1927 Southern Conference football season

1927 Southern Conference football season
LeagueNCAA
SportCollege football
DurationSeptember 17, 1927
through December 3, 1927
Number of teams22
Regular Season
Season championsGeorgia Tech
Tennessee
NC State
Football seasons
← 1926
1928 →
1927 Southern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Georgia Tech + 7 0 1 8 1 1
Tennessee + 5 0 1 8 0 1
NC State + 4 0 0 9 1 0
Vanderbilt 5 0 2 8 1 2
No. 8 Georgia 6 1 0 9 1 0
Florida 5 2 0 7 3 0
Ole Miss 3 2 0 5 3 1
Virginia 4 4 0 5 4 0
Clemson 2 2 0 5 3 1
Alabama 3 4 1 5 4 1
LSU 2 3 1 4 4 1
Mississippi A&M 2 3 0 5 3 0
Washington and Lee 2 3 0 4 4 1
VPI 2 3 0 5 4 0
Maryland 3 5 0 4 7 0
South Carolina 2 4 0 4 5 0
VMI 2 4 0 6 4 0
Tulane 2 5 1 2 5 1
North Carolina 2 5 0 4 6 0
Sewanee 1 4 0 2 6 0
Kentucky 1 5 0 3 6 1
Auburn 0 6 1 0 7 2
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from Dickinson System

The 1927 Southern Conference football season was the college football games played by the member schools of the Southern Conference as part of the 1927 college football season. The season began on September 17. Games were permitted after Thanksgiving for the first time in the conference.

Georgia's "dream and wonder team" was deemed the national champion by some selectors (the Boand System and Poling System), even though it was upset 12–0 in the rain at the end of the season by would-be SoCon champion Georgia Tech. Prior to the game, Georgia was ranked #1 by the authoritative Dickinson System.[1]

Coach Robert Neyland's Tennessee and Jack McDowall-led North Carolina State also posted undefeated conference records and had claims to conference titles.

Vanderbilt back Jimmy Armistead led the nation in scoring with 138 points,[2] in no small part due to quarterback Bill Spears. One fellow wrote Vanderbilt produced "almost certainly the legit top Heisman candidate in Spears, if there had been a Heisman Trophy to award in 1927."[3]

After Florida had an unexpected loss to Davidson, captain Frank Oosterhoudt was declared ineligible, and replaced at captain by Bill Middlekauff. With Middlekauff at captain, Florida suffered its only further losses to powers Georgia and NC State.

Ole Miss won the first Egg Bowl with a trophy in 1927, led by players Ap Applewhite, Sollie Cohen and V. K. Smith. Clemson hired Josh Cody.

  1. ^ "Football National Championships". UGA Sports Communications. August 2, 2006. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  2. ^ Ernie Couch (July 30, 2001). SEC Football Trivia. ISBN 9781418571788.
  3. ^ Mark Purcell (November 1988). "Spears and Vandy excitement in 1927" (PDF). College Football Historical Society. 2 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 11, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2015.