1972 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

The 1972 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the North Carolina Tar Heels of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season.[2] The team won its second consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship, going 6–0 in conference play, and played in the 1972 Sun Bowl, defeating Texas Tech by a score of 32–28. The Tar Heels ended the year ranked 12th in the AP Poll with an 11–1 record—the lone loss coming at Ohio State in their fourth game.[3] This was the first of only four seasons where North Carolina was able to win 11 games.

1972 North Carolina Tar Heels football
ACC champion
Sun Bowl, W 32–28 vs. Texas Tech
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 12
1972 record	11–1 (6–0 ACC)
Head coach	Bill Dooley (6th season)
Offensive coordinator	Bobby Collins (6th season)

1972 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 12 North Carolina $	6	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 17 NC State	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
Maryland	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Duke	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Clemson	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Virginia	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wake Forest	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 9	Richmond*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 28–18
September 16	Maryland		Byrd Stadium College Park, MD		W 31–26
September 23	NC State		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)		W 34–33
September 30	at No. 5 Ohio State*		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		L 14–29	86,180
October 14	Kentucky*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 31–20
October 21	at Wake Forest		Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (rivalry)		W 21–0	27,000
November 4	at Clemson		Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC		W 26–10	41,000
November 11	Virginia	No. 18	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (South's Oldest Rivalry)		W 23–3
November 18	Duke	No. 16	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (Victory Bell)		W 14–0
November 25	East Carolina*	No. 15	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 42–19
December 9	vs. Florida*	No. 16	Gator Bowl Jacksonville, FL		W 28–24
December 30	vs. Texas Tech*	No. 16	Sun Bowl El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	W 32–28	27,877
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1972 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR Earle Bethea RB Ike Oglesby QB Nick Vidnovic Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Gene Brown	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Ellis Alexander	Head coach Bill Dooley Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season summary

Ohio State

North Carolina Tar Heels at Ohio State Buckeyes

	1	2	3	4	Total
North Carolina	7	0	0	7	14
Ohio St	3	6	14	6	29

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Date: September 30, 1972
• Game time: 1:30 p.m.
• Game weather: Cloudy, 49 °F (9 °C)
• Game attendance: 86,180
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter UNC – Gene Brown recovered blocked punt in end zone (Ellis Alexander kick), 9:37. North Carolina 7–0. OSU – Blair Conway 22-yard field goal, 0:06. North Carolina 7–3. Drive: 73 yards. Second quarter OSU – Greg Hare 17-yard run (kick failed), 11:50. Ohio St 9–7. Drive: 47 yards. Third quarter OSU – Randal Keith 11-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 8:41. Ohio St 16–7. Drive: 87 yards. OSU – Champ Henson 9-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 2:00. Ohio St 23–7. Drive: 84 yards. Fourth quarter OSU – Archie Griffin 9-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 4:13. Ohio St 30–7. Drive: 31 yards. UNC – Earle Bethea 37-yard pass from Nick Vidnovic (Ellis Alexander), 0:00. Ohio St 30–14. Drive: 1 play, 37 yards, 0:05. Top passers UNC – Nick Vidnovic – 4/14, 65 yards, TD, 2 INT OSU – Greg Hare – 5/12, 96 yards, INT Top rushers UNC – Ike Oglesby – 14 rushes, 67 yards OSU – Archie Griffin – 27 rushes, 239 yards, TD Top receivers UNC – Earle Bethea – 1 reception, 37 yards, TD OSU – Richard Galbos – 3 receptions, 72 yards

References

1. "1972 Atlantic Coast Conference Year Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
2. "1972 North Carolina Tar Heels". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
3. "1972 Final AP Football Poll".