CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1972 Auburn

10–⁠1 (6–⁠1 Southeastern Conference), coached by Ralph Jordan, finished No. 5 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Auburn in 1972, game by game: won at Mississippi State 14–3; won vs. Chattanooga 14–7; won vs. No. 4 Tennessee 10–6; won at No. 18 Ole Miss 19–13; lost at No. 8 LSU 7–35; won vs. Georgia Tech 24–14; won vs. No. 17 Florida State 27–14; won at Florida 26–20; won vs. Georgia 27–10; won vs. No. 2 Alabama 17–16; won vs. No. 13 Colorado 24–3+21−28Won 14–3 at Mississippi State+11Mississippi Sta…Won 14–7 vs. Chattanooga+7ChattanoogaWon 10–6 vs. No. 4 Tennessee+4No. 4 TennesseeWon 19–13 at No. 18 Ole Miss+6No. 18 Ole MissLost 7–35 at No. 8 LSU-28No. 8 LSUWon 24–14 vs. Georgia Tech+10Georgia TechWon 27–14 vs. No. 17 Florida State+13No. 17 Florida StateWon 26–20 at Florida+6FloridaWon 27–10 vs. Georgia+17GeorgiaWon 17–16 vs. No. 2 Alabama+1No. 2 AlabamaWon 24–3 vs. No. 13 Colorado+21No. 13 Colorado
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9atMississippi StateW 14–⁠372%
Sep 23vsChattanoogaW 14–⁠797%
Sep 30vs4TennesseeW 10–⁠647%
Oct 7at18Ole MissW 19–⁠1344%
Oct 14at8LSUL 7–⁠3541%
Oct 21vsGeorgia TechW 24–⁠1469%
Oct 28vs17Florida StateW 27–⁠1466%
Nov 4atFloridaW 26–⁠2056%
Nov 18vsGeorgiaW 27–⁠1069%
Dec 2vs2AlabamaW 17–⁠1637%
Dec 30Bowls & playoffvs13ColoradoGator BowlW 24–⁠354%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Colorado 24–⁠3 in the Gator Bowl; No. 5 in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 6th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 17
  2. Wk 6: 9
  3. Wk 7: 14
  4. Wk 8: 12
  5. Wk 9: 11
  6. Wk 10: 11
  7. Wk 11: 11
  8. Wk 12: 10
  9. Wk 13: 9
  10. Wk 14: 6
  11. Final: 5
Record
10–⁠1
Conference
6–⁠1 2nd in Southeastern Conference
AP final
No. 5 peak No. 5
Points
209–⁠141
Coach
Ralph Jordan
Elo
1756 +128 this season
SP+ rating
22.7 No. 7 of 121; offense No. 34, defense No. 5
SRS
19.5 No. 9 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

All-SEC

5 first team, 3 second team

First team

  • Mac LorendoOTAP-1; UPI
  • Terry HanleyRBAP-1; UPI
  • Danny SanspreeDEAP-1; UPI
  • Benny SivleyDTAP-2; UPI
  • Dave BeckDBAP-1; UPI

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1972 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1972 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Alabama7–⁠110–⁠27
Auburn6–⁠110–⁠15
LSU4–⁠1–⁠19–⁠2–⁠111
Tennessee4–⁠210–⁠28
Georgia4–⁠37–⁠4
Florida3–⁠3–⁠15–⁠5–⁠1
Ole Miss2–⁠55–⁠5
Kentucky2–⁠53–⁠8
Mississippi State1–⁠64–⁠7
Vanderbilt0–⁠63–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.