The 1972 Fiesta Bowl was the second edition of the college football bowl game, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, December 23. Part of the 1972âÂÂ73 bowl game season, it matched the unranked Missouri Tigers of the Big Eight Conference and #15 Arizona State Sun Devils of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Arizona State never trailed, gained over 700 yards on offense, and won again on its home field, 49âÂÂ35.
This was the first of two consecutive Fiesta Bowls played at night.
The Tigers finished the regular season with a 6âÂÂ5 overall record, 3âÂÂ4 in the Big Eight Conference, with upset wins over Notre Dame, Colorado, and Iowa State. This was Missouri's first bowl appearance in three years.
The Sun Devils were champions of the WAC for the fourth straight year, the only conference loss was by two points at Wyoming in late September. The other blemish was a home loss to independent Air Force. ASU had won the previous year's inaugural Fiesta Bowl.
Televised by Hughes, the kickoff on Saturday night was shortly after 6 p.m. MST. It was the only bowl game of the day, played after the first two NFL divisional playoff games.
Arizona State took the lead early with two touchdown runs by All-American halfback Woody Green, taking a 14âÂÂ0 lead at the end of the first. Missouri fullback Don Johnson scored from a yard out to narrow the lead, but ASU responded with fullback Brent McClanahan's one-yard run, followed by Danny White's 34-yard touchdown pass to split end Ed Beverly to increase the lead to 28âÂÂ7 at halftime.
Missouri's Chuck Link caught a touchdown pass from quarterback John Cherry to narrow the lead, but the extra point missed, making it only 28âÂÂ13. Not to be deterred, Link caught another touchdown pass and converted the conversion to make it 28âÂÂ21 as the third quarter came to a close.
The Sun Devils struck back, as Green scored his third touchdown of the day to make it 35âÂÂ21. But on the kickoff return, Mike Fink returned it 100 yards to cut the lead back to seven. Beverly caught his second touchdown of the day from White to make it 42âÂÂ28, and after a failed Missouri drive, Green scored his fourth touchdown to give ASU a commanding 49âÂÂ28 lead. Tiger halfback Tommy Reamon had 31-yard touchdown run to make the final score 49âÂÂ35, as ASU won its second straight Fiesta Bowl.
ASU set two records that still stand for most total yards (718) and first downs (33), which helped them win despite four turnovers compared to Missouri's three, which hurt them more. Green ran for 202 yards on 25 carries (8.1 avg.) for four touchdowns and was named Offensive MVP; in addition, backfield mate McClanahan had 171 yards on 26 carries (6.6 avg.) with a touchdown.
While in the WAC, Arizona State appeared in three more Fiesta Bowls, winning its next two (1973, 1975). Through , Missouri has yet to return to the Fiesta Bowl.