The 1971 College All-Star Game
Head
coach for the All-Stars in the 38th renewal of the series was Blanton
Collier. Collier had spent 43 years as a football coach spending the
last eight of his career with the Cleveland Browns where he led them to
one world championship, four Eastern conference titles and three century
division pennants. He concluded his career by coaching and preparing the
1971 College All-Stars over a period of three weeks for their showdown
with the Baltimore Colts. While the All-Stars were defeated by a score
of 24-17, they made no glaring or amateur mistakes, were a complete team
and a credit to Collier. Playing before a crowd of 52,289 on July 30 at
Soldier Field in Chicago were Richard Harris (MVP) of Grambling, Jim
Plunkett of Stanford, Dan Pastorini of Santa Clara, John Brockington of
Ohio State, Mike Adamle of Northwestern, Jack Youngblood of Florida,
Jack Ham of Penn State and Jack Tatum of
Ohio
State.
Scoring began for the Colts midway through the first quarter with a pass
from Earl Morrall to Ray Perkins for 24 yards and a touchdown. Jim
O’Brien kicked the extra point. Early in the second quarter, All-Star
John Brockington plunged 1 yard for a TD after a 50-yard drive and with
Dan Pastorini’s extra point the score was tied 7-7. In the same period,
Baltimore was able to move the ball 68 yards in nine plays with the help
of three penalties. A 15-yard pass from Morrall to Tom Matte scored,
O’Brien kicked the extra point and the score was 14-7. Bob Jacobs of
Wyoming kicked a 40-yard field goal to narrow the score to 14-10 at the
half.
Early in the third period, a 39-yard pass from Morrall to Perkins set up
a 22-yard field goal by O’Brien giving the Colts a 7-point lead. And
halfway through the fourth period another Earl Morrall pass to Tom
Mitchell for 44 yards increased the Colts’ lead to 24-10 with O’Briens’
conversion. Eight plays later, Jack Ham recovered a fumble by the Colts
and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. Jacobs converted but the Colt
lead was too much to overcome.
Although the Stars had given Baltimore a workout, the offense was unable
to move the ball into the Colts’ territory in the second half. Earl
Morrall gained 329 yards passing and their total yards gained was 403
compared to the Stars’ 150 yards.