The 1972 NCAA College Division football season was the 17th and final season of

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

in the United States organized by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

at the

NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...

level.

Conference realignment

Membership changes

Conference standings

Rankings

College Division teams (also referred to as "small college") were ranked in polls by the AP (a panel of writers) and by

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

(coaches). The national champion(s) for each season were determined by the final poll rankings, published at or near the end of the regular season, before any bowl games were played.

Small college polls

Both the UPI and AP panels ranked

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

(10–0) first, followed by

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

(11–0), and Cal Poly (8–0–1). Louisiana Tech later defeated in the

Grantland Rice Bowl The Grantland Rice Bowl was an annual college football bowl game held from 1964 through 1977. The game originated as an NCAA College Division regional final, then became a playoff game for Division II. It was named in honor of Grantland Rice, an ...

, while Cal Poly lost to

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

in the Camellia Bowl. Delaware declined an invitation to face UMass (7–2) in the

Boardwalk Bowl The Boardwalk Bowl was a postseason college football game held indoors at the former Atlantic City Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from 1961 to 1973. History From 1961 through 1967, the Boardwalk Bowl feature ...

, and did not play in the postseason. United Press International (coaches) final poll
Published on November 22 Associated Press (writers) final poll
Published on November 23 Tennessee State actually 9–1 when the poll was taken.

Bowl games

The postseason consisted of four

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

s as regional finals, all played on December 10.

Black college national championship

Grambling Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana, United States. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African A ...

defeated North Carolina Central in the inaugural Pelican Bowl to capture the

black college football national championship The Black college football national championship, also named the HBCU football championship, is a National championship#Football, national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best College football teams among ...

References

{{NCAA football season navbox