By Darin The 1975 American football season marked a pivotal era of modernization and dynasty-building across both professional and collegiate levels. From historic individual achievements to foundational changes in how the game was governed and broadcast, the year delivered moments that are still etched in football lore.
The NFL: Super Bowl X and Historic Performances
The professional landscape was defined by brutal defenses and record-breaking offensive milestones.
- The Steel Curtain: The Pittsburgh Steelers cemented their dynasty by winning their second consecutive championship. In Super Bowl X, they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21–17 in a thrilling matchup defined by game MVP Lynn Swann‘s acrobatic catches.
- Offensive Fireworks: Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson had a historically dominant year, setting an NFL single-season record at the time by scoring 23 total touchdowns (16 rushing, 7 receiving) and rushing for 1,817 yards.
- League MVP: Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton secured the Most Valuable Player award, leading his team to a 12–2 regular-season record and tossing 25 passing touchdowns.
Beyond the box scores, 1975 introduced structural changes that forever modernized the sport.
- Playoff Seeding: The NFL completely overhauled its playoff structure. Instead of arbitrarily rotating home-field advantage among division winners, the league instituted a seeding system based on regular-season win-loss records, ensuring the highest-performing teams earned home-field rights.
- Referee Microphones: To improve stadium and broadcast clarity, 1975 was the first season NFL referees were equipped with wireless microphones to announce penalties and explain rulings directly to the crowd and the national television audience.
- The Two-Point Conversion (College): While the NFL held off for decades, college football continued to heavily feature the two-point conversion (introduced in 1958), adding significant strategic divergence between the professional and collegiate games during this era.
College Football: Archie Griffin and the Sooners
The 1975 collegiate season featured one of the most famous, unbroken individual records in the sport’s history alongside intense championship drama.
- The Double Heisman: Ohio State running back Archie Griffin made history by winning his second consecutive Heisman Trophy. To this day, he remains the only player to achieve this feat.
- National Champions: The Oklahoma Sooners, led by head coach Barry Switzer and their devastating wishbone offense, captured the consensus National Championship, finishing with an 11–1 record.
- Rose Bowl Upset: Undefeated, top-ranked Ohio State was stunned in the Rose Bowl by the underdog UCLA Bruins, 23–10, thwarting the Buckeyes’ national title hopes in one of the decade’s biggest upsets.
A Deep Dive into 1975 Football History and Highlights
- January 1, 1975 – At the 61st edition of the Rose Bowl game, Ohio State and USC met for the third consecutive season. This rubber-match contest, after lopsided wins by each school in the two prior Rose Bowls, went right down to the end in a thriller. Trojan QB Pat Haden hit WR Shelton Diggs with a TD pass with two minutes remaining to help USC escape with an 18-17 victory.
- January 12, 1975 – Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, Louisiana – Super Bowl IX saw the upstart Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Minnesota Vikings, 16-6.
- January 20, 1975, Miami Orange Bowl –The coaches at the 25th NFL Pro Bowl were John Madden of the AFC’s Raiders and Chuck Knox of the LA Rams, according to the VictoriaAdvocate.com website. The Pro Bowl was still an important game back then, as even the Monday Night Football crew was there to carry it live on ABC. This was Larry Csonka’s fifth and final Pro Bowl. The outcome of the contest had the NFC squad of stars edging out their AFC counterparts, 17-10. The game’s MVP was James Harris, the quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams.
- January 28, 1975, at the 1975 NFL Draft, Quarterback Steve Bartkowski from the University of California was the first pick by the Atlanta Falcons.
- September 15, 1975 – Notre Dame defeats Boston College 17-3 at Foxboro Stadium in the first-ever meeting between the two Catholic universities. The series has been dubbed the ‘Holy War” by some.
- October 19, 1975 – Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado –Cleveland Browns’ Don Cockroft kicks a club record 5 field goals (later to be broken by Phil Dawson). The game was a defensive struggle as the 2-2 Broncos hosted the winless Browns. Late in the fourth quarter, according to fs64sports.blogspot.com, the Browns led 15-13. Denver moved the ball into Cleveland territory, and it all came down to the last play. 34-year-old Broncos kicker Jim Turner trotted out onto the field and kicked a 53-yard field goal, lifting the Broncos to a dramatic 16-15 victory.
- November 23, 1975 – McMahon Field, Calgary –The CFL Champions game was played for the possession of the coveted Grey Cup. It was appropriate that the Edmonton Eskimos were in the game, as the weather conditions at kickoff were -15 degrees Celsius with 25-mile-per-hour winds, per the CFL.ca website. Interesting note: despite the cold, a woman was seen streaking across the field without a stitch of clothing during the coin toss. That makes me shiver just thinking about it! Those poor conditions helped prevent either team from scoring a touchdown, making it the third time in Cup history that no TDs were scored. It was the Edmonton Eskimos who came out on top as they defeated the Montreal Alouettes, 9-8. Another interesting tidbit from this Grey Cup game was that it was the first time since 1945 that all the points were scored by Canadians, and the first time the big game was played in Calgary.
- November 29, 1975 – The 40th Iron Bowl featured Alabama dominating, blanking Auburn 28-0 in Birmingham.
- December 6, 1975 – Ohio State running back Archie Griffin made history by becoming the first—and still only—player to win the Heisman Trophy in two consecutive seasons.
- December 21, 1975 –A “Bizarro World” of an NFL Game. Rich Stadium, Buffalo – The Vikings had all but locked up the number 1 playoff seed, and the Bills were playing for pride. Unruly Buffalo fans started pelting Vikings players with snowballs, so HC Bud Grant sent his offense to the locker room, planning for his defensive stars to play offense! Our friend Les Ferman explains in this Sports Time Traveler Substack.
- December 26, 1975 – According to Onthisday.com, the 5th Fiesta Bowl occurred, with the #7 Arizona State University team defeating the #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers 17-14.
- December 27, 1975 –The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Colts battled for AFC supremacy. The Terrible Towel made its debut at Three Rivers, thanks to founder Myron Cope, and the seas of yellow towels took the Steelers to a 28-10 AFC Divisional Victory. PFR
- December 28, 1975 – Metropolitan Stadium, Minnesota. The original “Hail Mary” play took place during this game. In the closing minutes, the Minnesota Vikings scored a late touchdown on a Brent McClenahan run to lead 14-10. Dallas regained possession but faced a fourth-and-16 after a misplayed snap. From the shotgun, Roger Staubach connected with Drew Pearson for a significant gain. With only 32 seconds left, Staubach threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Pearson, giving Dallas a 17-14 victory and sending the Cowboys to the NFC Championship game.