1973 college football season

1973 college football season

The Heisman Trophy that John Cappelletti won for play
during the 1973 season.
Total # of teams 130[1]
Preseason AP #1 USC Trojans[2]
Number of bowls 10
Champions Notre Dame Fighting Irish (AP)
Alabama Crimson Tide (Coaches)
Heisman John Cappelletti, Penn State RB
College football seasons
«1972 1974»

The 1973 college football season was the first for the NCAA's current three-division structure. Effective with the 1973–74 academic year, schools formerly in the NCAA "University Division" were classified as Division I (later subdivided for football only into today's Division I FBS and Division I FCS). Schools in the former "College Division" were classified into Division II, which allowed fewer athletic scholarships than Division I, and Division III, in which athletic scholarships were prohibited.

In its inaugural season, Division I had two NCAA-recognized national champions, and they faced each other at year's end in the Sugar Bowl. The New Orleans game matched two unbeaten teams, the Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0-0), ranked #1 by AP and UPI, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10–0), ranked #3 by AP and #4 by UPI.

While both wire services ranked Alabama #1 at the end of the regular season, AP took another poll after the bowl games. By agreement with the American Football Coaches' Association, however, UPI bestowed its championship before the postseason bowl games. Thus, Alabama was crowned champion by UPI on December 4, 1973 [3]. UPI ranked Notre Dame #4. One coach had given the Irish a first place vote, compared to 21 for Alabama.

In a game where the lead changed six times, Notre Dame won by a single point, 24–23, to claim the national championship. During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA Football Guide, however, did note an "unofficial national champion" based on the top ranked teams in the "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). In 1973, the UPI issued its final poll before the bowls, but the AP Trophy was withheld until the postseason was completed. The AP poll in 1973 consisted of the votes of as many as 63 sportswriters and broadcasters, though not all of them voted in every poll. UPI's voting was made by 34 coaches. Those who cast votes would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 20 points for first place, 19 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined.

Contents

September

October

#5 Michigan won at Michigan State, 31-0. #6 Oklahoma beat #13 Texas 52-13 in Dallas #7 Penn State beat visiting Army, 54-3, to extend its record to 5-0-0 and rise to the top five. The poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Alabama 3.Oklahoma 4.Michigan 5.Penn State

1.Ohio State 2.Alabama 3.Oklahoma 4.Michigan 5.Penn State

November

1.Ohio State 2.Alabama 3.Oklahoma 4.Michigan 5.Notre Dame

December

In the final regular season poll, the top six schools were unbeaten. 1.Alabama (11-0) 2. 2.Notre Dame (10-0) 3.Oklahoma (10-0-1) 4.Ohio State (9-0-1) 5.Michigan (10-0-1) and 6.Penn State (11-0). The other major college unbeaten, Miami (Ohio) (10-0-0), was #15. Oklahoma, however, was on probation for having used an ineligible player in three 1972 games, and was ineligible to play in a bowl game. #1 Alabama and #2 Notre Dame accepted invitations to play in the Sugar Bowl.

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1973 Big 8 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#3 Oklahoma 7 – 0 – 0     10 – 0 – 1
#7 Nebraska 4 – 2 – 1     9 – 2 – 1
#18 Kansas 4 – 2 – 1     7 – 4 – 1
#17 Missouri 3 – 4 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Oklahoma State 2 – 3 – 2     5 – 4 – 2
Colorado 2 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Kansas State 2 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Iowa State 2 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1973 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#2/3 Ohio State § 7 – 0 – 1     10 – 0 – 1
#6/6 Michigan § 7 – 0 – 1     10 – 0 – 1
Minnesota 6 – 2 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
Illinois 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Michigan State 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Purdue 4 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Northwestern 4 – 4 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Wisconsin 3 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Indiana 0 – 8 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
Iowa 0 – 8 – 0     0 – 11 – 0
§ – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll
1973 Pacific-8 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#8 USC † 7 – 0 – 0     9 – 2 – 1
#12 UCLA 6 – 1 – 0     9 – 2 – 0
Stanford 5 – 2 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
Washington State 4 – 3 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
California 2 – 5 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Oregon 2 – 5 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
Oregon State 2 – 5 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
Washington 0 – 7 – 0     2 – 9 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1973 SEC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#4/1 Alabama † 8 – 0 – 0     11 – 1 – 0
#13/14 LSU 5 – 1 – 0     9 – 3 – 0
Ole Miss 4 – 3 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
#19/NR Tennessee 3 – 3 – 0     8 – 4 – 0
Georgia 3 – 4 – 0     7 – 4 – 1
Florida 3 – 4 – 0     7 – 5 – 0
Kentucky 3 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Auburn 2 – 4 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
Mississippi State 2 – 4 – 0     4 – 5 – 2
Vanderbilt 1 – 5 – 0     5 – 6 – 0
† – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll

