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1976 college football

1976 UCLA Football: The Donahue Era Begins

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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 contended for the national championship deep into the regular season before a hard ending left a bit of sour taste in Bruin mouths.

UCLA had the fourth-best scoring offense in the country and it was fueled almost entirely by a potent running game. Quarterback Jeff Dankworth didn’t pass a lot and was particularly effective when he did. But he ran for 755 yards. The running back tandem of Theotis Brown and Wendell Tyler each cleared the 900-yard threshold. All of them averaged better than five yards a pop, running behind a line anchored by center Mitch Kahn.

The defense was anchored by sophomore linebacker Jerry Robinson, and the future NFL starter was an All-American. Oscar Edwards was reliable in the secondary. UCLA’s D ranked a respectable 16th in the nation for points allowed.

The Bruins were ranked #17 to start the country and they had a high-profile opener. Arizona State was ranked #3, coming off an undefeated 1975 where they finished #2 in the final polls. The game in Tempe was nationally televised on a Thursday night, something that was rare in this era of TV sports.

And what a statement UCLA made. Dankworth ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Brown rushed for 127 yards and two scores of his own. As a team, the Bruins nearly reached the 500-yard mark for rush yardage. They won 28-0. In retrospect, we know that this Arizona State team would collapse and only finish 4-7. But in the moment, UCLA went skyrocketing to #5 in the rankings.

Arizona was next, and the Bruins dispensed with the mediocre Wildcats 37-9 in the home opener. A home game against shaky Air Force produced a 40-7 rout. That set up a trip to Ohio State to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule (Arizona State and Arizona didn’t join the Pac-8 until 1978).

The Buckeyes were ranked #8. They had an impressive win at Penn State, and an aggravating home loss to Missouri. UCLA played Ohio State to a 10-10 tie on the road and held at #5 in the polls with Pac-8 play beginning.

Stanford had a respectable team in 1976, but when the Cardinal came to Westwood, they left with a 38-20 loss. UCLA then hosted Washington State, who had future NFL quarterback Jack Thompson. The Bruins crushed a bad Cougars team 62-3. A 35-19 win over Cal, and their big-play receiver Wesley Walker, moved UCLA to #3 in the rankings.

The Bruins went to Washington, who had a mediocre team this year, but was just one year away from winning the Rose Bowl behind an up-and-coming quarterback named Warren Moon. UCLA won 30-21.

As November arrived, UCLA was in good position for the national title. Michigan was ranked #1, but the Bruins could play the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl if both teams got there. Pitt was sitting at #2, but if UCLA had a bowl win over the top-ranked team, vaulting past the Panthers was well within the realm of possibility.

On November 6, Michigan was upset at Purdue and Pitt moved to the top of the polls. UCLA, who hammered a subpar Oregon squad 46-zip, was sitting at #2. But they could no longer get the cache of beating the #1 team in a bowl game to get past Pitt.

In the meantime, UCLA went north to Corvallis and crushed Oregon State 45-14. It set up the big showdown with USC. The Trojans were ranked #3. It was winner-take-all for the conference title, Rose Bowl bid, and possible shot at a national championship.

It was at this point that the Bruins’ one-dimensional offense came home to roost. USC completely shut them down for 3 ½ quarters. By the time UCLA launched any kind of scoring threat, they trailed 24-0 and the party had begun on the Trojan sidelines. The 24-14 loss was deceptively close.

Bowl controversy was next. There were only four major bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange) and only three spots available for non-conference champs. Pitt, as an independent, was obviously one of them. The Panthers went to the Sugar Bowl, where they would beat Georgia for the national title. Maryland, also undefeated, got the Cotton Bowl spot. That left the Orange Bowl with a decision to make.

Would the Orange take UCLA or Ohio State? The Bruins had a better overall record (9-1-1, to 8-2-1). The head-to-head tie had taken place in Columbus, so you can reasonably argue that it was more impressive for the Bruins. UCLA, even after the USC loss, was ranked #7, while Ohio State was #11.

But these are all football considerations. What the Orange Bowl saw was that Buckeye fans would travel better than Bruins fans. And, from a television perspective, having a team from the Rustbelt balance off Big Eight tri-champ Colorado was seen as preferable to two teams from the west. We know what matters most when it comes to bowl selection, so Ohio State got the bid.

Having said that…UCLA didn’t exactly acquit themselves well in the bowl opportunity they did get. With Bear Bryant’s Alabama having a bit off an off-year, the Liberty Bowl was able to pair up the Bruins and the Crimson Tide. It was the juiciest matchup on the undercard. And UCLA again did nothing offensively, losing 36-6. They fell to #17 in the final polls.

