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1972 SMU

7–⁠4 (4–⁠3 Southwest Conference), coached by Hayden Fry.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1972, game by game: won vs. Wake Forest 56–10; won at Florida 21–14; lost at Virginia Tech 10–13; won vs. New Mexico State 55–6; won vs. Rice 29–14; lost vs. Texas Tech 3–17; lost at No. 9 Texas 9–17; lost vs. Texas A&M 17–27; won at Arkansas 22–7; won vs. Baylor 12–7; won at TCU 35–22+49−14Won 56–10 vs. Wake Forest+46Wake ForestWon 21–14 at Florida+7FloridaLost 10–13 at Virginia Tech-3Virginia TechWon 55–6 vs. New Mexico State+49New Mexico StateWon 29–14 vs. Rice+15RiceLost 3–17 vs. Texas Tech-14Texas TechLost 9–17 at No. 9 Texas-8No. 9 TexasLost 17–27 vs. Texas A&M-10Texas A&MWon 22–7 at Arkansas+15ArkansasWon 12–7 vs. Baylor+5BaylorWon 35–22 at TCU+13TCU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16vsWake ForestW 56–⁠1050%
Sep 23atFloridaW 21–⁠1440%
Sep 30atVirginia TechL 10–⁠1354%
Oct 7vsNew Mexico StateW 55–⁠677%
Oct 21vsRiceW 29–⁠1464%
Oct 28vsTexas TechL 3–⁠1751%
Nov 4at9TexasL 9–⁠1721%
Nov 11vsTexas A&ML 17–⁠2768%
Nov 18atArkansasW 22–⁠730%
Nov 25vsBaylorW 12–⁠769%
Dec 2atTCUW 35–⁠2247%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat TCU 35–⁠22; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 2nd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 43rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 8: 18

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.

Consensus All-AmericanRobert Popelka, DB

Record
7–⁠4
Conference
4–⁠3 tied for 2nd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 18
Points
269–⁠154
Coach
Hayden Fry
Elo
1545 +94 this season
SP+ rating
12.2 No. 31 of 121; offense No. 41, defense No. 24
SRS
13.9 No. 22 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

All-Southwest Conference

4 first team, 4 second team

First team

  • Alvin MaxsonRBAP-2; UPI-1
  • Kenny HarrisonSplit endsAP-2; UPI-1
  • Louis KelcherDTAP-1; UPI-1
  • Robert PopelkaDBAP-1; UPI-1

Second team

  • Wayne MorrisRBAP-2; UPI-2
  • Don DeweberOTAP-2; UPI-2
  • Ed JohnsonDEAP-2
  • Leonard CareyLBAP-2; UPI-2

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

1972 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas7–⁠010–⁠13
Texas Tech4–⁠38–⁠4
SMU4–⁠37–⁠4
Arkansas3–⁠46–⁠5
Rice3–⁠45–⁠5–⁠1
Baylor3–⁠45–⁠6
TCU2–⁠55–⁠6
Texas A&M2–⁠53–⁠8

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