The 1973 Lehigh Engineers 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 wi ...

team that represented

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

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 ...

during the

1973 NCAA Division II football season The 1973 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level. The season began in September and concluded with the Division II Champi ...

. Lehigh lost in the quarterfinal round of the national playoffs, and won the Lambert Cup. In their ninth year under head coach

Fred Dunlap Frederick C. "Sure Shot" Dunlap (May 21, 1859 – December 1, 1902) was a second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball from 1880 to 1891. He was the highest paid player in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1889. He has also been rated ...

, the Engineers compiled a 7–4–1 record (7–3–1 in the regular season).

Kim McQuilken Kim Edgar McQuilken (born February 26, 1951) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, McQuilken played college football at ...

and Roger McFillin were the team captains. McQuilken completed 62.5% of his passes for 2,603 yards and 19 touchdowns and was selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

as the first-team quarterback on the

1973 Little All-America college football team The 1973 Little All-America college football team, also known as the Small College All-America football team, is composed of college football players from small colleges and universities who were selected by the Associated Press (AP) as the best p ...

. Although they did not appear at any point in the small college rankings, the Engineers earned a share of the Lambert Cup, awarded to the best team from a mid-sized college in the East. Lehigh shared the honor with

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, which had started the year ranked No. 1 and ended at No. 10. Both Delaware and Lehigh also qualified for the first-ever NCAA Division II national playoff. Lehigh lost a road game to No. 2

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. Lehigh played its home games at

Taylor Stadium Ralph and Debbie Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field (also Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field) is a baseball stadium at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. It is the home field of the Missouri Tigers baseball. It was also the home of ...

on the university campus in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

Schedule

References

{{Lehigh Mountain Hawks football navbox Lehigh Lehigh Mountain Hawks football seasons Lehigh Engineers football