The 1971 Wichita Shockers football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

as a member of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC) during the

1971 NCAA University Division football season The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, rema ...

. In its second season under head coach

Bob Seaman Joseph Robert Seaman (March 28, 1932 – August 13, 2018) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Wichita State University from 1971 to 1973 and at Emporia State University from 1979 to 1982, compiling a career c ...

, the team compiled an overall record of 3–8 record with mark of 0–5 in conference play, finished last out of seven teams in the MVC, and was outscored by a total of 268 to 149. The team played its home games at

Cessna Stadium Cessna Stadium is a 24,000-seat stadium on the campus of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It opened in 1946 and served as the home of the Wichita State Shockers track and field team until 2020 and the football team unti ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. During the prior season, the team lost 14 of its players and its head coach in the

Wichita State University football team plane crash In clear and calm weather in Colorado at 1:14 p.m. MDT on Friday, October 2, 1970, a chartered Martin 4-0-4 airliner crashed into a mountain eight miles (13 km) west of Silver Plume. Operated by Golden Eagle Aviation, the twin-engine ...

. Several players injured in the crash, including Randy Jackson, returned to play for the 1971 team. The team's statistical leaders included Tom Owen with 613 passing yards, Randy Jackson with 820 rushing yards and 48 points scored, Bill Moore with 318 receiving yards.

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{{Wichita State Shockers football navbox

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Wichita State Shockers football seasons

Wichita State Shockers football The Wichita State Shockers football team was the college football program of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. The Shockers fielded a team from 1897 to 1986. They played their home games at Cessna Stadium and were members of the Missou ...