The 1972 Liberty Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

postseason

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on December 18, 1972, in

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. In the 14th edition of the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

, the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

defeated the

Iowa State Cyclones The Iowa State Cyclones are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Iowa State University, located in Ames. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams (6 men's an ...

, 31–30.

Background

The Cyclones finished 5th in the

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, after falling from 8–4 to 5–5–1 in their second straight bowl appearance. The Yellow Jackets were in a bowl for the third straight year under first year head coach Bill Fulcher. This was the first Liberty Bowl for both teams. The game was nationally televised in primetime on

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Game summary

An Iowa State fumble led to a

Cam Bonifay Cameron Hubert Bonifay (born February 12, 1952) is a former major league baseball executive and scout, best known as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1993 to 2001. Career Bonifay's father was a minor league general manager for sever ...

field goal to make it 3-0 Georgia Tech less than two minutes into the game. Iowa State responded with two touchdowns in the first quarter, one of them on a George Amundson touchdown pass and the other on a Moses Moore touchdown run. Jimmy Robinson caught a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jim Stevens to make it 14-9 midway through the second quarter. Gary Faulkner returned an interception for a touchdown to make it 17-14 with 1:46 remaining in the 1st half. But on the ensuing kickoff return, Moore returned it 93 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-17 at halftime. Rob Healy caught a touchdown pass from Stevens to make it 24-21 Georgia Tech. Iowa State responded with a Goedjen field goal with 1:40 remaining in the third to make it a 24-24 tie going into the final quarter. Kevin McNamara caught a touchdown pass from Stevens to make it 31-24 with 11:28 remaining. On a pitchout pass attempt by Stevens, the Cyclones recovered the ball at the Jacket 33 with the chance to tie/win. An

Ike Harris Isaiah "Ike" Harris (born November 27, 1952) is a former American football wide receiver in the NFL for the St. Louis Cardinals (1975–77) and the New Orleans Saints (1978–81). Harris played college football at Iowa State University. In 1 ...

touchdown from George Amundson had made it 31-30 with 1:36 to go. But on the ensuing two-point conversion, Amundson threw the ball away, and Mark Fields recovered the ensuing onside kick for Georgia Tech to clinch the game. Jim Stevens completed 12 of 15 passes for 157 yards and three touchdowns and was named Most Valuable Player.

Aftermath

Majors announced that he would leave Iowa State to coach Pittsburgh, and he was replaced by

Earle Bruce Earle Bruce (March 8, 1931 – April 20, 2018) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa (1972), Iowa State University (1973–1978), Ohio State University (1979–1987), the University of N ...

. Fulcher left Georgia Tech the following season. While Georgia Tech has not returned to the Liberty Bowl since this game, Iowa State returned in

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and

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Statistics

References

{{Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bowl game navbox

Liberty Bowl Iowa State Cyclones football bowl games Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games December 1972 sports events in the United States 1972 in sports in Tennessee