15 Greatest QB/WR Duos of All Time
1971: Auburn
Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley
Pat Sullivan wasn’t a big quarterback. He wasn’t quite Flutie-small, but he was close. At 6’0”, 191 lbs., Sullivan might not have been able to see easily over the line, but he was able to rise above the rest of the country’s best football players at the end of the season when he hoisted the Heisman Trophy.
The previous season, in ’70, Sullivan came in sixth in the Heisman voting, but he took home the Sammy Baugh Trophy and SEC Player of the Year honors.
By ’71, he was a Consensus All-American and also Walter Camp Player of the Year. Among other categories, he was in the top ten in the nation in pass completions (182), pass completion percentage (56.0), passing yards (2,262), passing touchdowns (21), and passing efficiency rating (127.8).
Terry Beasley, Sullivan’s partner in dismantling defenses, was also a Consensus All-American in 1971, finishing in the top five in the NCAA in receptions (61), receiving yards (963), and receiving touchdowns (12). With incredible athleticism and sticky fingers, Beasley was an excellent target with an equally excellent ability to find open space. He’s the only Auburn receiver to win All-American honors twice.
Under coach Ralph Jordan, Sullivan and Beasley led the Tigers to a 9-2 record, and Auburn finished 12th in the final AP Poll.
They lost the Sugar Bowl, 40-22, to Oklahoma. But their biggest win would come in the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” against the #7-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Athens. In front of over 60,000 fans, Sullivan, Beasley, and the Auburn Tigers would gash the Bulldogs for 35 point in a 35-20 victory.
Both were drafted in consecutive rounds. Terry Beasley went in the first round to the San Francisco 49ers, and Pat Sullivan went in the second to the Atlanta Falcons.