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1973 College Football National Championship

Alas, I've only written one full-length National Championship article in the last 6 years. Just been too busy! I would still like to write full articles about each season like I have for 1901-1969, but for now, what I am going to do instead is write partial articles that do nothing more than explain my reasoning for my Mythical National Championship selections. Full profiles of the teams and their seasons will have to wait until I have time to write those up.

Here is how all of the organizations listed in the NCAA Records Book see the 1973 mythical national championship (omitting selections made by a single magazine or by math/computer ratings, which are not generally accepted as MNCs):

11-0 Notre Dame: AP Poll, Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation, Helms, National Championship Foundation (tie)
10-0-1 Ohio State: National Championship Foundation (tie)
10-0-1 Michigan: National Championship Foundation (tie)
11-1 Alabama: UPI Poll (coaches)
10-0-1 Oklahoma: CFB Researchers

Ohio State and Michigan tied each other, and as I indicated in my article for fixing the 1973 AP poll, I think that both teams ought to share the 1973 MNC with Notre Dame (details below). And as you can see, the National Championship Foundation did split their MNC of 1973 amongst all 3 of these teams, an excellent decision on their part. 11-1 Alabama, on the other hand, lost the Sugar Bowl to Notre Dame, so they are not a candidate for the 1973 MNC at all (the UPI poll, which had them #1, was the last holdout organization that ended before the bowls). 10-0-1 Oklahoma, selected as MNC of 1973 by the College Football Researchers Association, took an upset tie at #7 USC, a team that Notre Dame and Ohio State each defeated by more than a touchdown, but the Sooners did play a much tougher schedule than the other contenders played, so I will be taking a look at their case below.

11-0 Miami (Ohio) was a mid-major team that played a schedule too far removed from big time college football for them to contend for any kind of MNC. I have them ranked #15 for 1973.

12-0 Penn State, however, did play a decent schedule, and though no organization listed above selected them as an MNC, I will go ahead and take a look at their case. In fact, let's start by comparing PSU to Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan (all rankings come from my 1973 fixed AP poll):

Notre Dame 11-0

Northwestern (4-7) 44-0
at Purdue (5-6) 20-7
Michigan State (5-6) 14-10
at Rice (5-6)                28-0
at Army (0-10)     62-3
#7 USC (9-2-1)    23-14
Navy (4-7) 44-7
at Pittsburgh (6-5-1)   31-10
Air Force (6-4)    48-15
at Miami-Florida (5-6) 44-0

Sugar Bowl
#3 Alabama (11-1)   24-23

Ohio State 10-0-1

Minnesota (7-4)    56-7
TCU (3-8)    37-3
Wash State (5-6)            27-3
at Wisconsin (4-7)    24-0
at Indiana (2-9)    37-7
Northwestern (4-7)    60-0
at Illinois (5-6)                  30-0
Michigan State (5-6)       35-0
Iowa (0-11)                      55-13
at #4 Michigan (10-0-1) 10-10

Rose Bowl
#7 USC (9-2-1) 42-21

Michigan 10-0-1

at Iowa (0-11)                31-7
Stanford (7-4) 47-10
Navy (4-7)    14-0
Oregon (2-9)    24-0
at Michigan State (5-6) 31-0
Wisconsin (4-7)             35-6
at Minnesota (7-4)         34-7
Indiana (2-9)    49-13
Illinois (5-6)                     21-6
at Purdue (5-6)               34-9
#2 Ohio State (10-0-1) 10-10

Penn State 12-0

at Stanford (7-4)    20-6
at Navy (4-7)    39-0
Iowa (0-11) 27-8
at Air Force (6-4)         19-9
Army (0-10)    54-3
at Syracuse (2-9) 49-6
West Virginia (6-5)     62-14
at #21 Maryland (8-4) 42-22
#16 NC State (9-3)     35-29
Ohio (5-5)                     49-10
Pittsburgh (6-5-1)    35-13

