1974 American Football Season

The 1974 American football season was a transformative year for the sport, marked by sweeping rule changes, labor disputes, the emergence of a rival league, and the birth of one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties.

Here is a glimpse of American football history in 1974.

Major NFL Rule Changes and Labor Strife

The National Football League implemented several significant rule changes before the 1974 season designed to increase offensive production, reduce ties, and make the game more exciting for fans:

• Goal posts moved: The posts were shifted from the goal line to the end line (the back of the end zone) to make field goals more difficult and open up the goal line for passing plays.
• Sudden-death overtime: A 15-minute overtime period was introduced for regular-season games that ended tied after four quarters.
• Missed field goals: Missed kicks from beyond the 20-yard line resulted in the opposing team taking possession at the line of scrimmage rather than the 20-yard line.

The preseason was severely disrupted by a 41-day players’ strike running from July 1 to August 10. While no regular-season games were canceled, training camps and early preseason games were populated largely by rookies and undrafted free agents. Concurrently, the NFL faced a legitimate threat from the newly formed World Football League (WFL), which aggressively pursued and signed top NFL talent, including three stars from the Miami Dolphins.

Super Bowl IX

The 1974 NFL season culminated in Super Bowl IX, played on January 12, 1975, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

• The Matchup: The Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3-1) faced the Minnesota Vikings (10-4).
• The Outcome: The Steelers won 16–6, securing their first Super Bowl victory and establishing the foundation for their legendary 1970s dynasty under head coach Chuck Noll.
• The MVP: Running back Franco Harris was named MVP after rushing for a then-Super Bowl record 158 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings’ vaunted “Purple People Eaters” defense.

College Football Highlights

The 1974 collegiate season featured split national champions and one of the most incredible turnarounds in rivalry history.

A Deep Dive into 1974 Football History and Highlights

The 1974 college season is best known for “The Comeback.” On November 30, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish jumped out to a 24-0 lead over the USC Trojans. Right before halftime, USC scored a touchdown. Anthony Davis then returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a 102-yard touchdown, sparking a run where USC scored 55 unanswered points in under 17 minutes to win 55-24.

In the professional ranks, Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler won the NFL MVP award, throwing for 26 touchdowns and leading the league in passer rating. The playoffs also featured the legendary “Sea of Hands” game, where the Raiders ended the Miami Dolphins’ quest for a third consecutive Super Bowl title with a dramatic, last-second touchdown pass to Clarence Davis in a sea of Miami defenders.

