1972 Rose Bowl The 1972 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1 , 1972 . It was the 58th Rose Bowl Game . The Stanford Indians defeated the Michigan Wolverines , 13 – 12 . The MVP was Stanford quarterback Don Bunce . Teams . Michigan Wolverines . The Wolverines had their first undefeated regular season since 1948 , a # 3 ranking , and were making their second appearance in the Rose Bowl under third - year coach Bo Schembechler following a 10 – 7 victory over archrival Ohio State . Stanford Indians . The Indians had won the previous year ' s Rose Bowl behind the heroics of Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett , who had graduated . Plunkett ' s backup Don Bunce , running back Jackie Brown , and the " Thunderchickens " defense , had led Indians to an 8 – 3 record and a return appearance in the Rose Bowl . Stanford ' s key wins came against Dan Fouts and Oregon ( 38 – 17 ) , at USC ( 33 – 18 ) , and at 11th - ranked Washington ( 17 – 6 ) . They ended the regular season with a 14 – 0 shutout over archrival California . This was also the last football game that Stanford would play as the " Indians . " The following season , Stanford changed their nickname from " Indians " to " Cardinals " ( later the " Cardinal " ) , referring to the school ' s primary color . Game summary . The game was the first Rose Bowl meeting between the two schools since the inaugural Rose Bowl in 1902 , in which Michigan crushed Stanford , 49 – 0 . In the 1972 rematch , Michigan was favored by 10½ . The game started slowly as rain the previous week had made the turf soggy and both teams showed stout defense . In the first quarter , Stanford placekicker Rod Garcia attempted field goals from 52 and 55 yards , but missed both . Michigan kicker Dana Coin made a 30 - yard field goal in the second quarter for the only first half scoring . In the first series of the second half , Stanford Wolverines on 4th and 1 at their 4 yard line , then marched down to tie the game on Garcia ' s 42 - yard field goal . As the fourth quarter began , Michigan ' s Fritz Seyferth scored on a one - yard dive to put Michigan up 10 – 3 . After Stanford got the ball back , they faced fourth and ten from their own 33 . Coach Ralston called for a fake punt , with Jim Kehl receiving the snap and handing the ball forward to Jackie Brown through Brown ' s legs . Brown ran 33 yards for a first down , and followed up a minute later with a 24 - yard touchdown run to tie the game . Late in the fourth quarter , Michigan recovered a Stanford fumble near midfield . Facing fourth down with time running down , the Wolverines attempted a 42 - yard field goal . The kick was short , and Stanford safety Jim Ferguson caught the ball and attempted to run it out of the end zone . Instead , he was knocked back into the end zone by Ed Shuttlesworth for a controversial Michigan safety , as replays seemed to show that Ferguson ' s forward progress was to the 3 yard line . This made the score 12 – 10 with just over three minutes to play , and Michigan due to get the ball on a free kick Following the free kick , Stanford held Michigan to a three - and - out and got the ball back on their own 22 - yard line with 1 : 48 to go . Bunce then threw five consecutive completions to take Stanford to the Michigan 17 with 22 seconds left . The Indians ran two more running plays to get to the Michigan 14 with 12 seconds left , and Garcia successfully kicked a 31 - yard field goal to give Stanford a 13 – 12 upset . Aftermath . Bunce finished 24 of 44 for 290 yards and was named the game ' s MVP . He played one year of professional football in the Canadian Football League before leaving football to become a successful orthopedic surgeon , eventually serving as team doctor for Stanford ' s football team from 1982 to 1992 . The game was the last football game Stanford played as the " Indians , " becoming the " Cardinals " the following year before eventually becoming the singular " Cardinal " ( the color ) by 1981 . Stanford would not return to the Rose Bowl until 2000 and did not win another Rose Bowl until 2013 . Michigan fell to 6th in the AP poll . Schembechler ' s Wolverines returned to three consecutive Rose Bowls from 1977 to 1979 , but lost all three . In 1981 , the Wolverines finally won their first bowl game under the legendary coach .