The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 41

Section Saturday January 1 1972 Cornhuskcrs Risk Streak in OB Classic Nebraska vs Alabama or No0 1 Since the Associated Press poll started in 1936 the 1-2 ranked teams have twice before met in a bowl game The 1963 Rose Bowl featured No 1 Southern California against No 2 Wisconsin with the Trojans winning 42-37 Top-ranked Texas and Navy clashed in the 1964 Cotton Bowl with Texas winning 28-6 Bob Devaney coach of the Nebraskans who won the 1970 national crown in this same classic by beating LSU 17-12 said Friday morning going to be some kind of football game I see how either team could be rated a Paul (Bear) Bryant tutor admitted will take a super effort on our part to win The fact remains that Bryant-coached Bama teams have whipped Devaney-coached Cornhusker clubs on the only two occasions met the 1966 Orange Bowl game and 1967 Sugar Bowl affair BOTH NEBRASKA and Alabama present the highest kind of credentials Both are big and aggres- Turn to Page 4D Col 3 THE CORNHUSKERS unbeaten in their last 31 starts and boasting a 22-game winning streak (includ- ing 12 this year) will be detending their No 1 rating for the second time in six weeks Last Nov 25 the Huskers out-gamed Oklahoma 35-31 and two days later Bama crushed Auburn 31-7 to jump into the No 2 spot in the rankings ahead of the Sooners It is only the third time in modern bowl history that the No 1 and No 2 teams have been paired against each other with the national championship awaiting the winner By BOB ELLIOTT Herald Columnist Favored by an extremely shaky one-touchdown margin No 1-ranked football machine puts everything squarely on the line tonight at 8 when it faces a dangerous Alabama team before 78000-plus OB fans in the 38th annual Orange Bowl Classic One of largest prime time sports audiences will also sit in on what seems certain to be one of the of college football history fit Jerry yX a r- Johnny Musso Performance: Carried the ball 191 times for 1088 yards averaging 57 yards per try Totaled 100 points on 16 touchdowns and two two-point conversion runs Completed both passes he tried and caught five Tagge Performance: Completed 143 of his 239 passes (a 598 percentage) for 2019 yards and 17 touchdowns Suffered only four interceptions Also rushed for a net of 314 yards scoring eight touchdowns himself 4 'l EDWIN POPE sports Editor tfc Big OB Da te In Shadow Of Dolphins I like Nebraska over Alabama 28-21 in what I believe is the unique bowl game since the whole New Day fooraw started with Michigan bowling over Stanford 49-0 in the 1902 Rose Bowl No bowl ever has had two stronger teams on the same field Yet it is a bittersweet night for the Orange Bowl Committee After rolling the dice for a solid seven in nailing No 1 and No 2 teams even before they won that final regular-season ranking these committeemen now find much of the local luster removed from this authentic classic by the Dolphin s-Colts collision Sunday It is fault And it creates the most colossal weekend in Miami or any football history Yet the OBC is a victim of sorts Clearly the emotional focus of the community is on game Tonight it is Lincoln and the far midwest (and what a change from the days when the Big Eight was and the Seven against Tuscaloosa and the Deep South It has not much to do with many Miamians except for the pride of being host to the best bowl matchup ever Conversely the Dolphin-Colt game commands a hysteria that would have been considered unbelievable in South Florida sports until the Dolphins began climbing into hearts the last two years ONE ultimately ironic question to ask and then we will lay over the pros until Sunday: Would Alabama be here tonight if Bear Bryant had gone the final five minutes on a night two years ago and signed a contract to succeed George Wilson as coach of the Dolphins when Joe Robbie offered him the job on a silver platter and Mrs Bryant had even gone so far as to pick out an apartment in Miami? Would the Dolphins be playing here Sunday if Bryant had come instead of Don Shula? The questions are academic if intriguing More germanely does Bryant shooting to tie Notre Frank Leahy for the alltime national Turn to Page 4D Col 3 11 w-- Johnny Musso strength of the Wishbone Cool Tagge Guides Nebraska Offense Musso Bama Tired Of Tradition Talk among witnesses of 114 pratfalls on both