1972 Pittsburgh Steelers Season
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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers Season
The 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the team's 40th in the National Football League. The team posted a record of 11–3 in , and won their first-ever AFC Central Division title. It was the Steelers' third-ever postseason appearance, first in ten seasons (the Playoff Bowl for third place in the league), and only its second playoff game since 1947. This season is famous for the Immaculate Reception, where the Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13–7 in the playoffs on a last second touchdown by rookie running back Franco Harris. The rebuilding of the franchise that began in 1969 with the hiring of head coach Chuck Noll finally came to fruition in his fourth year. After winning only once in that first season, the Steelers then showed steady improvement. They broke through in 1972 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1947; their three losses were by a combined eleven points. The division title was the first in team history, as was the appearance in the AFC Championshi ...
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AFC North
The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL season, when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. This is the only division in the NFL in which no member team has hosted a Super Bowl in their stadiums. Formation The AFC North currently has four members: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. The original four members of the AFC Central were the Browns, Bengals, Steelers and Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans). The AFC North is the only AFC division that does not contain a charter team from the original American Football League. However, the Cincinnati Bengals were an AFL expansion team in the 1968 AFL season (the Steelers and Browns joined the AFC in 1970), although the Bengals joining the AFL was contingent on the ...
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Playoff Bowl
The Playoff Bowl (officially known as the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) was a post-season game for third place in the National Football League (NFL), played ten times following the through seasons, all at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was originally known as the Runner-Up Bowl. The official title of Bert Bell Benefit Bowl came from the former NFL commissioner, Bert Bell. Bell, who co-founded the Eagles and co-owned the Steelers, was commissioner of the NFL from until his death during an NFL game in October . The game raised money for the players' pension fund, and reportedly raised a million dollars over the decade of the 1960s. Location All ten games in the Playoff Bowl series were contested at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The games were played in January, the week following the NFL championship game (and the collegiate Orange Bowl game on New Year's Day), except for the final year, when it was played the day before the NFL title game. The NFL's Pro Bowl ( all-star game) w ...
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Defensive Back
In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the defensive linemen who play directly on the line of scrimmage, and the linebackers, who play in the middle of the defense, between the defensive line and the defensive backs. Among the defensive backs, there are two main types, cornerbacks, which play nearer the line of scrimmage and the sideline, whose main role is to cover the opposing team's wide receivers, and the Safety (gridiron football position), safeties, who play further back near the center of the field, and who act as the last line of defense. American defensive formations usually includes two of each, a left and right cornerback, as well as a strong safety and a free safety, with the free safety tending to play further back than the strong safety. In Canadian football, which ha ...
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1971 Clemson Tigers Football Team
The 1971 Clemson Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Clemson University in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach Hootie Ingram, the team compiled a 5–6 record (4–2 against conference opponents), finished second in the ACC, and was outscored by a total of 202 to 155. The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. Larry Hefner and end John McMakin were the team captains. The team's statistical leaders included quarterback Tommy Kendrick with 1,040 passing yards, running back Rick Gilstrap with 514 rushing yards, Don Kelley with 505 receiving yards, and John McMakin with 30 points scored (5 touchdowns). Two Clemson players were selected by the Associated Press as first-team players on the 1971 All-Atlantic Coast Conference football team: offensive end John McMakin, defensive end Wayne Baker, and linebacker Larry Hefner. ...
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Tight End
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be effective blockers. On the other hand, unlike offensive linemen, they are eligible receivers adept enough to warrant a defense's attention when running pass patterns. Because of the hybrid nature of the position, the tight end's role in any given offense depends on the tactical preferences and philosophy of the head coach as well as overall team dynamic. In some systems, the tight end will merely act as a sixth offensive lineman, rarely going out for passes. Other systems use the tight end primarily as a receiver, frequently taking advantage of the tight end's size to create mismatches in the defensive secondary. Many coaches will often have one t ...
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John McMakin
John Garvin McMakin (born September 24, 1950) is a former professional American football tight end who played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 1972–1976 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks. He was a member of the Steelers first World Championship, Super Bowl IX over the Minnesota Vikings. He was the Steelers' 3rd round draft pick in the 1972 NFL Draft. McMakin played a role in one of the most famous plays in football history, the Immaculate Reception. In a 1972 playoff game between the Steelers and Oakland Raiders, the Raiders were leading 7-6 with a few seconds left. Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to John Fuqua that deflected off either Fuqua, Raider safety Jack Tatum or both, and was caught by Steeler running back Franco Harris who ran for the winning touchdown. The main controversy of the play was whether ball hit Tatum or not; under the rules of the time Harris' catch would have been illeg ...
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1971 BYU Cougars Football Team
The 1971 BYU Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Brigham Young University (BYU) as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their eighth and final season under head coach Tommy Hudspeth, the Cougars compiled an overall record of 5–6 with a mark of 3–4 against conference opponents, finished fourth in the WAC, and outscored opponents by a total of 227 to 199. Pete Van Valkenburg led the team with 602 rushing yards, 684 yards of total offense, and 48 points scored. Other statistical leaders included Bill August with 448 passing yards, Golden Richards with 238 receiving yards, and Dave Atkinson with nine interceptions.BYU Football 2015 Almanac, pp. 162-164. Schedule References BYU BYU Cougars football seasons BYU Cougars football The BYU Cougars football team is the college football program representing Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. The Cougars began c ...
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Offensive Tackle
Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace ** Pejorative, or slur words ** Profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ..., strongly impolite, rude or offensive language See also * * Offense (other) * Offender (other) * Charm offensive (other) {{disambig ...
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Gordon Gravelle
Gordon Carr Gravelle (born June 12, 1949) is a former American football offensive tackle in the National Football League. Drafted out of Brigham Young University in the 1972 NFL Draft, Gravelle spent eight seasons with three teams: the Pittsburgh Steelers (1972–1976), the New York Giants (1977–1979), and the Los Angeles Rams (1979). He earned two Super Bowl rings in Super Bowl IX and Super Bowl X with the Steelers. He lost Super Bowl XIV in 1979 with The Los Angeles Rams. Gravelle was traded from the Steelers to the Giants for a second-round pick in the 1980 NFL Draft (Bob Kohrs) on August 30, 1977. The Giants were in need of offensive tackles of which the Steelers had a surplus. He announced his retirement in June 1979 but added his desire to be traded to a West Coast team to be near the private airport that he owned in Antioch, California. He rejoined the Giants on September 6 after teammate and fellow ex-Steeler Jim Clack convinced him to end his retirement. He was ...
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1971 Penn State Nittany Lions Football Team
The 1971 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Schedule Roster Game summaries Air Force Alberto Vitiello, a junior college transfer, kicked a 22-yard field goal with four minutes to help Penn State escape with a 16–14 victory over Air Force. "Penn State Edges Air Force on Field Goal." Palm Beach Post. 1971 Oct 3. Tennessee NFL Draft Four Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1972 NFL Draft. References Penn State Penn State Nittany Lions football seasons Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy seasons Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of ...
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Running Back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense, rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and Blocking (American football), block. There are usually one or two running backs on the field for a given play, depending on the offensive formation. A running back may be a Halfback (American football), halfback (in certain contexts also referred to as a "tailback" ⁠ ⁠—  see #Halfback/tailback, below), a wingback (American football), wingback or a Fullback (American football), fullback. A running back will sometimes be called a "feature back" if he is the team's starting running back. Halfback/tailback The halfback (HB) or tailback (TB) position is responsible for carrying the ball on the majority of running plays, and may frequently be used as a receiver on ...
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Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game is played on the second Sunday in February. Prior Super Bowls were played on Sundays in early to mid-January from 1967 to 1978, late January from 1979 to 2003, and the first Sunday of February from 2004 to 2021. Winning teams are awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the coach who won the first two Super Bowls. Due to the NFL restricting use of its "Super Bowl" trademark, it is frequently referred to as the "big game" or other generic terms by non-sponsoring corporations. The day the game is played is often referred to as "Super Bowl Sunday" or simply "Super Sunday". The game was created as part of a 1966 merger agreement between the NFL and the competing American Football League (AFL) to have their best teams compete for a champi ...
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