๐Ÿˆ The 1973 college football season

The champion and its path, the poll race week by week, the honours, the best games and every conference table.

Source: Citizen of Nowhere college football database ยท 13 conferences ยท 11 bowls
Jump to any season1869โ€“2026
1973season

1973 national champion

Named by the selectors, with the road it took.

National champion, shared
11-0Final AP #1AP
Also named champion
11-1Final AP #4UPI
HeismanJohn CappellettiPenn State

The path11-0

  1. Sep 22vs
    Northwestern
    W44-0
  2. Sep 29at
    Purdue
    W20-7
  3. Oct 6vs
    Michigan State
    W14-10
  4. Oct 13at
    Rice
    W28-0
  5. Oct 20at
    Army
    W62-3
  6. Oct 27vs
    #6USC
    W23-14
  7. Nov 3vs
    Navy
    W44-7
  8. Nov 10at
    #20Pittsburgh
    W31-10
  9. Nov 22vs
    Air Force
    W48-15
  10. Dec 1at
    Miami (FL)
    W44-0
  11. Dec 31vs
    #1Alabama
    W24-23
    Sugar Bowl

The 1973 major bowls

No title game this year. The big bowls of the season, by date.

The 1973 poll race

Rank by poll week, 1 at the top, or Elo by week. A poll line breaks where a team was unranked.

How this is measured
The final top five and the champion are drawn in team colours; everyone else is muted until you tap a line or pick a team. The grid under a poll chart has the same ranks, team by week, so a rank can be read as a number as well as a height. Where the College Football Playoff or BCS ranking also ran, switch between it and the AP poll. The Elo view plots each team's rating on the poll dates for the teams that finished in the Elo top 15 or were ranked at any point, and its Show filter works the same way.
Notre DameOhio StateOklahomaAlabamaPenn State34 teams ranked at some point ยท tap or drag for that week ยท tap a line to lock it
  • Regular season ends
  • Bowl season

Tap or drag on the chart to read a team's rank in any week.

AP rank, team by week

TeamAug27Sep101724Oct18152229Nov5121926Dec3Jan3final
Notre Dame888789885555531
Ohio State233311111111342
Oklahoma11119866333333223
Alabama664533222222114
Penn State777677556666665
Michigan555455444444456
Nebraska42222211101311101013127
USC111144669899778
Arizona State1413131312111211814131311109
Houston18181615141414121815151414149
Texas Tech20201815121212121111
UCLA10161817161513131098810912
LSU16151110101099777781313
Texas34614131319191311119814
Miami (OH)20201616171715151515
North Carolina State171714192016161616
Missouri2020151277121014192017
Kansas191817181820171918
Tennessee99109981014111616192019
Tulane18171514171720
Maryland181820
Oklahoma State17121118
Pittsburgh2020
Arizona1919
Kent State19
Colorado11101918171617
Auburn1312121119
Richmond20
Miami (FL)18171615
SMU19
West Virginia20
Florida15141516
Bowling Green20
North Carolina1919

Tap a rank to read it and highlight that team on the chart above.

Movers

AP rank on Aug 27 against the final AP rank. NR is not ranked.

Risers

Fallers

1973 final polls

The last ranking of the season in each poll.

1973 final pollsAP, Coaches, Elo

AP and Coaches

AP Jan 3, Coaches Dec 3 final
APTeamCRec
1411-0
2310-0-1
3210-0-1
4111-1
5512-0
6610-0-1
7119-2-1
879-2-1
91011-1
91311-1
111111-1
1299-2
13149-3
1488-3
151711-0
169-3
178-4
18157-4-1
198-4
20188-4
20159-3
Coaches only
19
19

The coaches final came out before the bowls; the AP final after.