sides during Sunday afternoon games against the New York Jets and New England in October acknowledged that intensive care since then has alleviated the problem i YJ Staff Photo by DAVE DIDIO four yards and inches He always met the challenge I was real says the compact 191-pounder hurt or twist the toe any more I have to wear that cast against Cast or no the Southeastern a 1 1 -time rushing leader poses the biggest threat to current No 1 ranking Yet his modesty and inclination to spread the credit around shows through in his assessment of the game think Oklahoma (a 35-31 loser to Nebraska) has by far a better outside Musso said our strength is from tackle to tackle and I think we have a much much better inside game think Nebraska will have to respect us more inside than they did "vf J-L A I i7fl -ks-A Staff Photo by DAVE DIDIO Jerry Tagge directs hol Huskers his capable direction just thought about of our fans got shook says Jacobson who apparently got huddle reports from offensive teammates Tagge kept saying fellows we can do it Keep cool No mistakes now No defensive team was walking up and down the sideline But we never had a Neither apparently did the offensive team the kind of heady leadership and confidence Tagge has instilled in a nonlosing streak (a winning streak interrupted by a solitary tie) that has reached 31 games And his coolness under fire is largely responsible for the unwavering confidence that the string will reach 32 against Alabama in dramatic Orange Bowl confrontation only for solid footing Shula admitted that the numerous Orange Bowl events a lot of wear and would soon rum natural grass He said the answer seemed to lie in obtaining best artifical surface there can but admitted the Dolphins would hardly be consulted "We had no say at all the last he said referring to the City of purchase of American Biltrite Rubber Poly-Turf over the more expensive Tartan and AstroTurf surfaces be ready to voice an opinion if they asked Snula said they probably BY PHONE from Tampa Coach Don McCafferty said he thought the heat and the rug problems would be negligible view of the later starting time He added that the Colts Turn to Page 4D Col 4 By GARY LONG Herald Sport Writer Nebraska seemed on the brink of defeat A long winning streak was in jeopardy so was the drive' to a second consecutive national championship The situation a 31-28 Oklahoma lead with just seven minutes remaining was enough to induce panic in most As Nebraska defensive tackle Larry Jacobson put it so well had 74 yards to go One mistake one failure to make a first down and we blow BUT Cornhusker quarterback Jerry Tagge the panicky type never felt we were going to the rugged senior said calmly after Nebraska had pulled out the 35-31 triumph with a relentless time-consuming march under But Shula has been plainly unhappy with the version of artificial turf covering the Orange Bowl Even with the rug thoroughly treated to remove the loose fibers and lift the matted surface the coach gave antagonists And Musso said the expectations mushroomed after Alabama boosted its record to 6-0 by crushing Tennessee 32-15 beaten us three or four games running and that was a real big stepping The finale of course was the 31-7 annihilation of Auburn in a dramatic collision of unbeaten Southeastern Conference powers and bitter state rivals Musso recently off crutches because of a painfully injured toe wore a protective plaster cast on the digit and galloped for 167 yards and two touchdowns in 33 carries His determined runs helped the Tide keep the ball away from (the Tigers and Heisman winner Pat 'Sullivan If Bama needed four yards Musso would twist slash and wiggle for Shula By BILL BRAUCHER Herald Sports Writer If American Football Conference championship game is the last the Dolphins play on the Orange Poly-Turf it will be fine with Don Shula- Still Sees Bugs in Poly-Turf Rug contribution as the Cornhuskers ramrodded to 12 straight victories this season was far more than mental however The six-foot two-inch 215-pound cocaptain from Green Bay Wis passed and ran with pro-like proficiency He completed 143 of 239 passes (a 598 percentage) for 2019 yards and 17 touchdowns while suffering just four interceptions He also netted 314 rushing yards scoring eight times himself THE Cornhuskers overwhelming efficiency served to minimize individual brilliance