1972 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 1972 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the [1971 1971 Texas Longhorns football team|Texas Longhorns football team|Texas Longhorns]. The 36th Cotton Bowl Classic, it was played on Saturday, January 1, 1972, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
Background
The Texas Longhorns repeated as Southwest Conference champions and were ranked third in the polls in early October, but consecutive losses dropped them to 3–2 and out of national title contention. Texas won its next five games to gain their fourth straight appearance in the Cotton Bowl, all as SWC champion.The independent Nittany Lions had climbed to 10–0 and fifth in the rankings before the last game of the regular season, a 31–11 upset loss at #12 Tennessee on December 4. It was Penn State's first Cotton Bowl in 24 years, since 1948.
Game summary
The teams traded field goals and Texas led 6–3 at halftime, but the Nittany Lions scored 27 unanswered points in the second half. Penn State running back Lydell Mitchell and quarterback John Hufnagel had touchdown runs while Hufnagel threw a touchdown pass to Scott Skarzynski. Alberto Vitiello had three field goals for the Lions while Steve Valek kicked two for Texas, their only scoring.The convincing win pushed Penn State back up to fifth for the final AP poll, while Texas fell to 18th.