| 1973 NCAA Division II football season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | September – November 1973 | |||
| Playoffs | December 1–15 | |||
| National championship | Camellia Bowl Hughes Stadium Sacramento, California | |||
| Champion | Louisiana Tech | |||
| ||||
The1973 NCAA Division II football season, part ofcollege football in the United States organized by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association at theDivision II level. The season began in September and concluded with theDivision II Championship on December 15 atHughes Stadium inSacramento, California. This was the first season for Division II (andDivision III) football, which were formerly in the College Division in1972 and prior.
Louisiana Tech won their first Division II championship, defeatingWestern Kentucky 34–0 in theCamellia Bowl championship game.[1][2]
| Conference | Champion |
|---|---|
| Big Sky Conference | Boise State |
| California Collegiate Athletic Association | Cal Poly |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Virginia Union |
| Eastern Football Conference | Central Connecticut State |
| Far Western Football Conference | UC Davis andCal State Chico |
| Gulf South Conference | Troy State |
| Indiana Collegiate Conference | Butler |
| Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference | North Carolina Central |
| Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Southeast Missouri State |
| North Central Conference | North Dakota State andSouth Dakota |
| Ohio Valley Conference | Western Kentucky |
| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Bethune-Cookman |
| Southland Conference | Louisiana Tech |
| Southwestern Athletic Conference | Grambling andJackson State |
| Yankee Conference | Connecticut |
| 1973 NCAA DivisionII Football Championship | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 8 |
| Finals Site | |
| Champion |
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| Runner-up |
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| Semifinalists | |
| Winning coach |
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The1973 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the firstsingle-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men'sNCAA Division II college football. The inaugural edition had only eight teams; of the four quarterfinal games, three were played on campus and a fourth was inAtlantic City, New Jersey,[4] the final edition of theBoardwalk Bowl. The semifinals were held at theGrantland Rice Bowl inBaton Rouge, Louisiana,[5] and thePioneer Bowl inWichita Falls, Texas.[6][7]
The championship game was theCamellia Bowl, held atHughes Stadium inSacramento, California. TheLouisiana Tech Bulldogs defeated theWestern Kentucky Hilltoppers 34–0 to win their first national title.[2][8]
| First round Atlantic City, NJ & 3 campus sites December 1 | Semifinals Grantland Rice Bowl Pioneer Bowl December 8 | Championship Camellia Bowl Hughes Stadium Sacramento, CA December 15 | ||||||||||||
| Grambling | 17 | |||||||||||||
| Delaware | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Grambling | 20 | |||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 28 | |||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky * | 25 | |||||||||||||
| Lehigh | 16 | |||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Louisiana Tech | 34 | |||||||||||||
| Louisiana Tech * | 18 | |||||||||||||
| Western Illinois | 13 | |||||||||||||
| Louisiana Tech | 38 | |||||||||||||
| Boise State | 34 | |||||||||||||
| Boise State * | 53 | |||||||||||||
| South Dakota | 10 | |||||||||||||
*Denotes host institution
United Press International (UPI) and theAssociated Press (AP) continued to rank teams in their College Division or "small college" polls, which had started in 1958 and 1960, respectively. In 1973, UPI published their final poll at the end of the regular season, while the AP waited until postseason games had been completed. Bothwire services named theTennessee State Tigers as the number one team; Tennessee State did not compete in the playoffs "because five of its starters would not be eligible to play."[9] The players in question had sat out their freshmen year ("redshirt") and then played four seasons;[9] under NCAA rules at the time, such players were not eligible for postseason play as fifth-year seniors. During the regular season, the Tigers were undefeated (10–0) and had outscored their opponents 333–87.
United Press International (coaches) final poll
| Associated Press (writers) final poll
^N1 Record includes NAIA Division I playoff games |