1971 Texas Longhorns football team

1971 Southwest Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1971 Texas Longhorns football
1971 Texas Longhorns football
Southwest Conference champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, L 6–30 vs. Penn State
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 12
AP	No. 18
1971 record	8–3 (6–1 SWC)
Head coach	Darrell Royal (15th season);
Offensive coordinator	Emory Bellard (6th season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone
Defensive coordinator	Mike Campbell (15th season)
Base defense	4-4
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium; (Capacity: 77,809)
	Seasons ← 1970 1972 →

The 1971 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season.

Texas' hopes for a third consecutive national championship were squashed with back-to-back one-sided losses in October to its two biggest rivals, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Longhorns recovered to win their fourth consecutive Southwest Conference championship and returned to the Cotton Bowl, where they were routed 30-6 by Penn State.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 18	3:30 p.m.	at UCLA*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 28–10	36,504
September 25	4:00 p.m.	Texas Tech	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 28–0	76,639
October 2	4:00 p.m.	Oregon*	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 35–7	66,500
October 9	2:00 p.m.	vs. No. 9 Oklahoma*	No. 3	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)	CBS	L 27–48	73,580
October 16	3:00 p.m.	at No. 16 Arkansas	No. 10	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (rivalry)	ABC	L 7–31	54,446
October 23	2:00 p.m.	Rice	No. 16	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 39–10	61,000
October 30	2:00 p.m.	at SMU	No. 14	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX		W 22–18	40,551
November 6	2:00 p.m.	Baylor	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 24–0	54,500
November 13	2:00 p.m.	TCU	No. 13	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 31–0	63,500
November 25	1:30 p.m.	at Texas A&M	No. 12	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)		W 34–14	53,000
January 1, 1972	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 10 Penn State*	No. 12	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	L 6–30	72,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Source:^[1]

Personnel[]

1971 Texas Longhorns football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`35`	Jim Bertelsen	Sr
RB	`26`	Dennis Ladd	So
QB	`14`	Eddie Phillips	Sr
QB	`18`	Donnie Wigginton	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB, K	`38`	Glenn Gaspard	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`7`	Steve Valek	So

Head coach

Darrell Royal

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Emory Bellard (OC)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2021-Jan-08

Season summary[]

Oregon[]

Source:^[2]

TCU[]

TCU Horned Frogs (4–3) at #13 Texas Longhorns (6–2)

	1	2	3	4	Total
TCU	0	0	0	0	0
Texas	0	7	7	17	31

at Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas

Date: November 13
Game time: 2:00 p.m. CST
Game weather: 81 °F (27 °C)
Game attendance: 63,500
Box Score

Game information

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

TEX – Dennis Ladd 3-yard run (Glen Gaspard kick), 5:55. Texas 7–0. Drive: 17 plays, 80 yards, 7:48.

Third quarter

TEX – Donnie Wigginton 5-yard run (Glen Gaspard kick), 11:52. Texas 14–0. Drive: 9 plays, 62 yards, 3:08.

Fourth quarter

TEX – Dennis Ladd 1-yard run (Glen Gaspard kick), 11:20. Texas 21–0. Drive: 13 plays, 87 yards, 5:02.
TEX – Steve Valek 47-yard field goal, 8:12. Texas 24–0. Drive: 4 plays, 36 yards, 1:36.
TEX – Donnie Wigginton 1-yard run (Glen Gaspard kick), 5:42. Texas 31–0. Drive: 4 plays, 9 yards, 1:45.

Top passers

TCU
TEX – Donnie Wigginton – 1/2, 21 yards

Top rushers

TCU
TEX – Jim Bertelsen – 25 rushes, 94 yards

Top receivers

TCU
TEX – Rick Davis – 1 reception, 21 yards

NFL Draft[]

Two seniors from the 1971 Longhorns were selected in the 1972 NFL Draft:^[3]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Jim Bertelsen	RB	2	30	Los Angeles Rams
Eddie Phillips	QB	4	95	Los Angeles Rams

References[]

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Cawood, Neil (October 3, 1971). "Oregon overpowered by Longhorns, 35-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
^ Pro Football Reference.com - 1972 NFL Draft

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[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[oovpwd-2] Cawood, Neil (October 3, 1971). "Oregon overpowered by Longhorns, 35-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.

[3] Pro Football Reference.com - 1972 NFL Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Texas Longhorns football
Venues	Clark Field (1896–1924) Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium (1924–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas Nebraska Oklahoma: Red River Showdown (Golden Hat) Rice TCU Texas A&M Texas Tech
Culture & lore	History Brown years Bevo Hook 'em "Texas Fight" Hex Rally 1969 "Game of the Century" Longhorn Band The University of Texas National Championship 2005 2005 Ohio State game 2007 player suspensions 2008 Texas Tech game 2008 Big 12 South 3-way tie controversy 1 Second Left My All American
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1971 Southwest Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 18 Texas $	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Arkansas	5	–	1	–	1	8	–	3	–	1
TCU	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	1
Texas A&M	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
SMU	3	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Rice	2	–	4	–	1	3	–	7	–	1
Texas Tech	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Baylor	0	–	7	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll