The 1972 Tulane Green Wave football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

during the

1972 NCAA University Division football season The 1972 NCAA University Division football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the 50 AP panelists. Eighth-ranked in the preseason, the Trojans were narrow ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. In their second year under head coach

Bennie Ellender Bennie Ellender Jr. (March 2, 1925 – December 22, 2011) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arkansas State University from 1963 to 1970 and at Tulane University from 1971 to 1975, compiling a career ...

, the team compiled a 6–5 record. In Tulane's loss at Miami, the Hurricanes were erroneously awarded a fifth down late in the fourth quarter, helping them drive to the winning touchdown. The

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

, which assigned the officials for the game, acknowledged the error, but it was too late to change the outcome. Nearly two months later, Tulane came up achingly short in its quest to end a 24-year winless streak vs. archrival

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

in the season finale. Trailing 9–3 with seconds remaining, Green Wave halfback Bill Huber took a swing pass in the flat and appeared headed to a touchdown, but he was stopped at the 1-yard line by Tiger safety Frank Racine after time ran out.

Schedule

Roster

References

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

Tulane Green Wave football seasons

Tulane Green Wave football The Tulane Green Wave football team represents Tulane University in the sport of American football. The Green Wave compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the American A ...

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