Elo top 25

rating, z
1Oklahoma2144 ยท z +2.7
2Alabama2093 ยท z +2.5
3Nebraska2014 ยท z +2.2
4Penn State1987 ยท z +2.0
5Notre Dame1966 ยท z +2.0
6Ohio State1960 ยท z +1.9
7Michigan1940 ยท z +1.9
8USC1912 ยท z +1.7
9Texas1871 ยท z +1.6
10Arizona State1866 ยท z +1.5
11Houston1865 ยท z +1.5
12UCLA1860 ยท z +1.5
13Texas Tech1856 ยท z +1.5
14Miami (OH)1842 ยท z +1.4
15LSU1817 ยท z +1.3
16North Carolina State1799 ยท z +1.3
17Georgia1789 ยท z +1.2
18San Diego State1789 ยท z +1.2
19Tennessee1777 ยท z +1.2
20Missouri1735 ยท z +1.0
21Mississippi1727 ยท z +1.0
22Stanford1720 ยท z +0.9
23Kent State1718 ยท z +0.9
24Maryland1695 ยท z +0.8
25Kansas1694 ยท z +0.8

APAP championCCoaches champion

The 1973 honours

The Heisman vote and the major awards side by side, then the All-Americans.

The 1973 honoursHeisman: John Cappelletti

Heisman Trophy voting

1
John Cappelletti
RB ยท Penn State
1,057
points
2
John Hicks
OT ยท Ohio State
524
points
3
Roosevelt Leaks
RB ยท Texas
482
points
4
David Jaynes
QB ยท Kansas
394
points

Major awards

Paul "Bear" Bryant
AFCA Coach of the Year Award ยท Coach ยท Alabama
John Cappelletti
Maxwell Award ยท RB ยท Penn State
John Hicks
Outland Trophy ยท OT ยท Ohio State
John Hicks
Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award ยท OT ยท Ohio State
John Cappelletti
Walter Camp Award ยท RB ยท Penn State

Consensus All-Americans

A star marks a unanimous selection.

QB
WR
TE
Show all 10 positions
OT
C
  • Bill Wymanโ˜… unanimousTexas
DL
LB
DB
B
G

The best games of 1973

The ten best games of the season by Game Score. Switch to the Elo score for a second opinion.

How this is measured
Game score is the college football workbook's own rating of how good a game was; it weighs a lot more than the margin. The Elo score is a second view built from the ratings alone: the two teams' average pre-game Elo, plus stakes (150 for the national championship game, 90 for a playoff game or a major bowl, 40 for another bowl or a conference title game, 15 for a rivalry), plus up to 60 for a close finish and 15 for overtime. The Elo view takes its own top ten from every game between major teams. Sort by any column.
The best games of 197310 games
Rank by
1
24-23 ยท Sugar Bowl ยท 1973-12-31 ยท Elo score 2177
1.65
game score
2
10-10 ยท 1973-11-24 ยท Elo score 1987
1.23
game score
3
#8Oklahoma tied #1USC
7-7 ยท 1973-09-29 ยท Elo score 2055
0.89
game score
4
#2Alabama beat #7LSU
21-7 ยท 1973-11-22 ยท Elo score 2032
0.87
game score
5
#8Notre Dame beat #6USC
23-14 ยท 1973-10-27 ยท Elo score 1968
0.80
game score
6
#6Penn State beat #13LSU
16-9 ยท Orange Bowl ยท 1974-01-01 ยท Elo score 2032
0.78
game score
7
#12Missouri beat #2Nebraska
13-12 ยท 1973-10-13 ยท Elo score 1918
0.74
game score
8
#4Ohio State beat #7USC
42-21 ยท Rose Bowl ยท 1974-01-01 ยท Elo score 2026
0.73
game score
9
#9USC beat #8UCLA
23-13 ยท 1973-11-24 ยท Elo score 1970
0.66
game score
10
#2Alabama beat #10Tennessee
42-21 ยท 1973-10-20 ยท Elo score 1994
0.66
game score

Upsets of 1973

The results the ratings gave the winner the least chance of, lowest first.

How this is measured
Win chance is the winner's pre-game probability from the site's college football Elo ratings, home field included, so 3% means the winner would be expected to win about one time in thirty. Games against lower-level opponents count and carry a tag for the level (FCS, Division II and so on). Where the AP poll had ranks, the rank line is shown as context. Elo gap is the loser's pre-game rating minus the winner's.
Upsets of 197310 upsets
1
25-24 ยท 1973-11-17
3.1%
win chance
2
HawaiiDivision II beat Washington
10-7 ยท 1973-09-15
5.6%
win chance
3
39-36 ยท 1973-10-13
8.3%
win chance
4
New HampshireDivision II beat Dartmouth
10-9 ยท 1973-09-29
8.3%
win chance
5
ConnecticutDivision II beat Yale
27-13 ยท 1973-09-29
8.4%
win chance
6
21-13 ยท 1973-09-15
8.5%
win chance
7
23-3 ยท 1973-09-22
9.1%
win chance
8
10-0 ยท 1973-10-06
9.1%
win chance
9
Florida beat #19Auburn
12-8 ยท 1973-11-03 ยท Unranked over #19
10%
win chance
10
MassachusettsDivision II beat Rutgers
25-22 ยท 1973-10-06
11%
win chance

1973 standings by conference

Every conference at once: conference and overall record, and the final AP rank. A star marks the conference champion.

1973 standings by conference13 groups

Atlantic Coast

7 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1North Carolina Stateโ˜… conference champion6-09-3#16
2Maryland5-18-4#20
3Clemson4-25-6
4Virginia3-34-7
5Duke1-4-12-8-1
6North Carolina1-54-7
7Wake Forest0-5-11-9-1

Big Eight

8 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Oklahomaโ˜… conference champion7-010-0-1#3
2Nebraska4-2-19-2-1#7
3Kansas4-2-17-4-1#18
4Missouri3-48-4#17
5Oklahoma State2-3-25-4-2
6Colorado2-55-6
7Kansas State2-55-6
8Iowa State2-54-7

Big Ten

10 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Michiganโ˜… conference champion7-0-110-0-1#6
2Ohio Stateโ˜… conference champion7-0-110-0-1#2
3Minnesota6-27-4
4Illinois4-45-6
5Michigan State4-45-6
6Purdue4-45-6
7Northwestern4-44-7
8Wisconsin3-54-7
9Indiana0-82-9
10Iowa0-80-11

Ivy

8 teams
#TeamConfAll
1Dartmouthโ˜… conference champion6-16-3
2Harvard5-27-2
3Pennsylvania5-26-3
4Yale5-26-3
5Brown4-34-3-1
6Cornell2-53-5-1
7Columbia1-61-7-1
8Princeton0-71-8

Mid-American

6 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Miami (OH)โ˜… conference champion5-011-0#15
2Kent State4-19-2
3Bowling Green2-37-3
4Ohio2-35-5
5Western Michigan1-46-5
6Toledo1-43-8

Missouri Valley

7 teams
#TeamConfAll
1Tulsaโ˜… conference champion5-16-5
2North Texasโ˜… conference champion5-15-5-1
3Louisville3-25-6
4New Mexico State3-25-6
5Wichita State2-44-7
6Drake1-52-9
7West Texas State1-52-9

Pacific Coast

5 teams
#TeamConfAll
1San Diego Stateโ˜… conference champion3-0-19-1-1
2San Jose State2-0-25-4-2
3Pacific2-1-17-2-1
4Fresno State1-32-9
5Long Beach State0-41-9-1

Pacific-8

8 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1USCโ˜… conference champion7-09-2-1#8
2UCLA6-19-2#12
3Stanford5-27-4
4Washington State4-35-6
5California2-54-7
6Oregon2-52-9
7Oregon State2-52-9
8Washington0-72-9

Southeastern

10 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Alabamaโ˜… conference champion8-011-1#4
2LSU5-19-3#13
3Mississippi4-36-5
4Tennessee3-38-4#19
5Georgia3-47-4-1
6Florida3-47-5
7Kentucky3-45-6
8Auburn2-56-6
9Mississippi State2-54-5-2
10Vanderbilt1-55-6

