1972–73 NCAA football bowl games

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Series of post-season NCAA football games

Season

1972

Number of bowls

Bowl games

December 18, 1972 –
January 1, 1973

National Championship

1973 Rose Bowl

Location of Championship

Rose Bowl,
Pasadena, California

Champions

USC

Bowl record by conference
Conference	Bowls	Record	Final AP poll

The 1972–73 NCAA football bowl games were a series of post-season games played in December 1972 and January 1973 to end the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. A total of 11 team-competitive games were played. The post-season began with the Liberty Bowl on December 18, 1972, and concluded on January 1, 1973, with the Orange Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Game	Site	TV	Teams	Results
Dec. 18	Liberty Bowl	Memphis Memorial Stadium Memphis, Tennessee	ABC	Georgia Tech (6–4–1) Iowa State (5–5–1)	Georgia Tech 31 Iowa State 30
Dec. 23	Fiesta Bowl	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona	Mizlou	No. 15 Arizona State (9–2) Missouri (6–5)	Arizona State 49 Missouri 35
Dec. 29	Tangerine Bowl	Tangerine Bowl Orlando, Florida		Tampa (9–2) Kent State (6–4–1)	Tampa 21 Kent State 18
Dec. 29	Peach Bowl	Fulton County Stadium Atlanta, Georgia	Mizlou	NC State (7–3–1) No. 18 West Virginia (8–3)	NC State 49 West Virginia 13
Dec. 30	Sun Bowl	Sun Bowl El Paso, Texas	CBS	No. 16 North Carolina (10–1) Texas Tech (8–3)	North Carolina 32 Texas Tech 28
	Gator Bowl	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, Florida	ABC	No. 6 Auburn (9–1) No. 13 Colorado (8–3)	Auburn 24 Colorado 3
	Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl	Astrodome Houston, Texas	HTN	No. 11 Tennessee (9–2) No. 10 LSU (9–1–1)	Tennessee 24 LSU 17
Dec. 31	Sugar Bowl	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, Louisiana	ABC	No. 2 Oklahoma (10–1) No. 5 Penn State (10–1)	Oklahoma 14 Penn State 0
Jan. 1	Cotton Bowl Classic	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas	CBS	No. 7 Texas (9–1) No. 4 Alabama (10–1)	Texas 17 Alabama 13
	Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	NBC	No. 1 USC (11–0) No. 3 Ohio State (9–1)	USC 42 Ohio State 17
	Orange Bowl	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, Florida	NBC	No. 9 Nebraska (8–2–1) No. 12 Notre Dame (8–2)	Nebraska 40 Notre Dame 6

Rankings from AP Poll

References

"All-Time Bowl-Game Results And Attendance" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
"1972 College Football Bowl Games". Sports Reference. Retrieved May 1, 2024.

v t e 1972–73 NCAA football bowl game season
Liberty (Dec. 18) Fiesta (Dec. 23) Tangerine (Dec. 29) Peach (Dec. 29) Astro-Bluebonnet (Dec. 30) Gator (Dec. 30) Sun (Dec. 30) Sugar (Dec. 31) Cotton (Jan. 1) Orange (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1)

v t e NCAA football bowl seasons
1901–02 1902–14 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

NCAA football bowl seasons

1901–02
1902–14
1915–16
1916–17
1917–18
1918–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–40
1940–41
1941–42
1942–43
1943–44
1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25

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