The 1973 Northwestern Red Raiders 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 Northwestern College of

Orange City, Iowa Orange City is a city in, and the county seat of, Sioux County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 6,267 in the 2020 census, an increase from 5,582 in 2000. Named after William of Orange, the community maintains its Dutch settler tradition ...

, as a member of the Tri-State Conference during the

1973 NAIA Division II football season The 1973 NAIA Division II football season was the 18th season of college football sponsored by the NAIA and the fourth season of play of the NAIA's lower division for football. The season was played from August to November 1973 and culminated i ...

. Led by

Larry Korver Lawrence "Bubb" Korver is a retired American football coach. He served as the head coach at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa from 1967 to 1994, compiling a record of 212–77–6. Korver led Northwestern to two NAIA Division II Football ...

in his seventh season as head coach, the team compiled a perfect record of 12–0, winning the Tri-State Conference title with a 5–0 mark and the

NAIA Division II Football National Championship The NAIA Division II Football National Championship was a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA Division II college football teams in the United States. It was played annually between 1970 and 1996 when NAIA football play was divided ...

with a 10–3 victory in the championship game. Korver was selected as the 1973 NAIA Football Coach of the Year based on a vote of the NAIA Football Coaches' Association. Defensive tackle Tom Rieck was selected as a first-team player on the All-NAIA All-Star team. Eight Northwestern players received first-team honors on the 1973 all-Tri-State Conference football team: Rieck; quarterback Curt Krull; halfback Mitch Bengard; receivers Dave Hector and Gary Vetter; offensive lineman Jay DeZeeuw; linebacker Doug Van Steenwyk; and defensive back Daryl Hoogeven.

Schedule

References

{{NAIA football national champion navbox Westmar Northwestern Red Raiders football seasons NAIA Football National Champions Tri-State Conference (1960–1981) football champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

Northwestern Red Raiders football The Northwestern Red Raiders football team represents Northwestern College in college football in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Red Raiders are members of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), fielding ...