CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1972 Northwestern

2–⁠9 (1–⁠8 Big Ten), coached by Alex Agase.

Schedule and results

Northwestern in 1972, game by game: lost at No. 11 Michigan 0–7; lost vs. No. 13 Notre Dame 0–37; won at Pittsburgh 27–22; lost at Wisconsin 14–21; lost vs. Iowa 12–23; lost at Purdue 0–37; won vs. Indiana 23–14; lost vs. Illinois 13–43; lost at Minnesota 29–35; lost vs. No. 9 Ohio State 14–27; lost at Michigan State 14–24+9−37Lost 0–7 at No. 11 Michigan-7No. 11 MichiganLost 0–37 vs. No. 13 Notre Dame-37No. 13 Notre DameWon 27–22 at Pittsburgh+5PittsburghLost 14–21 at Wisconsin-7WisconsinLost 12–23 vs. Iowa-11IowaLost 0–37 at Purdue-37PurdueWon 23–14 vs. Indiana+9IndianaLost 13–43 vs. Illinois-30IllinoisLost 29–35 at Minnesota-6MinnesotaLost 14–27 vs. No. 9 Ohio State-13No. 9 Ohio StateLost 14–24 at Michigan State-10Michigan State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16at11MichiganL 0–⁠728%
Sep 23vs13Notre DameL 0–⁠3746%
Sep 30atPittsburghW 27–⁠2261%
Oct 7atWisconsinL 14–⁠2147%
Oct 14vsIowaL 12–⁠2377%
Oct 21atPurdueL 0–⁠3739%
Oct 28vsIndianaW 23–⁠1454%
Nov 4vsIllinoisL 13–⁠4370%
Nov 11atMinnesotaL 29–⁠3546%
Nov 18vs9Ohio StateL 14–⁠2723%
Nov 25atMichigan StateL 14–⁠2422%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Michigan State 24–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 10th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 101st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 133 on file).

Record
2–⁠9
Conference
1–⁠8 10th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
146–⁠290
Coach
Alex Agase
Elo
1364 −189 this season
SP+ rating
-13.0 No. 103 of 121; offense No. 99, defense No. 93
SRS
−6.0 No. 84 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Jim Anderson, Dave Dybas, Dave Glantz and Jim Lash

Drafted in 1973

The 1973 draft
Rd 3Jim Lash WRMinnesota Vikings

All-Big Ten

3 first team, 2 second team

First team

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 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan7–⁠110–⁠16
Ohio State7–⁠19–⁠29
Purdue6–⁠26–⁠5
Michigan State5–⁠2–⁠15–⁠5–⁠1
Minnesota4–⁠44–⁠7
Indiana3–⁠55–⁠6
Illinois3–⁠53–⁠8
Iowa2–⁠6–⁠13–⁠7–⁠1
Wisconsin2–⁠64–⁠7
Northwestern1–⁠82–⁠9

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