2nd Place John Ralston The 1971 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1971. It was the 57th Rose Bowl Game. The Stanford Indians defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, 27–17. The MVP was Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett. The 1971 Orange Bowl featured the third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, champions of the Big Eight Conference, and the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers, champions of the Southeastern Conference. Earlier on New Year's Day, the two top-ranked teams lost their bowl games: #1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and #2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Huskers were aware when they took the field that night that they could claim the top ranking in the AP writers poll with a victory. An LSU victory would likely have given Notre Dame the national title. This change of events lead to Nebraska's first NC and First for HC Bob Devaney, who became NU's HC in 1962. Obviously NU needed #1 Texas to lose, which they did to ND to begin the day, but they also needed a #2 ranked, and undefeated tOSU team to lose to a pretty good Stanford team, who weren't even ranked in the Top 10 headed into the bowl game. Needless to say the odds were against NU. And the rest is history, as NU went on to defeat LSU and claim their 1st NC. Stanford's head coach at the time was John Ralston, who had been the HC since 1963, and also lead Stanford to the 1972 Rose Bowl crown, for back to back titles. That fateful day in Jan 1971, Nebraska fans were probably very thankful for John Ralstons 2nd place finish....Not in a Football game....but in an Interview back in 1961 when he came in 2nd place for the HC job, at the Univ of Nebraska.
So how do you know Ralston, with the superior program at Neb wouldn't have won a Nat'l Title before '71? Also, your welcome from the Fighting Irish!
We'll never know....and your assuming that Ralston would have recruited Rodgers, Tagge, Glover and others... After researching, which started from an archived newspaper article, I thought it was ironic how the dominoes fell that day and the history behind it. Were you already enrolled at UT then?
Yes and Thankful for the Irish that day also!! I re-read what you posted Doc, and good point on BEFORE '71....but once again who knows. I just thought it was neat what happened in '71 and what fate occurred in 1962. Here's the original article that made me research what Ralston did after not getting the NU job. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7092258/1961_john_ralston_seeking_nebraska_job/