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1976 Mississippi State

9–⁠2 (4–⁠2 Southeastern Conference), coached by Bob Tyler, finished No. 20 in the AP poll. Officially 0–⁠11. Mississippi State forfeited nine games. The season’s Wikipedia article records 9–⁠2, the results on the field.

From the season’s Wikipedia article: “However, in May 1978, the NCAA ruled Mississippi State to forfeit all nine victories due to having played an ineligible player.”

Schedule and results

Mississippi State in 1976, game by game: won vs. North Texas 7–0; won vs. Louisville 30–21; lost at Florida 30–34; won vs. Cal Poly-Pomona 38–0; won vs. Kentucky 14–7; won at Memphis 42–33; won at Southern Miss 14–6; lost at No. 17 Alabama 17–34; won vs. Auburn 28–19; won vs. LSU 21–13; won vs. Ole Miss 28–11+38−17Won 7–0 vs. North Texas+7North TexasWon 30–21 vs. Louisville+9LouisvilleLost 30–34 at Florida-4FloridaWon 38–0 vs. Cal Poly-Pomona+38Cal Poly-PomonaWon 14–7 vs. Kentucky+7KentuckyWon 42–33 at Memphis+9MemphisWon 14–6 at Southern Miss+8Southern MissLost 17–34 at No. 17 Alabama-17No. 17 AlabamaWon 28–19 vs. Auburn+9AuburnWon 21–13 vs. LSU+8LSUWon 28–11 vs. Ole Miss+17Ole Miss
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 4vsNorth TexasW 7–⁠0forfeited65%
Sep 18vsLouisvilleW 30–⁠21forfeited84%
Sep 25atFloridaL 30–⁠3436%
Oct 2vsCal Poly-PomonaW 38–⁠0forfeited89%
Oct 9vsKentuckyW 14–⁠7forfeited62%
Oct 16atMemphisW 42–⁠33forfeited44%
Oct 23atSouthern MissW 14–⁠6forfeited67%
Oct 30at17AlabamaL 17–⁠3429%
Nov 6vsAuburnW 28–⁠19forfeited69%
Nov 13vsLSUW 21–⁠13forfeited66%
Nov 20vsOle MissW 28–⁠11forfeited65%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Ole Miss 28–⁠11; No. 20 in the final AP poll; tied for 3rd in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 8th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 7: 20
  2. Wk 8: 18
  3. Wk 12: 19
  4. Wk 13: 20
  5. Final: 20

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1976.

Record
9–⁠2
Conference
4–⁠2 tied for 3rd in Southeastern Conference
AP final
No. 20 peak No. 18
Points
269–⁠178
Coach
Bob Tyler
Elo
1645 +103 this season
SP+ rating
19.1 No. 19 of 132; offense No. 22, defense No. 24
SRS
12.0 No. 24 of 137 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1977

The 1977 draft
Rd 4Stan Black DBSan Francisco 49ers

All-SEC

4 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Richard KeysCAP-1; UPI-1
  • Harvey HullMGAP-1; UPI-1
  • Ray CostictLBAP-1; UPI-1
  • Stan BlackDBAP-1; UPI-1

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1976 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1976 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Georgia5–⁠110–⁠210
Alabama5–⁠29–⁠311
Mississippi State4–⁠29–⁠220
Kentucky4–⁠28–⁠418
Florida4–⁠28–⁠4
Ole Miss3–⁠45–⁠6
LSU2–⁠46–⁠4–⁠1
Tennessee2–⁠46–⁠5
Auburn2–⁠43–⁠8
Vanderbilt0–⁠62–⁠9

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