It would take a few years to ultimately get over the hump that was USC. It was 1982 when Donahue made his first Rose Bowl. But that started an impressive postseason run. UCLA won that Rose Bowl in ’82. They went back to Pasadena in 1983 and won again. They got a Fiesta Bowl bid in 1984 and won. And in 1985, they won the Rose Bowl for the third time in four years. The Donahue era was marked by bowl victories. It was an era that started in 1976.  

1976 Colorado Football: A Surprise Orange Bowl Trip

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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 Conference to make it all the way to the Orange Bowl.

Colorado’s best player was All-American, defensive back Mike Davis. The offense relied on 1,200-yard rusher Tony Reed, with Jim Kelleher adding 615 yards of his own. The passing game had issues—Jeff Knapple only completed 44 percent of his passes and got just 6.6 yards per attempt. But they had tight end Emery Moorhead to bail them out. A future pro and eventual starter on the great 1985 Chicago Bears team, Moorhead’s 18 catches (a normal number in this run-oriented era) produced over 20 yards a pop.

Even with the nice season in 1975, Colorado was still unranked to open this ’76 campaign. It started in Lubbock, against what would be a good Texas Tech team, and the result was a 24-7 loss. Anyone that might have had expectations, quickly had reason to temper them.

Washington, Miami, and Drake were non-conference opponents that ranged from mediocre to bad, and the Buffaloes bounced back over the next three weeks. They went to Seattle and beat the Huskies 21-7. The home opener with the Hurricanes was a 33-3 triumph. And the 45-24 victory over the Bulldogs had Colorado 3-1 going into Big Eight play.

The old Big Eight was defined by Nebraska and Oklahoma throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Even in Colorado’s terrific ’71 season, it was the Cornhuskers and Sooners who finished 1-2 in the final polls. In 1976, Oklahoma was the two-time defending national champs. Both teams had early ties on their records so far in 1976. But there was no reason to expect anything else than these two programs continuing to dominate the race for what was then an automatic Orange Bowl ticket.

Thus, when the Buffs opened league play with a 24-12 home loss to Nebraska, it wasn’t a great surprise or a huge letdown. If anything, they had played competitive football. And little did anyone know, this year’s Big Eight was about to open up.

Colorado bounced back with a 20-10 win at Oklahoma State, and then a 33-14 rout of a ranked Iowa State team gained the Buffaloes enough credibility to be placed in the national top 20. Moreover, Oklahoma lost to Oklahoma State, while Nebraska was beaten by Missouri. The race for the Orange Bowl was getting chaotic.

The state was set for October 30, with Oklahoma coming to town. The Buffaloes won a 42-31 shootout. They were up to 3-1 in league play, tied with Nebraska and Oklahoma State. OU and Iowa State were giving chase at 2-2. There were three games left to play.

Missouri was having a strange year—they upset both USC and Ohio State on the road in non-conference play. They beat a good North Carolina team. And they had won on the road at Nebraska. But the Tigers managed to lose the games they were supposed to win and would finish 6-5.

Unfortunately for Colorado, that meant Missouri would play up to their competition and a trip to Columbia ended with a 16-7 loss. The Buffs bounced back by blowing out Kansas 40-17. Coming into the final week, there was a four-way tie at the top.

Colorado, Oklahoma State, OU, and Nebraska were all 4-2 in conference games. The Buffaloes needed to win at Kansas State and get some help.

They upheld their end of the bargain in Manhattan, although it was shakier than Mallory might have liked—Colorado outlasted a terrible team 35-28. They had at least a share of the league championship. Oklahoma State grabbed their share by beating Iowa State.

Now it was time for six days of waiting. Nebraska and Oklahoma would play on Black Friday. The winner would claim their own share of the conference championship, but as far as the Orange Bowl was concerned, the Buffs needed OU to win, so the tiebreakers would fall their way.  

When the Sooners went into Lincoln and pulled out a 20-17 win on a touchdown in the final minute, the celebration could begin in Boulder. Colorado was going to the Orange Bowl.

At 8-3, they were #12 in the polls and facing Ohio State. For the early part of the game, the Buffs looked like they might continue this magical ride a little longer. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead and forced four Buckeye turnovers on the night. But Ohio State’s running game was too punishing, and the absence of Colorado middle guard Carlie Johnson, lost to a sprained ankle, was exposed. The Buckeyes took the game over and won 27-10.

The surprise Orange Bowl run of 1976 did not prove to be part of a new trend. Mallory coached here for two more seasons before Colorado launched what proved to be an ill-fated move to get Chuck Fairbanks, coach of the New England Patriots and former Oklahoma boss. It wasn’t until the latter part of the 1980s, under Bill McCartney, that the Colorado program returned to the Orange Bowl. They won the Big Eight in 1989, and then won a share of the national title in 1990.

