Bob Devaney is a legend at the University of Nebraska, both as the head football coach and later as the athletic director. But for the first eight years of a coaching tenure that started in 1962, he was simply a good, but not legendary figure, making four major bowl games in that stretch. It was […]
Oklahoma was seeking their first national championship since 1956, when they were still under the direction of the great Bud Wilkinson. Chuck Fairbanks became the head coach in 1967, promptly won an Orange Bowl and finished #3 in the nation. But a 20-12-1 record over the next three years cooled the momentum. The 1971 Oklahoma […]
After going to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75, Woody Hayes’ program had slipped behind Bo Schembechler and Michigan in 1976. The Buckeyes continued the pattern in ‘77. They were good, but they lost all of their biggest games—including the only one that matters to fans in Columbus and Ann Arbor. The 1977 Ohio State […]
Bo Schembechler’s 1977 Michigan football team had high expectations. After a breakthrough year in 1976, where they ended a four-year absence from the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines were ranked #2 in the country. Michigan came close to meeting expectations—they returned to Pasadena and stayed in the national title race. But another Rose Bowl loss left […]
Washington wasn’t on anyone’s radar when the 1977 season began. The Huskies had not reached the Rose Bowl since 1963 and James had gone 11-11 his first two years in Seattle. The way the 1977 Washington Huskies started the season wouldn’t have given anyone an indication that things had changed. But by the time the […]
Bear Bryant’s Tide were looking to get back on top of the SEC when 1977 opened. Over the five seasons from 1971-75, they won the conference championship every year and finished in the national top 10 each time. In 1976, ‘Bama slipped behind Georgia, failed to make a major bowl game, and ended up #11 […]
Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma Sooners were a program that was at least as good—if not better—than anyone in college football. Switzer inherited a team that was already operating at an elite level in 1973 and promptly went 10-1. He followed that up with back-to-back national titles in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, a couple of losses […]
Texas faced uncharacteristically low expectations when the 1977 season began. Legendary head coach Darrell Royal had retired, and the program was coming off a .500 season. They had not reached a major bowl game since 1973 and were clearly losing ground to archrival Oklahoma, who had won a pair of recent national titles. Fred Akers […]
The 1977 Arkansas football season was the start of a new era in Razorback history. Frank Broyles retired after 19 program-defining seasons and moved upstairs to be the full-time athletic director and part-time ABC analyst, alongside Keith Jackson. Broyles’ replacement was Lou Holtz, a winner at N.C. State, and just off a less-than-successful fling with […]
The 1976 UCLA football team was embarking on a new era. In 1975, after winning the Rose Bowl and finishing in the national top 5, head coach Dick Vermeil left for the NFL. The Bruins tapped Terry Donahue to take over. It began a 20-year tenure for Donahue in Westwood. In his first year, he […]
After finishing #3 in the country in 1971, Colorado had slipped back to mediocrity by the time head coach Bill Mallory came to Boulder in 1974. After another mediocre year, Mallory got the Buffaloes to 9-2 and a Bluebonnet Bowl invitation in 1975. The 1976 Colorado football team took advantage of a wide-open Big Eight […]
Woody Hayes had taken Ohio State to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75. The 1976 Ohio State football team was still loaded and ranked #4 to start the season. They were certainly good, as evidenced by the fact they won a major bowl game. But some notable losses, including the one loss no Buckeye fan […]