The 1972 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 78th overall season and 39th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Bear Bryant, in his 15th year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with ten wins and two losses (10–2 overall, 7–1 in the SEC), as SEC champions and with a loss to Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Alabama opened the season with a non-conference victory over Duke. They then shut out Kentucky in their conference opener, and then easily won their next three games, over Vanderbilt, Georgia and Florida. In a top-ten match-up against rival Tennessee, they scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns en route to a 17–10 victory. Next, the Crimson Tide defeated Southern Miss and Mississippi State to set up a top-ten match-up against LSU.
With a 35–21 victory over the Tigers, Alabama captured the SEC championship for the 1972 season. The Crimson Tide next defeated Virginia Tech on homecoming and set up another top ten match-up Iron Bowl to close the regular season. Auburn defeated Alabama behind a pair of fourth-quarter blocked-punt returns in a game referred to as simply "Punt Bama Punt". The Crimson Tide then closed their season with a second-consecutive defeat, this time against Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Schedule
Rankings
Game summaries
Duke
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Alabama opened the 1972 season ranked as the No. 7 team in the preseason AP Poll as they entered their game against Duke. At Legion Field, the Crimson Tide scored 21 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 35–12 victory over the Blue Devils to open the 1971 season. Alabama opened the game with a 14–0 lead after they scored on their first two possessions, on a pair of touchdown runs of eight-yards by Paul Spivey and one-yard by Joe LaBue. However, Duke was able to make the halftime score 14–12 after they scored on a pair of Robert Albright touchdown passes. The first was from 11-yards to Mark Landon and the second to Mike Bomgardner from eight-yards out.
After Terry Davis extended the Crimson Tide lead to 21–12 with his two-yard run in the third, Alabama closed the game with a pair of touchdown runs in the fourth quarter. The first was scored by Steve Bisceglia on a 39-yard run and the second by Wilbur Jackson on a 12-yard run. In the game, Alabama outgained the Blue Devils in rushing yards 333 to 156. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Duke to 1–1.
Kentucky
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Coming off their bye week, the Crimson Tide retained their No. 7 team in the AP Poll prior to their game against Kentucky. In what was the first meeting against the Wildcats since their victory in 1947, Alabama won 35–0 at Birmingham. The Crimson Tide took a 14–0 lead in the first quarter after Terry Davis threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Wheeler and then scored himself on a three-yard run. Still up only 14–0 as the teams entered the second half, Alabama extended their lead to 21–0 on a three-yard Steve Bisceglia touchdown run.
The Crimson Tide then closed the game with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. The first came on a nine-yard Bisceglia run and the second on a 48-yard Gary Rutledge pass to Ralph Stokes that made the final score 35–0. In their previous meeting, Kentucky was led by head coach Bear Bryant, who since that time had moved on and was Alabama's head coach for this game. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Kentucky 25–1–1.
Vanderbilt
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After their victory over Kentucky, Alabama moved into the No. 6 position in the AP Poll prior to their game against Vanderbilt. Behind a 28-point second quarter, the Crimson Tide defeated the Commodores 48–21 in the first Denny Stadium game of the season. After Alabama took a 6–0 lead on a four-yard Wilbur Jackson touchdown run, Vanderbilt responded and took a 7–6 lead on a one-yard Walter Overton later in the first quarter. The Crimson Tide responded with four touchdowns in the second quarter and took a 34–7 halftime lead. The points were scored on runs of three and 16-yards by Ellis Beck, one-yard by Terry Davis and one-yard by Steve Dean.