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1972 Stanford

6–⁠5 (2–⁠5 Pac-8), coached by Jack Christiansen.

Schedule and results

Stanford in 1972, game by game: won vs. San José State 44–0; won at Duke 10–6; won vs. No. 20 West Virginia 41–35; lost vs. No. 1 USC 21–30; won vs. No. 12 Washington 24–0; lost at Oregon 13–15; won vs. Oregon State 17–11; lost at No. 8 UCLA 23–28; lost at Washington State 13–27; lost at California 21–24; won at Hawai’i 39–7+44−14Won 44–0 vs. San José State+44San José StateWon 10–6 at Duke+4DukeWon 41–35 vs. No. 20 West Virginia+6No. 20 West VirginiaLost 21–30 vs. No. 1 USC-9No. 1 USCWon 24–0 vs. No. 12 Washington+24No. 12 WashingtonLost 13–15 at Oregon-2OregonWon 17–11 vs. Oregon State+6Oregon StateLost 23–28 at No. 8 UCLA-5No. 8 UCLALost 13–27 at Washington State-14Washington StateLost 21–24 at California-3CaliforniaWon 39–7 at Hawai’i+32Hawai’i
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16vsSan José StateW 44–⁠080%
Sep 23atDukeW 10–⁠666%
Sep 30vs20West VirginiaW 41–⁠3566%
Oct 7vs1USCL 21–⁠3056%
Oct 14vs12WashingtonW 24–⁠061%
Oct 21atOregonL 13–⁠1575%
Oct 28vsOregon StateW 17–⁠1185%
Nov 4at8UCLAL 23–⁠2847%
Nov 11atWashington StateL 13–⁠2766%
Nov 18atCaliforniaL 21–⁠2469%
Dec 2atHawai’iW 39–⁠768%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Hawai’i 39–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Pac-8.

In program history: The 30th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 109 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 20
  2. Wk 3: 19
  3. Wk 4: 19
  4. Wk 5: 15
  5. Wk 6: 17
  6. Wk 7: 13
  7. Wk 10: 20
Record
6–⁠5
Conference
2–⁠5 tied for 6th in Pac-8
AP final
Unranked peak No. 13
Points
266–⁠183
Coach
Jack Christiansen
Elo
1606 −32 this season
SP+ rating
12.8 No. 27 of 121; offense No. 32, defense No. 30
SRS
12.7 No. 26 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Robert A. Jones
Defensive coordinator
Norb Hecker

Drafted in 1973

The 1973 draft
Rd 4Jim Merlo LBNew Orleans Saints
Rd 7Mike Askea OTDenver Broncos

All-Pac-8

5 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Younger KlippertOGUPI-1
  • Roger StillwellDLUPI-1
  • Jim MerloLBAP-1; UPI-1
  • Randy PoltlDBAP-1; UPI-1
  • Rod GarciaKAP-1

Second team

  • Eric CrossWRUPI-2
  • Charles McCloudDBUPI-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 Pac-8 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
USC7–⁠012–⁠01
UCLA5–⁠28–⁠315
Washington4–⁠38–⁠3
Washington State4–⁠37–⁠419
California3–⁠43–⁠8
Stanford2–⁠56–⁠5
Oregon2–⁠54–⁠7
Oregon State1–⁠62–⁠9

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