1971 Stanford Indians football team

The 1971 Stanford Indians football team represented Stanford University during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. Led by ninth-year head coach John Ralston, the Indians were 8–3 in the regular season and repeated as Pacific-8 Conference champions at 6–1.

1971 Stanford Indians football
Pac-8 champion
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 13–12 vs. Michigan
ConferencePacific-8 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 10
1971 record9–3 (6–1 Pac-8)
Head coachJohn Ralston (9th season)
Offensive coordinatorMike White
Defensive coordinatorBob Gambold
Home stadiumStanford Stadium
(c. 85,500, grass)
1971 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 10 Stanford $ 6 –1 –0  9 –3 –0
No. 20 USC 3 –2 –1  6 –4 –1
No. 19 Washington 4 –3 –0  8 –3 –0
California 4 –3 –0  6 –5 –0
Oregon State 3 –3 –0  5 –6 –0
Oregon 2 –4 –0  5 –6 –0
Washington State 2 –5 –0  4 –7 –0
UCLA 1 –4 –1  2 –7 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Season

The previous season, the Indians won the Pac-8 title and upset undefeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jim Plunkett, the first overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft.

With the core of the "Thunder Chickens" defense returning, led by Jeff Siemon and Pete Lazetich, and an offense under the steady leadership of fifth-year senior quarterback Don Bunce, the Indians defended the conference title and upset fourth-ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl.[1][2]

Shortly after their New Year's Day victory, Ralston resigned to become head coach and general manager of the Denver Broncos in the National Football League.[3][4][5] A few weeks later, offensive coordinator Mike White was hired as head coach at rival California, his alma mater, and Stanford promoted defensive assistant Jack Christiansen to head coach.[6][7][8]

This was the final season with the "Indians" nickname, which was changed to "Cardinals" for 1972, and reduced to the singular "Cardinal" in 1982.

Schedule
DateOpponentRankSiteResult
September 11at Missouri*No. 19
W 19–0
September 18at Army*No. 13
W 38–3
September 25OregonNo. 13
W 38–17
October 2No. 19 Duke*No. 10
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
L 3–9
October 9at No. 11 WashingtonNo. 19
W 17–6
October 16at USCNo. 15
W 33–18
October 23Washington StateNo. 10
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
L 23–24
October 30at Oregon StateNo. 17
W 31–24
November 6UCLANo. 12
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
W 20–9
November 13San Jose State*No. 10
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA (rivalry)
L 12–13
November 20CaliforniaNo. 18
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA (74th Big Game)
W 14–0
January 1, 1972vs. No. 4 Michigan*No. 16
W 13–12
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster
1971 Stanford Cardinal football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
RB 33 Jackie Brown Sr
QB 13 Don Bunce RSr
G 66 Lee Fair Jr
G 63 Younger Klippert Jr
T 75 Bill Meyers Sr
SE 45 Miles Moore Jr
TE 84 Bill Scott Jr
T 74 Tim Shallich Sr
C 58 Dennis Sheehan Sr
FB 38 Hillary Shockley Sr
FL 26 John Winesberry So
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
FS 29 Benny Barnes Sr
DL 73 Larry Butler Sr
DT 93 Roger Cowan Jr
DB 24 Jim Ferguson So
DE 78 Pete Lazetich Sr
CB 21 Charles McCloud Jr
LB 10 Pat Moore Jr
S 36 Randy Poltl So
CB 42 Tim Robnett Sr
DE 91 Greg Sampson Sr
MLB 92 Jeff Siemon Sr
LB 50 Mike Simone Sr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
PK 14 Rod Garcia So
P 25 Steve Murray Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt
Source:[6][9][10]

NFL Draft

Six Stanford players were selected in the 1972 NFL Draft

Player Position Round Overall Franchise
Greg SampsonDefensive end16Houston Oilers
Jeff SiemonLinebacker110Minnesota Vikings
Pete LazetichDefensive end236San Diego Chargers
Jackie BrownRunning back8202Oakland Raiders
Don BunceQuarterback12307Washington Redskins
Larry ButlerLinebacker16406Atlanta Falcons
Source:[11]
gollark: What?
gollark: Okay, I finished reading the backlog, I have a vague idea of what this discussion is about and it seems like mostly... weird nonsense.
gollark: 510 new messages? Wow. What *happened*?
gollark: What are you referring to there? People knew the Earth was round for more than two millenia. Some Greek person even worked out its circumference with surprising accuracy in something like 200 BC.
gollark: <@669495592400977920> That really just sounds like pushing your particular weird religious-ish views, which I cannot agree with.

References
  1. Blackman, Frank (December 29, 1999). "Bowled over by the '70s". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  2. "Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1971–1975". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2013-01-19. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  3. "Stanford's Ralston Broncos coach". Sarasota Herald Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. January 6, 1972. p. 1D.
  4. "Five-year pro deal to Ralston". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 6, 1972. p. 23.
  5. King, Errol (January 6, 1972). "Ralston's talking Super Bowl". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. p. C1.
  6. "Christiansen accepts job at Stanford". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). UPI. January 22, 1972. p. 16.
  7. "White decides on Cal; Tribe gets Christiansen". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 22, 1972. p. 1B.
  8. "Christiansen Stanford's coach, White goes to Cal". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. January 22, 1972. p. 7.
  9. "OSU-Stanford lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 30, 1971. p. 2B.
  10. "Bowl lineups: Rose Bowl". Milwaukee Sentinel. January 1, 1972. p. 4, part 2.
  11. "1972 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
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