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1972 North Carolina

11–⁠1 (6–⁠0 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Bill Dooley, finished No. 12 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

North Carolina in 1972, game by game: won vs. Richmond 28–18; won at Maryland 31–26; won vs. NC State 34–33; lost at No. 5 Ohio State 14–29; won vs. Kentucky 31–20; won at Wake Forest 21–0; won at Clemson 26–10; won vs. Virginia 23–3; won vs. Duke 14–0; won vs. East Carolina 42–19; won at Florida 28–24; won vs. Texas Tech 32–28+23−15Won 28–18 vs. Richmond+10RichmondWon 31–26 at Maryland+5MarylandWon 34–33 vs. NC State+1NC StateLost 14–29 at No. 5 Ohio State-15No. 5 Ohio StateWon 31–20 vs. Kentucky+11KentuckyWon 21–0 at Wake Forest+21Wake ForestWon 26–10 at Clemson+16ClemsonWon 23–3 vs. Virginia+20VirginiaWon 14–0 vs. Duke+14DukeWon 42–19 vs. East Carolina+23East CarolinaWon 28–24 at Florida+4FloridaWon 32–28 vs. Texas Tech+4Texas Tech
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9vsRichmondW 28–⁠1876%
Sep 16atMarylandW 31–⁠2671%
Sep 23vsNC StateW 34–⁠3377%
Sep 30at5Ohio StateL 14–⁠2944%
Oct 14vsKentuckyW 31–⁠2076%
Oct 21atWake ForestW 21–⁠070%
Nov 4atClemsonW 26–⁠1063%
Nov 11vsVirginiaW 23–⁠387%
Nov 18vsDukeW 14–⁠075%
Nov 25vsEast CarolinaW 42–⁠1977%
Dec 9atFloridaW 28–⁠2452%
Dec 30Bowls & playoffvsTexas TechSun BowlW 32–⁠2868%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Texas Tech 32–⁠28 in the Sun Bowl; No. 12 in the final AP poll; Atlantic Coast Conference champions.

In program history: The 10th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 127 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 10: 18
  2. Wk 11: 16
  3. Wk 12: 15
  4. Wk 13: 14
  5. Wk 14: 16
  6. Final: 12

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 1972.

Atlantic Coast Conference champions6–⁠0 in the conference

Consensus All-AmericanRon Rusnak, OG

Record
11–⁠1
Conference
6–⁠0 first in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
No. 12 peak No. 12
Points
324–⁠210
Coach
Bill Dooley
Elo
1686 +105 this season
SP+ rating
16.1 No. 17 of 121; offense No. 17, defense No. 38
SRS
12.4 No. 28 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Bobby Collins
Captains
Gene Brown and Ron Rusnak

All-ACC

7 first team

First team

  • Jerry SainOTUPI
  • Ron RusnakOGUPI
  • Gene BrownDEUPI
  • Eric HymanDTUPI
  • Mike MansfieldLBUPI
  • Jimmy DeRattLBUPI
  • Lou AngeloDBUPI

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

1972 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
North Carolina6–⁠011–⁠112
NC State4–⁠1–⁠18–⁠3–⁠117
Maryland3–⁠2–⁠15–⁠5–⁠1
Duke3–⁠35–⁠6
Clemson2–⁠44–⁠7
Virginia1–⁠54–⁠7
Wake Forest1–⁠52–⁠9

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