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College football game
The
1972 Liberty Bowl
was a
college football
postseason
bowl game
played on December 18, 1972, in
Memphis, Tennessee
. In the 14th edition of the
Liberty Bowl
, the
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
defeated the
Iowa State Cyclones
, 31?30.
Background
[
edit
]
The Cyclones finished 5th in the
Big Eight Conference
, 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
ABC
.
[1]
[2]
Game summary
[
edit
]
An Iowa State fumble led to a
Cam Bonifay
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 Tom 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
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.
[3]
[4]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Majors announced that he would leave Iowa State to coach Pittsburgh, and he was replaced by
Earle Bruce
. Fulcher left Georgia Tech the following season. While Georgia Tech has not returned to the Liberty Bowl since this game, Iowa State returned in
2012
and
2017
.
Statistics
[
edit
]
Statistics
|
Iowa State
|
Georgia Tech
|
First downs
|
18
|
18
|
Rushing yards
|
185
|
123
|
Yards passing
|
153
|
157
|
Total offense
|
338
|
280
|
Interceptions thrown
|
2
|
1
|
Fumbles-lost
|
3-2
|
5-2
|
Punts-average
|
3-24.6
|
5-36.6
|
Penalties-yards
|
4-39
|
1-5
|
References
[
edit
]
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History & conference tie-ins
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Games
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Notes
|
- There was no Liberty Bowl in 2008 or 2015.
- There was a Liberty Bowl in January and December of 2010 and 2016.
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