Tangerine Bowl

1970

Toledo 40

William and Mary 12

Toledo Fight Song

The 1970 Toledo Rockets looking to repeat as Tangerine Bowl champs and post a second consecutive undefeated season, headed to Orlando for the silver anniversary of the bowl game.  The game pitted the champions of the Mid-American and Southern Conferences.

The Rockets were led by quarterbacking sensation, Chuck Ealey. Although UT's coaching staff never saw Ealey play football in high school, Rockets coach Frank Lauterbur knew all about Ealey's athletic exploits and he sent assistant Dick Walker to Portsmouth to watch Ealey play basketball. Walker raved about Ealey and Lauterbur offered Ealey a football scholarship. Ealey, who was black and had not been recruited by any major programs, accepted the scholarship with the promise of a starting position and had never been defeated at the school in two seasons.

The Rockets were not just a one man show in that era. The defense led the nation in 1970 and was spearheaded by All-American Mel Long. Long was a Vietnam War veteran who had returned from the conflict to play college ball.

Lou Holtz became head coach at William and Mary in 1969 at age 32. His team had endured two consecutive losing seasons. Rallying in the closing minutes of the second half and taking the lead with :12 to play, Holtz’s team had come from behind to defeat Richmond in the last game of the ’70 season to win the Southern Conference and qualify for Tangerine Bowl. Holtz and his staff had remained somewhat quiet about the bid given his team’s 5-6 record. The odds makers had Toledo as a 14 point favorite. It was William and Mary’s first post-season game in the school’s history.

Both teams came out with some jitters. The Rockets were penalized for kicking the ball out of bounds on the opening kickoff, followed by Indians’ quarterback Steve Regan throwing an interception on his team’s first possession. UT failed to capitalize when Tom Duncan’s 20-yard field goal try sailed wide right. On their next possession, the Indians had a punt blocked by Bob Vickers and UT was in business at its own 42-yard line. Chuck Ealey drove the Rockets down to the William & Mary 14-yard line, but his pass on fourth down was broken up to stall the drive.

William & Mary failed to move the ball on the first two plays of its next drive, and attempted a quick kick on third down. The ball hit a Toledo player and was recovered by the Indians at the UT 39. Seven plays later, William & Mary finally scored on Todd Bushnell’s 10-yard jaunt, but the PAT went wide right to make it 6-0 after one quarter.

Toledo answered as Charles Cole scored from one yard out early in the second quarter to make it 7-6 at the break. Holtz’s team looked primed for an upset at halftime. But it was all Rockets in the second half as they scored on their first four possessions.

Toledo took the second half opening possession and marched 87 yards in 13 plays, capped by Tony Harris’ 15-yard TD run to open up a 14-6 advantage. UT pushed the lead to 20-6 seven minutes later when Joe Schwartz scampered in from nine yards away. Next it was Ealey’s turn as he connected with Don Fair on a 3-yard TD pass and then ran one in from three yards out to put the Rockets up 34-6 midway through the fourth quarter. Six minutes later, John Niezgoda returned an interception 52 yards for another score, and when the smoke cleared, the Rockets had rolled off 33 consecutive points. Toledo cruised to the 40-12 victory to preserve their second consecutive undefeated season.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think Toledo had that type of overall team speed and quickness,” said Holtz after the game. “I knew they had a great team, but they’re a hell of a lot better than I thought.”

The Rockets churned out 326 yards rushing, paced by Cole and Harris. Cole carried the ball 25 times for 132 yards and Harris collected 101 yards on 13 carries. Ealey tallied 74 yards on 14 carries and was 12 of 22 passing for 128 yards and was chosen as MVP of the game. Fair led the receivers with five catches for 56 yards.

NFL scout Sonny Randle, a former all-pro receiver, was as impressed as Holtz.

“There are not many teams in the United States that they can’t play on a given Saturday, and I just don’t mean show up against, either. That’s as fine a collegiate team as I’ve ever seen.”

Toledo also impressed the pollsters, finishing 12th in the nation in the final Associated Press poll, and 14th and 17th in the Football News and UPI polls, respectively.

William and Mary Coach Lou Holtz.

Toledo's team of 1970-72 holds legendary status in college football annals

Attendance: 15,164

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

WM- Bushnell 10 run (kick failed)

Second Quarter

UT- Cole 1 run (Duncan kick)

Third Quarter

UT- Harris, 15-yard run (Duncan kick)

UT- Schwartz, 9-yard run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

UT- Fair 3 yard pass from Ealey (Duncan kick)

UT- Ealey 3 run (kick failed)

UT- Niezgoda 52 yard interception return (Duncan kick)

WM- Regan 1 run (pass failed)

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