League NCAA Dates 17 Sep 1927 – 3 Dec 1927 | Number of teams 22 | |
Duration September 17, 1927through December 3, 1927 Season champions Georgia TechTennesseeNC State | ||
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.
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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.
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, 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."
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.
Results and team statistics
Key
PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game
Regular season
SoCon teams in bold.
All-Americans
All-Southern team
The following includes the composite All-Southern team compiled by the Associated Press.