Today, Lee Corso is nationally recognized for his work as an ESPN college football analyst. He’s right behind colleague Kirk Herbstreit as the face of college football. When he coached the 1979 Indiana football team, Corso was just a witty—if mostly unknown head coach—trying to get a program over the hump. READ ABOUT THE LOU […]
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 […]
Barry Switzer had the Sooner Schooner running at full blast during the 1970s and the final year of the decade wasn’t much different. Oklahoma was a regular on the New Year’s Day stage and had won consecutive national titles as recently as 1974-75. The 1979 Oklahoma football team came into the season with the reigning […]
The 1979 Nebraska football team flirted with greatness and settled for being really good. For better or for worse, the ’79 Cornhuskers fit the program profile during this era. READ GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS Nebraska had been a consistent winner since Tom Osborne took over for the legendary Bob Devaney in 1973, but the […]
It was a new era for 1979 Ohio State football. The Buckeyes had a relatively disappointing season in 1978 and it was followed by a disastrous ending in the Gator Bowl when legendary head coach Woody Hayes punched an opposing player and was fired. Earle Bruce was the new coach and had healing to do […]
The 1979 USC football program entered the season on a high. They had reached the Rose Bowl twice in the previous three years under fourth-year head coach John Robinson and won both times. In 1978, they were voted a share of the national championship, splitting the title with Alabama. Those same two teams, the Trojans […]
Alabama had split the national title with USC in 1978. The Crimson Tide were ranked #2 to start the new season, so they would open needing at least a little bit of help—it was their old nemesis out west in USC that was ranked #1. The bowl structure of the time meant that the SEC […]
At first it looked like another year to argue over Alabama and USC, the way 1978 ended. Then it looked like a second straight year with co-national champions when Ohio State got in the mix. But in the end, the 1979 college football season proved to be about celebrating Alabama, as the Tide rolled to a second straight national championship, this one outright.
Today, Lee Corso is nationally recognized for his work as an ESPN college football analyst. You could even argue he’s the face of the sport. At the 1979 Holiday Bowl he was just the mostly unknown, but witty head coach of Indiana looking to get a bowl victory over an undefeated BYU team. The Hoosiers […]
The 1979 Gator Bowl was one of the better matchups on the bowl undercard of that season. It featured Michigan and North Carolina, with the Wolverines looking to atone for a disappointing season and the Tar Heels looking to send a statement that they had arrived. Here’s a look back on how each team navigated […]
The 1980 Sugar Bowl saw a national title settled in New Orleans for the second year in a row and once again the team doing the claiming was Alabama. After a winning a co-national championship the prior year, the Crimson Tide won it all again. The team standing in their way was Arkansas, coached by Lou Holtz. Let’s look back on the paths Alabama and Arkansas took through the 1979 college football season to reach New Year’s Day 1980 in the Bayou.
The 1980 Rose Bowl was one of the great battles in the modern era for the “Grandaddy” of all college bowl games. Following the 1979 regular season, Ohio State was undefeated and in position to play for a national title. USC had only one tie on their resume and came into the game with outside hopes of their own. The Trojans and Buckeyes then proceeded to give the country an outstanding football game. Here’s a look back on the path each team took to reach Pasadena.