Bowl games

Major bowls

Alabama and Notre Dame had never met in a college football game before their encounter in the Sugar Bowl, which was played on December 31, 1973. Two legendary coaches, Bear Bryant and Ara Parseghian brought their teams to New Orleans, and the game was a thriller. The Irish scored first, but missed the extra point. After Alabama took a 7–6 lead, freshman Al Hunter returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, and a two point conversion put Notre Dame up 14–7. Alabama went ahead 17–14 in the third, but a fumble on their own 12 yard line gave the Irish a chance to make it 21–17. In the fourth quarter, Bama got back the lead on a trick play, as quarterback Richard Todd handed off to running back, Mike Stock, who then fired a touchdown pass back to Todd; but Bill Davis, who had made 51 of 53 extra point attempts in his career, was wide right, and the score stayed 23–21. In the final minutes, Notre Dame's Bob Thomas (who had missed the earlier point after try) kicked a 19 yard field goal that gave the team the 24-23 win. Asked whether Notre Dame would be voted #1, Coach Parseghian replied, "Certainly. What was the final score?" [4]

BOWL
SUGAR #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 24 #1 Alabama Crimson Tide 23
ROSE #4 Ohio State Buckeyes 42 #7 USC Trojans 21
ORANGE #6 Penn State Nittany Lions 16 #13 LSU Tigers 9
COTTON #12 Nebraska Cornhuskers 19 #8 Texas Longhorns 3

The final AP writers' poll was split. Notre Dame received a majority of the first place votes, 33 out of 60, followed by #2 Ohio State (11 votes) and #3 Oklahoma (16 votes, but fewer points overall). The #4 spot (held by Notre Dame in the final UPI poll) went to Alabama. UPI, whose crowning of Alabama as national champion proved to be premature, began holding the coaches' poll after the bowl games beginning with the 1974 season.

Other bowls

BOWL Location Winner Loser
SUN El Paso Missouri 34 Auburn 17
GATOR Jacksonville Texas Tech 28 Tennessee 19
TANGERINE Gainesville, Florida Miami (Ohio) 16 Florida 7
ASTRO-BLUEBONNET Houston Houston 47 Tulane 7
LIBERTY Memphis N.C. State 31 Kansas 18
PEACH Atlanta Georgia 17 Maryland 16

Other champions

Beginning in 1973, the NCAA sponsored playoffs to determine the championship for football teams in Division II and Division III. The NAIA had held a championship playoff since 1956, and operated two divisions from 1970 to 1996.

Small College Poll #1 Tennessee State Tigers #2 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
NCAA Division II Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 34 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 0
NCAA Division III Wittenberg Tigers 41 Juniata Eagles 0
NAIA Division I Abilene Christian Wildcats 42 Elon Christians* 14
NAIA Division II Northwestern (Iowa) Red Raiders 10 Glenville State Pioneers 3

Heisman Trophy

  1. Winner: John Cappelletti, Penn State, Sr. RB - 1,057 Votes
  2. John Hicks, Ohio State, Sr. OT - 524 Votes
  3. Roosevelt Leaks, Texas, Jr. RB - 483 Votes
  4. David Jaynes, Kansas, Sr. QB - 394 Votes
  5. Archie Griffin, Ohio State, SO. RB - 326 Votes

John Cappelletti had the third best year in Penn State history when he gained 1,117 yards rushing in 1972. In 1973, he had the second best year in Penn State history rushing for 1,522 yards. In his two-year running career, he gained 100 yards in the thirteen games and had a career total of 2,639 yards and twenty-nine touchdowns for an average of 120 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. John's acceptance speech at the Heisman Dinner (with Vice President Gerald Ford next to him on the dais) was considered the most moving ever given at these ceremonies, as he honored his brother Joey, a victim of leukemia.

References

  1. ^ http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1973.htm
  2. ^ http://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=407
  3. ^ "It's Official: Alabama No. 1 in Football," News Tribune (Fort Pierce, Fla.), Dec. 4, 1973, p19
  4. ^ "Notre Dame lays claim to No. 1 rating," Tucson Daily Citizen, Jan. 1, 1974, p34
NCAA college football seasons
Pre-regulation
IAAUS
NCAA
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I-A/FBS
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS