1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season.

1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Orange Bowl, L 6–40 vs. Nebraska
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 14
1972 record	8–3
Head coach	Ara Parseghian (9th season)
Captains	John Dampeer Greg Marx

1972 NCAA University Division independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Penn State			–					10	–	2	–	0
No. 14 Notre Dame			–					8	–	3	–	0
Utah State			–					8	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					8	–	4	–	0
Florida State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Northern Illinois			–					7	–	4	–	0
Rutgers			–					7	–	4	–	0
No. 20 Georgia Tech			–					7	–	4	–	1
Air Force			–					6	–	4	–	0
Army			–					6	–	4	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					6	–	4	–	1
Houston			–					6	–	4	–	1
Tulane			–					6	–	5	–	0
Temple			–					5	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	4	–	1
Holy Cross			–					5	–	4	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					5	–	6	–	0
Dayton			–					4	–	6	–	1
Boston College			–					4	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					4	–	7	–	0
South Carolina			–					4	–	7	–	0
Southern Miss			–					3	–	7	–	1
Xavier			–					2	–	8	–	0
Cincinnati			–					2	–	9	–	0
Villanova			–					2	–	9	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 23	2:30 p.m.	at Northwestern	No. 13	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)		W 37–0	55,155
September 30	2:30 p.m.	Purdue	No. 10	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)		W 35–14	59,075
October 7	1:50 p.m.	at Michigan State	No. 7	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (Megaphone Trophy)	ABC	W 16–0	77,828
October 14	2:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)		W 42–16	59,075
October 21	2:30 p.m.	Missouri	No. 8	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		L 26–30	59,075
October 28	2:30 p.m.	TCU	No. 13	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 21–0	59,075
November 4	1:30 p.m.	vs. Navy	No. 12	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)		W 42–23	43,089
November 11	3:05 p.m.	at Air Force	No. 12	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO		W 21–7	48,671
November 18	1:30 p.m.	Miami (FL)	No. 10	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN		W 20–17	59,075
December 2	4:00 p.m.	at No. 1 USC	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 23–45	75,243
January 1, 1973	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 9 Nebraska	No. 12	Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	L 6–40	80,010
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[1]

Game summaries

Northwestern

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 14 16 7 0 37 Northwestern 0 0 0 0 0 Date: September 23 Location: Dyche Stadium, Evanston, IL Game start: 1:30 pm CDT

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total Purdue 0 0 0 14 14 • Notre Dame 14 7 14 0 35 Date: September 30 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 pm EST Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary 1 ND Mike Creaney 39-yard pass from Tom Clements (Thomas kick) ND 7-0 1 ND Eric Penick 14-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 14-0 2 ND Willie Townsend 62-yard pass from Tom Clements (Thomas kick) ND 21-0 3 ND John Cieszowski 1-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 28-0 3 ND Andy Huff 1-yard run (Thomas kick) ND 35-14 4 PUR Jack Spellman 24-yard run (Bobrowski to Sayers pass) ND 35-8 4 PUR Skip Peterson 1-yard run (pass failed) ND 35-14

[2]

Michigan State

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 3 3 0 10 16 Michigan St. 0 0 0 0 0 Date: October 7 Location: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI Game start: 12:50 pm EST Television network: ABC

Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total Pittsburgh 0 0 8 8 16 • Notre Dame 7 7 7 21 42 Date: October 14 Location: Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, Indiana Game start: 1:30 pm EST Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary 1 ND Huff 1-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 7-0 2 ND Huff 4-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 14-0 3 PITT Janasek 3-yard pass from Hogan (Englert pass from Hogan) Notre Dame 14-8 3 ND Mahalic 54-yard interception return (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 21-8 4 ND Huff 4-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 28-8 4 ND Penick 2-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 35-8 4 ND Best 56-yard run (Thomas kick) Notre Dame 42-8 4 PITT Daniels 1-yard run (Daniels run) Notre Dame 42-16

[3]

Missouri

1 2 3 4 Total • Missouri 7 14 6 3 30 Notre Dame 7 7 0 12 26 Date: October 21 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, IN Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Rain, upper 40s

Texas Christian

1 2 3 4 Total TCU 0 0 0 0 0 • Notre Dame 0 7 7 7 21 Date: October 28 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, IN Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Rain, mid-50s

Navy

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 14 21 0 7 42 Navy 0 0 7 16 23 Date: November 4 Location: Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST

Air Force

1 2 3 4 Total • Notre Dame 0 14 0 7 21 Air Force 0 0 7 0 7 Date: November 11 Location: Falcon Stadium, Colorado Springs, CO Game start: 1:00 pm MST Referee: Doug Reeves

Miami (Florida)

1 2 3 4 Total Miami 3 0 0 14 17 • Notre Dame 13 0 7 0 20 Date: November 18 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: Mid-30s

Southern Cal

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 3 7 13 0 23 • So. Cal. 19 0 13 13 45 Date: December 2 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Game start: 1:00 p.m. PST Game weather: 80 degrees, sunny TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson

Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska

1973 Orange Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 13 20 0 40 Notre Dame 0 0 0 6 6 Date: January 1 Location: Miami Orange Bowl Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST Game attendance: 80,010 TV announcers (NBC): Jim Simpson, Kyle Rote

Roster

1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Frank Allocco So OG 62 Tom Bolger Jr QB 8 Cliff Brown Jr FB 30 Wayne Bullock So TE 86 Dave Casper Jr QB 2 Tom Clements So WR 85 Peter Demmerle So OG 72 Gerry DiNardo So RB 28 Gary Diminick Jr OT 69 Dennis Lozzi Jr OT 71 Steve Sylvester So WR 80 Willie Townsend Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 79 Jay Achterhoff Fr CB 14 Reggie Barnett So LB 50 Greg Collins So DT 60 Kevin Nosbusch So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 98 Bob Thomas Jr	Head coach Ara Parseghian Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. 2011 Notre Dame football media guide
2. "Purdue smashed." Eugene Register-Guard. 1972 Oct 1.
3. Eugene Register-Guard. 1972 Oct 15.