The proud Texas football program was struggling–at least by the standards of a national power since the regular season ended in 1977. Texas concluded that year, the first season for head coach Fred Akers, undefeated and ranked #1 in the country. They were promptly blown out by Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl and over […]
1981 Nebraska football was looking to get some separation from Oklahoma. Tom Osborne became the head coach in 1973 at a time when the program had two recent national championships (1970-71). Osborne continued to win at a high level, but not only were national titles not forthcoming, he couldn’t get past Barry Switzer’s Sooners in […]
The 1981 Georgia football team was the defending national champions and had one of the country’s great running backs in sophomore Herschel Walker. The SEC Player of the Year, Walker rolled up nearly 1900 yards (the second-best back in the SEC finished with 622 yards), carried the ball 385 times (the second-best in the SEC […]
The Pitt Panthers were coming off a 1980 season where they finished #2 in the country and had the pieces in place to take the final step in ’81. The program was in the midst of real glory days, going back to its national championship run of 1976. The 1981 Pitt football team continued the […]
Penn State had gone 18-6 in the two years since 1978, when they came up a yard short of the national title in a Sugar Bowl clash with Alabama. Averaging three losses per year was high for PSU in this era, but they had finished in the Top 10 in 1980. The 1981 Penn State […]
Alabama was coming off national championship seasons in both 1978 and 1979, as the coaching career of the legendary Bear Bryant neared its end. The 1980 Alabama football team didn’t make it a three-peat, but they made a run at it and their ultimate Cotton Bowl victory would be Bryant’s last victory in a major […]
Bobby Bowden put his up-and-coming program on the map in 1979 with a run to the Orange Bowl. The 1980 Florida State football team was ready to demonstrate it was no fluke. They had All-American nose tackle Ron Simmons back to anchor the defense, along with fellow All-American Bobby Butler in the secondary. READ GREAT […]
Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma Sooners were the clear frontrunner in the old Big Eight Conference and a consistent contender for the national championship. They had won or shared the conference title each of the last four years and finished atop the polls nationally in 1974 and 1975. After a shaky start, the 1980 Oklahoma football team […]
Michigan football coach Bo Schembecler had reached the Rose Bowl five times in his first eleven years at the helm of the Wolverine program and gone home with a loss on occasion. It was the 1980 Michigan football team that would get Bo that elusive win in the Grandaddy of Them All. READ GREAT 1980s […]
1980 Georgia football was the latest edition for a program that had been consistent and competitive, not unlike today. But they hadn’t won a major bowl game since 1966, nor appeared in one since their SEC title in 1976. The Bulldogs were coming off a 6-5 year in 1979, one that ended without a bowl […]
The 1980 Pitt football team fit the profile of the kind of team the program put out in the years from 1975-83. It was the best stretch of Panther football since the days of Jock Sutherland in the late 1930s. It included a national championship in 1976 and it included a long line of notable […]
Florida State’s floundering football program had been taken over in 1976 by a guy named Bobby Bowden, and he immediately got the Seminoles respectable at 5-6. The next two years saw FSU win a combined 18 regular season games. Bowden’s program was coming and 1979 Florida State football produced the breakthrough year. READ GREAT 1980s […]