Orange Bowl
#14 LSU (9-3)    16-9

Before addressing Penn State, I'll first explain why I think that Ohio State and Michigan should share the 1973 MNC with Notre Dame. As you can see above, Notre Dame had one poor performance, a 14-10 win over 5-6 Michigan State. Neither Ohio State nor Michigan posted any poor performances, and in fact OSU beat Michigan State 35-0 and Michigan beat them 31-0, vastly better in each case than the Irish performed against the Spartans. Furthermore, Notre Dame beat #7 Southern Cal by 9 points at home, whereas Ohio State beat the Trojans by 21 in Pasadena. Ohio State and Michigan may have played very weak schedules, but so did Notre Dame (2 rated opponents). So it would be perfectly valid to rate Ohio State and Michigan higher than Notre Dame! I should note, however, that since Ohio State was the team that stomped on Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl, and Michigan accomplished nothing but tying Ohio State (and at home), Ohio State should either be rated higher than Michigan, or the two should be rated together in a tie. Michigan should not be rated higher than Ohio State.

Rating Notre Dame higher than Ohio State and Michigan is also valid, due to Dame's huge Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. Alabama came into that game having won all of their games by more than a touchdown, and that included 5 wins over teams ranked in my fixed and expanded AP poll top 25, a far tougher schedule than that faced by Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan (combined!). Beating the Tide therefore amounted to a greater accomplishment on Notre Dame's part than any other team produced this season.

Again, all 3 teams should be considered co-champions for 1973. But as far as rating teams into a top 25, I think that these are your valid choices for #1: Notre Dame alone, all 3 teams tied, Ohio State alone, or Ohio State and Michigan tied. My preference would be for Ohio State at #1.

Penn State

Penn State's big problem, as you can see in the table above, is that they did not defeat a top 10 team, and so they didn't really do anything to merit an MNC. Notre Dame defeated a juggernaut in #3 Alabama, Ohio State smashed #7 Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl, and Michigan tied Ohio State. PSU's "big" win was a 7 point victory over #14 Louisiana State in the Orange Bowl, which is more the performance of a #5-10 type team. Penn State 1973 barely qualifies as a "contender," and I'd only call them that much because they did go unbeaten, and their schedule was decent overall.

1973 Oklahoma 10-0-1

at Baylor (2-9)	42-14
at Southern Cal (9-2-1)	7-7	#7
Miami-Florida (5-6)	24-20
(Dallas) Texas (8-3)	52-13	#10
Colorado (5-6)	34-7
at Kansas State (5-6)	56-14
Iowa State (4-7)	34-17
at Missouri (8-4)	31-3	#18
Kansas (7-4-1)	48-20	#17
Nebraska (9-2-1)	27-0	#8
at Oklahoma State (5-4-2)	45-18

After struggling in their 2nd and 3rd games, Oklahoma went on a rampage, stomping on 8 straight opponents, half of them ranked, and that included wins by 39 and 27 points over top 10 teams. This is why the College Football Researchers Association tabbed them the MNC of 1973, and the CFRA may well be right that Oklahoma was the best team in 1973. However, the best team doesn't always win, and Oklahoma 1973 definitely didn't always win. Best team or not (we'll never really know if they were), Oklahoma is not an option for #1 or a share of the 1973 MNC because of their tie at USC, a team Notre Dame and Ohio State each defeated by more than a touchdown. And while Oklahoma definitely played a tougher schedule than did Notre Dame, Ohio State, or Michigan, Southern Cal was the best team they played, so their schedule was not tough enough, in my opinion, to make up for that crucial tie.

In fact, I would not even call Oklahoma 1973 a "contender."

As for whether or not they were the best team, 3 math-based systems listed in the NCAA Records Book did rank the Sooners #1 for 1973. Ohio State was the only other team that had as many as 3 math-based systems put them at #1.

Don't cry for the Sooners though: they would go on to win an MNC in each of the following 2 seasons.

National Champions
1973 Fixed AP Poll
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