Game of the Year of the Day, 1972: Tampa 21, Kent State 18

The date: December 29, 1972

The matchup: Tampa (9-2) vs. Miami (Ohio) (6-4-1)

My second book, The 50 Best* College Football Teams of All Time, came out in March. The title is a misdirection — it’s not about the best teams; it’s about college football at its best and most interesting.

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take a look at some of the biggest games from these 50 best* teams.

Rose Bowl breakthroughs

1924 Notre Dame, 1925 Alabama, 1931 USC, 1993 Wisconsin, 2004 Texas

Offensive innovation

1906 Chicago, 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight, 1968 Texas, 1991 Florida, 2007 Oregon

Dramatic seasons

1960 Iowa, 1965 UCLA, 1978 Missouri, 1982 Pitt, 2013 Auburn

Star power

1923 Illinois, 1938 TCU, 1980 Georgia, 1984 Boston College, 1999 Virginia Tech

On the rise

1951 Michigan State, 1962 Nebraska, 1970 Alabama, 1981 Florida State, 2002 USC

Mid-majors

1930 Utah, 1970 Dartmouth, 1972 Tampa, 1974 Miami (Ohio), 2010 Boise State

Greatness denied

1941 Northwestern, 1968 Purdue, 1973 Michigan, 1988 Miami, 1990 Virginia, 1998 Ohio State

Incredible defense

1938 Tennessee, 1957 Auburn, 1959 Ole Miss, 1985 Oklahoma, 1993 Texas A&M, 2011 LSU

Perfection

1917 Georgia Tech, 1940 Minnesota, 1945 Army, 1947 Notre Dame, 1955 Oklahoma, 1959 Syracuse, 1991 Washington

The stakes: The 1972 Tangerine Bowl title!

The back story: The Tangerine Bowl would eventually become the Citrus Bowl and start frequently hosting high-level SEC, Big Ten, or ACC teams. But in the 1970s, it was a mid-major showcase pitting the MAC champion vs. a random foe. In the years leading up to 1972, it was basically an opportunity for Toledo to finish incredible seasons with blowout wins (56-33 over Davidson, 40-12 over William & Mary, 28-3 over Richmond).

In the years after 1972, the Tangerine Bowl became an annual home for Miami (Ohio) to defeat local power conference teams — Florida in 1973, Georgia in 1974, South Carolina in 1975. But in between, in late 1972, 20,072 attendees witnessed a strangely awesome amalgamation of elite talent. Not all of it was elite football-playing talent.

From 50 Best*:

On one sideline, you had three future coaching greats and one of the best linebackers of all-time. On the other, you had Mr. Wonderful, Sloth, and a future NFL receiver playing quarterback. The 1972 Tangerine Bowl was one of the more noteworthy, star-heavy minor bowls ever played, even if nobody had any idea at the time. [...]

9-2 Tampa had suffered a midseason letdown in what was otherwise a dream season; the Spartans committed a host of mistakes in losses to Kansas State and Louisville, but they rebounded to handle rivals Florida A&M (26-9) and Miami (7-0), and they destroyed Vanderbilt in the season finale to lock up a Tangerine berth. They featured future No. 1 pick (and movie star) John Matuszak, future professional wrestler Paul Orndorff, and future 49ers receiver Freddie Solomon. And they were led onto the field by Earle Bruce, who would leave for Iowa State after the season and eventually succeed Woody Hayes at Ohio State.

The Spartans’ bowl opponent, Kent State, was led by Don James, who would spend two more seasons there before taking the Washington job and eventually winning a national title with the Huskies. On the Golden Flashes’ depth chart were future NFL hall of famer Jack Lambert, future Missouri wins leader Gary Pinkel, and a heady safety named Nick Saban.

This is one of the sport’s great hindsight games, a “Huh, wow, how about that?” tidbit. It was also a pretty good football game.

The game: From the Orlando Sentinel:

Newspapers.com

For a half Friday night, it didn't look like Tampa needs a pro team. It looked like Tampa had one.

But anemic Kent State stepped into one of Clark Kent's old phone booths midway and came out like Superman to convert the 27th Tangerine Bowl from a game to a classic.

Before a record crowd of 20,062 on a perfect night for football, the Spartans had just enough left to preserve a 21-18 victory in a contest they had led 21-0 when it was a mere 24 minutes old.

The threatened rout never came near unfolding as Coach Don James' Mid-American Conference champions came off the floor to score one in the third period and twice more in a fight-enlivened fourth. At the end, the gutty Golden Flashes were denied a tie or victory only by two missed point-after tries and a two-point conversion attempt which also failed.

Special teams doomed Kent State, not only with the missed kicks, but also with an early muffed punt that set up the first of two Orndorff touchdown catches. Tampa went up 21-0 on a short Solomon touchdown, but a 76-yard touchdown pass got Kent on the board, and a 78-yard punt return made it 21-18.

Tampa held on to win. With 103 rushing yards, Solomon was named offensive MVP while Lambert was named defensive MVP.

The box score:

Newspapers.com

This game had a bunch of late action (and even saw a near-fight when Pinkel unleashed a monstrous hit on a late-game onside kick attempt), but ... 11 turnovers? Yeah, it was sloppy.

Kent lost because it had seven of those turnovers. The Flashes outgained the Spartans, 392-384, but it’s hard to overcome that many giveaways.

This was indeed a hindsight bowl. It set the table for a lot of interesting stories, but it also became even more interesting — interesting enough to get into 50 Best* — when Tampa dropped its football program a couple of years later. The state of Florida had finally begun integrating its college rosters at the time, and Miami, Florida State, and Florida would all experience golden times in the 1980s and 1990s. Tampa maybe hopped off the train just a bit too early (especially considering Miami really wasn’t any further along than Tampa in 1972).