1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

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)
Captain	John Dampeer
Captain	Greg Marx
Seasons

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

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

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

Game summaries

Purdue

by Quarter 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 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

Pittsburgh

by Quarter 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 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

Roster

1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Allocco, FrankFrank Allocco 3.0 !So G 62 Bolger, TomTom Bolger 5.0 !Jr QB 8 Brown, CliffCliff Brown 5.0 !Jr FB 30 Bullock, WayneWayne Bullock 3.0 !So TE 86 Casper, DaveDave Casper 5.0 !Jr QB 2 Clements, TomTom Clements 3.0 !So WR 85 Demmerle, PeterPeter Demmerle 3.0 !So G 72 DiNardo, GerryGerry DiNardo 3.0 !So RB 28 Diminick, GaryGary Diminick 5.0 !Jr T 69 Lozzi, DennisDennis Lozzi 5.0 !Jr T 71 Sylvester, SteveSteve Sylvester 3.0 !So WR 80 Townsend, WillieWillie Townsend 5.0 !Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 79 Achterhoff, JayJay Achterhoff 1.0 !Fr CB 14 Barnett, ReggieReggie Barnett 3.0 !So LB 50 Collins, GregGreg Collins 3.0 !So DT 60 Nosbusch, KevinKevin Nosbusch 3.0 !So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 98 Thomas, BobBob Thomas 5.0 !Jr	Head coach Ara Parseghian Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt