The 1972 College All-Star Game
In
1972, the All-Star Game returned to the policy of using college coaches
with the selection of Bob Devaney of Nebraska to lead the team in their
quest to defeat the champions of professional football. Devaney was
invited to bring his coaching staff (including Tom Osborne) who had
helped him achieve great success at Nebraska. Opposing the All-Stars
this year were the Dallas Cowboys and head coach Tom Landry. The two
teams met on July 28 before a crowd of 54,162 fans. The fans felt the
All-Stars stood a good chance of defeating Dallas as Devaney had
prepared his team well, giving them more experience with professional
competition than any of the previous 38 teams. They had played scrimmage
games with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Bears and had fared
very well. Helping to make up the team that year were 1971 Heisman
Trophy winner Pat Sullivan (MVP) of Auburn, Jerry Tagge of Nebraska,
Franco Harris of Penn State, Riley Odums of Houston, Mike Siani of
Villanova, Reggie McKenzie of Michigan, Jeff Kinney of Nebraska, Walt
Patulski of Notre Dame, Sherman White of California, Tommy Casanova of
Louisiana State and Thom Darden of Michigan.
Late in the first quarter, Mike Clark kicked a 31-yard field goal to
give Dallas the lead 3-0. Midway through the second quarter Dallas
increased its lead to 10-0 on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Craig
Morton to Bob Sellers. Roger Staubach had brought the Cowboys 48 yards
in nine plays but suffered an injury and Morton
was
brought in to replace him, a scene which was reminiscent of the 1965
All-Star Game in which both men played as collegians. Mike Clark kicked
the extra point.
Midway through the third quarter, Bob Lilly recovered an All-Star fumble
which set up a 24-yard TD pass from Morton to Bob Hayes. And, on the
first play of the fourth quarter, Toni Fritsch kicked a 33-yard field
goal to give Dallas a 20-0 lead. At that point in the fourth period,
Devaney brought in Pat Sullivan to replace Jerry Tagge as quarterback.
Sullivan was able to lead his team on an 80-yard drive that culminated
in a 1-yard plunge by Bob Newsome of Houston for a touchdown. Chester
Marcol of Hillsdale College in Michigan kicked the extra point. Sullivan
led the All-Stars on another long drive to the Dallas 13-yard line but
to no avail as time ran out.
Despite the loss by the All-Stars, the statistics were nearly even in
all aspects of the game except for fumbles. Dallas committed none while
the All-Stars fumbled three times with the Cowboys recovering two of
them.