He was selected to one All-American football team that of Football News but it consisted of 33 players Seldom was he linked talent-wise with Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan Tagge was seventh in the Heisman balloting But Nebraska Coach Bob Devaney has called Tagge best quarterback in the Tagge has been expert at mixing his attack and dwelling on that phase been most effective at the time teams stopped our running game this season we went to the air and were he says stopped our game in the air and we came out in the second half and ran right at em THAT dramatic game-winning offensive push against the Sooners and solid quarterbacking might have seemed an instant replay to those who saw 17-12 Orange Bowl victory over Louisiana State last year The Cornhuskers within reach of that first national title trailed 12-10 as they headed mto the fourth quarter But Tagge took charge Fourteen plays cnnsumed plenty of the clock plus the 67 yards Nebraska needed to score and the rangy quarterback lunged the last yard himself That made the Cornhuskers No 1 and been No 1 ever since By GARY LONG Herald Sports Writer To understand what national championship showdown with Nebraska means to Alabama All-American Johnny Musso have to have grown up in Alabama like Musso did have to have developed heroes like Coach Paul (Bear) Bryant and former linebacking great Lee Roy Jordan while Alabama was winning national titles in 1961 and and going undefeated in 1966 Then have to have been part of two subpar Bama teams the 1969 outfit that went 6-5 with a loss to perennial doormat Vanderbilt and the 1970 team that finished 6-5-1 with several real embarrassments PEOPLE kept talking about the early Musso explained solemnly earlier this week I think this team got tired of hearing about past Alabama teams wanted to be part of something part of the Alabama tradition And right here and now all come down to 60 minutes against Nebraska for a national The turnaround involved a lot more than the adoption of the seemingly unstoppable Wishbone-T that helped the Crimson Tide smash past 11 opponents by an average of 25-plus points have a lot of leaders this said Musso whose slashing runs have earned him the nickname the best leader ever been associated with for instance is (defensive end) Robin Parkhouse just couldn't see us going 6-5 But at the beginning I think anybody knew what kind of season we really could have" THEN THE Tide went to the West Coast and beat Southern California 17-10 Musso rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns That was influential In building hopes SPORTS the AIR Georgia Tios Tar Heels In Dooley Showdown Poly-Turf caused some real problems think something has to be done after this season about either replacing it or going to some other THE DOLPHIN coach have won it without The Dooley brothers were together back in the mid 1960s when Bill served under Vince as an offensive assistant at Georgia but Friday was the first time they had been on opposite sides of the field as head coaches The two met quietly at midfield after the game and Turn to Page 2D Col 3 Noting that the 4 35 start for the money game in the Miami-Baltimore series will give maintenance crews time to clean vacuum and brush the eroding rug Shula reminded reporters at a Friday press conference that the ffit ii i im 'ii iiii 'ii ini tniiiru'i'snr in' i i Yardstick Georgia 13 $1 228 6 10-35 1 28 in U' UNO 9 51-115 51 6-14 1 10-47 1 IS First towns Rushes yards Passing vardaqe Return yardage Passes jmi Fumbles lost Yards Penalized 1 in 1 under the conditions Poulos probably had his best said Vince of his Atlanta tailback Television FOOTBALL 11:30 am Sugar Bowl Auburn vs Oklahoma Channels 10 and 12 1:45 pm Cotton Bowl Texas vs Penn State Channel 4 4:30 pm Rose Bowl Stanford vs Michigan Cuan-nels 7 and 5 7:45 pm Orange Bowl Alabama vs Nebraska Channels 7 and 5 Radio HORSE RACING 5:05 pri The $25000 New Handicap WIOD (610) and WGBS (710) FOOTBALL 7:45 pm Orange Bowl Alabama vs Nebraska WIOD (610) By Herald Wire lervlte JACKSONVILLE Vince Dooley came out with the best of it Friday when he matched wits with kid brother Bill in the Gator Bowl thanks to sophomore Jimmy (The Greek) Poulos Georgia Bul'doos beat North Carolina Tar Heels 7-3 and the difference was Poulos who turned in a 25-yard touchdown jaunt late in tne third period 4 if I.