1972 Sugar Bowl (December)

The 1972 Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 31, 1972. This 39th edition of the Sugar Bowl featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Oklahoma Sooners. Both teams came in with a 10–1 record. Penn State had a #5 AP ranking, whereas Oklahoma had a #2 AP ranking. It was played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

Oklahoma won the game 14–0. However some dispute that Penn State actually won by forfeit.

Game summary

Penn State was without their leading rusher John Cappelletti, who was suffering from a virus and a temperature of 102 degrees. Without Cappelletti, the Lions' defense were forced to step up and held the Sooners explosive Wishbone offense to only 14 points while forcing eight fumbles, recovering five. However, Oklahoma out gained the Lions 543 to 196 yards, 278 to 49 on the ground.

Aftermath

Oklahoma was forced to forfeit nine games from the 1972 campaign after they had used two ineligible freshmen. Despite the forfeit, Penn State refused to accept the win.

Because of this the NCAA does not recognize the Penn State forfeit win over Oklahoma in the 1972 Sugar Bowl, in part, because Paterno and Penn State declined to accept the win for OU's use of two ineligible players. The NCAA also stated that forfeits were not part of the NCAA sanctions levied against the Sooners. The NCAA says it only restricted OU's scholarships, TV appearances, and bowl appearances.^[2]

The scandal however, prevented the Sooners from playing in bowl games for two years after Chuck Fairbanks's departure to the New England Patriots.

References

↑ "Year-by-Year Results". Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
↑ "After Further Review...The NCAA Weighs-In". Retrieved 2008-05-14.

Sugar Bowl Game

History Tulane Stadium Georgia Dome Mercedes-Benz Superdome College Football Playoff Broadcasters Tie-Ins Southeastern Conference Big 12 Conference

Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 (Jan) 1972 (Dec) 1973 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 (Jan) 1995 (Dec) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Notes	The 2006 game was played in Atlanta, Georgia because of Hurricane Katrina. Bolded years indicate the game was also the national championship game for Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series.

Oklahoma Sooners bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes BCS National Championship Game.

Penn State Nittany Lions bowl games

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.