Southern

8 teams
#TeamConfAll
1East Carolinaโ˜… conference champion7-09-2
2Richmond5-18-2
3William & Mary3-26-5
4Furman3-37-4
5Appalachian State2-23-7-1
6VMI2-43-8
7Citadel1-63-8
8Davidson1-62-8

Southwest

8 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Texasโ˜… conference champion7-08-3#14
2Texas Tech6-111-1#11
3Rice4-35-6
4SMU3-3-16-4-1
5Arkansas3-3-15-5-1
6Texas A&M3-45-6
7TCU1-63-8
8Baylor0-72-9

Western Athletic

8 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Arizona Stateโ˜… conference champion6-111-1#9
2Arizonaโ˜… conference champion6-18-3
3Utah4-27-5
4BYU3-45-6
5New Mexico3-44-7
6Wyoming3-44-7
7Colorado State2-45-6
8UTEP0-70-11

Independent

36 teams
#TeamConfAllAP
1Notre Dame-11-0#1
2Penn State-12-0#5
3Houston-11-1#9
4Temple-9-1
5Tulane-9-3#20
6Memphis State-8-3
7Tampa-8-3
8Boston College-7-4
9South Carolina-7-4
10Utah State-7-4
11Air Force-6-4
12Southern Mississippi-6-4-1
13Northern Illinois-6-5
14Rutgers-6-5
15West Virginia-6-5
16Pittsburgh-6-5-1
17Colgate-5-5
18Dayton-5-5-1
19Lamar-5-5
20Xavier-5-5-1
21Georgia Tech-5-6
22Holy Cross-5-6
23Miami (FL)-5-6
24Texas-Arlington-4-6
25Cincinnati-4-7
26Idaho-4-7
27Marshall-4-7
28Navy-4-7
29UT-Chattanooga-4-7
30Southern Illinois-3-7-1
31Villanova-3-8
32Syracuse-2-9
33Virginia Tech-2-9
34Army-0-10
35Florida State-0-11
36SW Louisiana-0-10

1973 bowls

One line per game, latest first. A tag marks the playoff and the other major bowls.

1973 bowls11 bowls
Jan 1#12Nebraska19#8Texas3Cotton BowlMajor
Jan 1#6Penn State16#13LSU9Orange BowlMajor
Jan 1#4Ohio State42#7USC21Rose BowlMajor
Dec 31#3Notre Dame24#1Alabama23Sugar BowlMajor
Dec 29#14Houston47#17Tulane7Bluebonnet Bowl
Dec 29#11Texas Tech28#20Tennessee19Gator Bowl
Dec 29Missouri34Auburn17Sun Bowl
Dec 28Georgia17#18Maryland16Peach Bowl
Dec 22#15Miami (OH)16Florida7Citrus Bowl
Dec 21#10Arizona State28Pittsburgh7Fiesta Bowl
Dec 17#16North Carolina State31#19Kansas18Liberty Bowl

Where these numbers come from

Enough to disbelieve this page on purpose rather than by accident.

Champions, polls, standings, bowls, honours and games are read from the Citizen of Nowhere college football database, built from its own workbook one season at a time. Team colours and crests are the current programsโ€™, so a school is drawn the way it looks today even where it played under another name.

The AP poll begins in 1936, so earlier seasons have no poll race and no final poll, but they do have an Elo race, and their champions are those the selectors named. Before 1992 there was no title game, so those seasons list the major bowls instead; from 1992 the title game is shown with the other major bowls, and from 2014 the playoff bracket. Where the database has no entry for a section, the section is left out rather than shown empty.

Elo ratings, the upsets and the best games come from the siteโ€™s college football Elo, which rates every game since 1869 and counts games against lower-level opponents. Each seasonโ€™s ratings are shown on a scale where the average major team ends the season at 1500; z is the distance from that average in standard deviations.