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Liberty Bowl 1972
Georgia Tech Iowa State
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By CHARLES ALDINGER MEMPHIS. Tenn, (UPI)
"This has to go in the books as one of the great victories of Georgia Tech, perhaps of college football," he bubbled after his team's 31-30 upset of Iowa State before 50,021 and a national television audience. Fulcher never mentioned black quarterback Eddie McAshan, the senior star he booted off the team before Tech's final game of the season in a controversy over complimentary tickets.
"Didn't Jim Stevens do just great? Didn't he? He just got better as the game progressed," said Fulcher. He referred to the junior substitute who stepped in for McAshan and tossed touchdown passes of 22, nine and three yards to Jim Robinson, Rob Healy and Kevin McNamara to win the game. Stevens also ran for a two-point conversion as he started only his second game for the Yellow Jackets.
Fulcher was hit with charges of racial bias by McAshan after he was unable to get extra tickets to the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. About 200 civil rights pickets marched outside the Liberty Bowl Stadium briefly at the beginning of Monday night's game
"It was just fantastic, fantastic," said Stevens in the steamy Tech dressing room. But he still seemed as calm as he seemed on his fourth-period pass to McNamara which gave Tech the victory with less than 12 minutes to play.
His antics barely overshadowed two touchdown passes by Iowa State quarterback George Amundson. Both went to end Ike Harris and the second was for five yards with less than two minutes in the game. The short pass made the score 31-30 in favor of Tech, but Amundson rolled out for a two-point conversion pass attempt with only 1:36 to play and threw the ball out of the end zone under pressure from Tech's Tim Macy and Beau Bruce.
Georgia Tech managed only a field goal of 32 yards by Cam Bonifay while amassing minus six yards on offense in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Amundson tossed a 13-yarder for a score to Harris and led another 41-yard drive which was capped on a one-yard run by Moses Moore.
Tech pulled ahead 17-14 in the second period on Stevens pass to Robinson and a 19-yard interception return by Gary Faulkner.
Willie Jones returned the ensuing Tech kickoff 93 yards to provide Iowa State with a 21-17 halftime lead. He bobbled the ball momentarily at the seven, circled back to the one and outsped Tech's kicking specialists to score.
The teams went into the fourth period tied at 24-24 after a 30-yard field goal by Tom Goedjen of Iowa State and Stevens 22-yard pass to Healy. |
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| Jim Stevens gets a severe facemask from ISU defender. | |
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| Iowa State's Amundson is hit in the endzone as he passes. The pass was intercepted and returned for a TD. | |
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Jimmy Robinson of Tech makes fingertip grab for touchdown. |
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Fulcher weathered the political storm and Stevens came through in the 1972 Liberty Bowl. |
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Attendance- 50,021
Scoring Summary
First Quarter GT- FG Bonifay 32 ISU- Harris 13-yard pass from Amundson (Goedjen kick) ISU- Moore 1 run (Goedjen kick)
Second Quarter GT- Robinson 9-yard pass from Stevens (Kick failed) GT- Faulkner interception return 19 (Stevens ran for 2) ISU- Jones 93-yard kickoff return (Goedjen, kick)
Third Quarter GT- Healy 22-yard pass from Stevens (Thigpen kick) ISU- FG Goedjen 30
Fourth Quarter GT- McNamara 3-yard pass from Stevens (Thigpen kick) ISU- Harris 5-yard pass from Amundson (Pass failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing ISU- Amundson 13-78, Moore 19-50 GT- Southall 22-48
Passing ISU- Amundson 10-19-153 GT- Stevens 12-15-157
Recieving ISU- Jones 2-65, Harris 4-46 GT- Oven 3-38
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Georgia Tech Coach Bill Fulcher, who has
been walking a tightrope for two weeks, wasn't the least bit shy about
the outcome of Monday night's Liberty