• January 1, 1974 – There was a rematch of teams in the 60th Rose Bowl, just like the year prior, the USC Trojans and the Ohio State Buckeyes met once again. After the 1973 embarrassment, Woody Hayes’ crew was set on revenge, and they returned the lopsided game of’73 with a 42-21 victory in 1974.
• January 13, 1974 – Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas –The Miami Dolphins won their second consecutive NFL Title by claiming victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII. The final score was Miami 24, Minnesota 7. The big game’s Most Valuable Player was Dolphins bruising running back Larry Csonka. 
• January 20, 1974 – Arrowhead Stadium, KC, Missouri: At the 24th NFL Pro Bowl, it was a game for the lovers of good defenses to witness as the AFC held on against the NFC, 15-13. The coaches of the teams were John Madden for the AFC and Tom Landry for the Cowboys. According to the American Football Database, Miami kicker Garo Yepremian was the Most Valuable Player in the contest, scoring all of the AFC’s points with 5 successful field goals, which is still a Pro Bowl record! It is interesting to note that the victors each received $ 2000, while each member of the losing team put $1500 into the bank.
• January 29, 1974 – the Dallas Cowboys selected Ed “Too Tall” Jones from Tennessee State as the first overall pick in the 1974 NFL Draft. Players who have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame per PFR are Lynn Swan, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster, who were Pittsburgh’s picks at 21, 46, 82, and 125, respectively. Dave Casper, whom Oakland chose at 45. Yes, you heard it correctly: there are 5 Hall of Famers from this draft class, and four of them were picked by the Steelers. Is it any wonder they had so much success in the mid-to-late 1970’s?
• April 24, 1974 – The city of Tampa, Florida, gets good news: the NFL grants a franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• April 25, 1974 – Sweeping NFL Rules reform. The sweeping changes were to first move the goal line to the end line and adopt sudden-death overtime for all regular and exhibition games. Another rule that made a difference was that a missed field goal would be returned to the 20-yard line or to the previous line of scrimmage, whichever was farther from the goal line, to start the next series.
• June 4, 1974 – The NFL grants a franchise to a group of Seattle, Washington investors for a team that would become the Seahawks. Commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the signing of the Seattle franchise agreement by Lloyd W. Nordstrom, representing the Nordstrom family as majority partners.
• November 9, 1974 – East Lansing, Michigan -Michigan State knocks off No. 1 Ohio State. According to the National Football Foundation’s website, Michigan State’s upset of the top-ranked Buckeyes was as controversial as it was stunning. Ohio State went up early in the contest, but Michigan State cut the lead to four on a 44-yard touchdown strike to Mike Jones and took a 16-13 lead when Spartan tailback Levi Jackson broke off an 88-yard scoring run with 3:30 on the clock. Just moments later, the Spartans were upset over a pass ruled incomplete that appeared to have been intercepted by linebacker Terry McClowry. It would have stalled the Buckeye drive, giving the ball to the Spartans’ offense to run out the clock, but the call was incomplete —and remember, there was no replay review for officials in that era of football.
• November 24, 1974 – Empire Stadium, Vancouver –The CFL’s Grey Cup, played for the 62nd time, pitted the Montreal Alouettes against the Edmonton Eskimos once again. The time Montreal got the better of the Eskimos on a slick, wet field by the score of 20-7 per onthisday.com. 
• November 29, 1974 – Legion Field –The 39th playing of the Iron Bowl had the Crimson Tide come out on top, 17-13, over the Tigers.
• November 30, 1974 –The USC-Notre Dame game is generally one of the “must-watch” games of the season, and it certainly was in 1974. You didn’t want to leave at halftime! The Irish had their largest lead of 24-0 before what has gone down in history as the “Comeback” happened. It was 24-6 Irish at the half. However, an Anthony Davis 102-yard second-half kick return and ND turnovers helped USC turn the tide and win handily 55-24.
• December 2, 1974 – Pat Fitzgerald, a former standout linebacker and current successful head coach for the Northwestern Wildcats, was born. The National Football Foundation inducted him into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
• December 5, 1974, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks franchise was officially announced. Historylink.org has an excellent presentation with all of the details. Pete Rozelle gave the go-ahead to a consortium called “Seattle Professional Football,” and that group, led by Lloyd W. Nordstrom, cut a cool $16 million check to make NFL football in Seattle a reality. 
• December 5, 1974 – The World Bowl. Soon after the AFL/NFL merger in the late 1960s, another group decided to go head-to-head with the NFL, forming the World Football League. A group led by Gary Davidson assembled a band of wealthy individuals and threw cash at the League to sign big names from the Miami Dolphins, the NFL’s best team at the time, such as Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, and Jim Kiick. Many other teams lost star players to the WFL’s allure of high pay. Well, the NFL’s popularity was still strong, and it crushed the WFL like a bug. However, in their 1-½ seasons, they did have one championship game, the 1974 World Bowl. In the game, the Birmingham Americans claimed the title, defeating the Florida Blazers 22-21 in a great lone championship game for the League. You can learn more about the WFL from the Deadfootball.com website.
• December 21, 1974 – The Oakland Raiders played one of the most famous games, the “Sea of Hands,” against a very tough Miami Dolphins squad. Check out all the details in our full post on the Sea of Hands Game.
• December 27, 1974, the 40th Heisman Trophy Award went to Archie Griffin, the running back of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Heisman’s official website states that even though Griffin was considered smallish for a Division I back at 5’-9” and a mere 180 pounds, he was a consistent and truly explosive runner.
• December 29, 1974 – Oakland Coliseum –The AFC Championship game had familiar foes as the Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Oakland Raiders, per the Pro-Football-Reference site. Powered by Running Back Franco Harris’s two touchdown runs and 111 yards on the ground, the Steelers conquered the Oakland Raiders, 24-13, to advance to their first Championship game in Super Bowl IX.
• December 29, 1974 – Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, Minnesota –The NFC Championship saw the Minnesota Vikings defeat the Los Angeles Rams, 14-10. The Purple People Eater defense picked off Rams QB James Harris twice, complementing the timely scoring of Fran Tarkenton, leading the Viking offense to earn the right to face the upstart Steelers in the Big Game. (source)
• December 31, 1974 –41st Sugar Bowl: #8 Nebraska beats #18 Florida, 13-10