1972 Tangerine Bowl
The 1972 Tangerine Bowl, part of the 1972 bowl game season, took place on December 29, 1972, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The competing teams were the Tampa Spartans, that competed as a College Division Independent, and the Kent State Golden Flashes, that competed as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). In the game, Tampa took a 21–0 halftime lead, and then held off a Golden Flashes comeback to win 21–18.
| 1972 Tangerine Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 29, 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tangerine Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Orlando, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Freddie Solomon, Tampa (back) Jack Lambert, Kent State (lineman) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Tampa by 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 20,062 | ||||||||||||||||||
The game featured two eventual College Football Hall of Fame coaches, Earle Bruce at Tampa and Don James at Kent State. Other players of note that played in the game included eventual Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert for Kent State and eventual number one NFL Draft pick John Matuszak for Tampa. Tampa's Paul Orndorff would go on to have a successful professional wrestling career.