dominated the game in every way, shutting out Minnesota while piling up 542 yards of offense.

Nebraska was not affected by the week off, and thoroughly pounded Missouri 62-0. Although the scoreboard and statistics might suggest Missouri was out of their league against Nebraska, the Tigers went on after this painful shutout to upset Notre Dame and Colorado in their next two games.

The shutouts and domination continued, as Nebraska scored at will against Kansas in Lawrence, and held the Jayhawks to just 63 total yards of offense and only 4 1st downs.


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