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1972 Wisconsin

4–⁠7 (2–⁠6 Big Ten), coached by John Jardine.

UW Band forms an elephant at halftime of the Northwestern game
UW Band forms an elephant at halftime of the Northwestern gamePhoto: University of Wisconsin Madison Archives from Madison, Wisconsin, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Schedule and results

Wisconsin in 1972, game by game: won vs. Northern Illinois 31–7; won vs. Syracuse 31–7; lost at No. 9 LSU 7–27; won vs. Northwestern 21–14; lost at Indiana 7–33; lost at Michigan State 0–31; lost vs. No. 4 Ohio State 20–28; won vs. Iowa 16–14; lost at Purdue 6–27; lost at Illinois 7–27; lost vs. Minnesota 6–14+24−31Won 31–7 vs. Northern Illinois+24Northern Illino…Won 31–7 vs. Syracuse+24SyracuseLost 7–27 at No. 9 LSU-20No. 9 LSUWon 21–14 vs. Northwestern+7NorthwesternLost 7–33 at Indiana-26IndianaLost 0–31 at Michigan State-31Michigan StateLost 20–28 vs. No. 4 Ohio State-8No. 4 Ohio StateWon 16–14 vs. Iowa+2IowaLost 6–27 at Purdue-21PurdueLost 7–27 at Illinois-20IllinoisLost 6–14 vs. Minnesota-8Minnesota
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16vsNorthern IllinoisW 31–⁠759%
Sep 23vsSyracuseW 31–⁠757%
Sep 30at9LSUL 7–⁠2721%
Oct 7vsNorthwesternW 21–⁠1453%
Oct 14atIndianaL 7–⁠3351%
Oct 21atMichigan StateL 0–⁠3139%
Oct 28vs4Ohio StateL 20–⁠2829%
Nov 4vsIowaW 16–⁠1468%
Nov 11atPurdueL 6–⁠2734%
Nov 18atIllinoisL 7–⁠2739%
Nov 25vsMinnesotaL 6–⁠1455%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Minnesota 14–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; 9th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 125th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

Record
4–⁠7
Conference
2–⁠6 9th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
152–⁠229
Coach
John Jardine
Elo
1372 −72 this season
SP+ rating
-11.6 No. 101 of 121; offense No. 112, defense No. 73
SRS
−3.8 No. 77 of 127 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Larry Van Dusen
Defensive coordinator
Lew Stueck
Captains
Dave Lokanc and Keith Nosbusch
Most valuable player
Rufus Ferguson
Defense
4–⁠3

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Rufus FergusonBAP-1; UPI-2
  • Dave LokancLBAP-1; UPI-2

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.