1976 Ohio State Football: The Beginning Of The End For Woody Hayes

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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 will tolerate, set the stage for a marginal decline over the remainder of Hayes’ legendary tenure in Columbus.

The Buckeyes had All-Americans on each side of the ball in offensive tackle Chris Ward and defensive end Bob Brudzinski, and they controlled the tempo of games with a powerful ground attack. Jeff Logan ran for over 1,200 yards to lead the team and powerful fullback Pete Johnson ground out over 700 more. The two quarterbacks, Jim Pacenta and Rod Gerald only threw a combined 94 passes all season long.

Ohio State opened the season by blasting Michigan State 49-21, and some upheaval among other top teams quickly moved the Buckeyes to #2. The next game was a trip to Penn State, the first one Ohio State would ever make to Happy Valley.

The Buckeyes played opportunistic football against the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions. They forced a pair of turnovers in the red zone, built a 12-0 lead and then hung on after Penn State rallied. Ohio State forced one more turnover with 1:41 left and secured a 12-7 win.

But a letdown did the Buckeyes in back home in Columbus. They faced a Missouri team that was decent, but on their way to a 6-5 season, the Tigers should not have been able to compete with Ohio State. Instead, Hayes’ team suffered a 22-21 loss and skidded back to #8 in the polls. The schedule didn’t get easier with a visit from fourth-ranked UCLA. The Buckeyes settled for a 10-10 tie.

The national championship was gone, with a loss and a tie, and Ohio State took it out on their next six Big Ten opponents. The conference only had one other winning team beyond OSU and Michigan, and that team—Minnesota—was only 6-5.

Ohio State won 34-14 at Iowa, and then knocked off Wisconsin in Camp Randall, 30-20. The Buckeyes came back home and played some tough defense in a 24-3 win over Purdue. A road trip to play Lee Corso’s Indiana team resulted in a 47-7 blowout. The Buckeyes crushed Illinois 42-10.

They were #8 in the polls and the big part of the season was at hand. The road trip to Minnesota was the appetizer that would set up Michigan’s visit.

The Buckeyes and Gophers traded field goals and it was tied 3-3 in the second quarter. Ohio State then marched 73 yards for a touchdown. After the missed extra point, it was 9-3 going into the locker room.

Even though the Buckeye offense never even mounted a serious drive again, the defense took over. Minnesota capitalized on a bad punt to reach the Ohio State 11-yard line in the third quarter, but that ended with a missed field goal. A Gopher quarterback named Tony Dungy was kept on the run most of the afternoon by Buckeye pressure and the 9-3 score held. It wasn’t an inspiring win by any means, but it kept Ohio State unbeaten in league play. It clinched at least a share of the conference title, since Michigan had lost to Purdue. And it set up the Buckeyes to play for a Rose Bowl bid.

Another bitter home loss awaited. The game was scoreless in the first half when Gerald threw an interception in the end zone just prior to halftime. That was the last time Ohio State seriously threatened to win the game, as Michigan took over the second half and won 22-0. The Buckeyes dropped to #11 but got a chance at redemption when the Orange Bowl came calling.

The Buckeyes would be playing a team for whom the ticket to South Beach was anything but a consolation prize. Colorado shared the Big Eight title and was an upstart in this game. And the Buffaloes opened the scoring with a 26-yard field goal. Then they converted a 4th-and-2 from the Buckeye 11-yard line into a touchdown pass that gave them a surprise 10-0 lead.

Ohio State’s passing attack was inept Gerald completely only two passes on the night. The Buckeyes lost the turnover battle 4-2. But their powerful running game alone was enough to turn the momentum. A 36-yard touchdown run up the middle by Logan cut into the lead and a field goal tied it up. Before the half was over, Ohio State drove 99 yards for a 17-10 lead.

The defense was settled in, the Colorado offense was going nowhere, and Ohio State kept adding to the lead. A short field goal made it a two-score margin, and a final tack-on touchdown finished it off at 27-10.

Any season that ends at #6 in the polls and a major bowl victory has to be considered a good one. But the culture of Ohio State and Michigan is different, and that difference was even more dramatic in the 1970s than it is today. They measured themselves by each other. The Buckeyes lost to the Wolverines again in 1977 and were then hammered in the Sugar Bowl. They lost to Michigan in 1978 and settled for the Gator Bowl. In that Gator Bowl, Hayes’ career came to an infamous end over his confrontation with an opposing player on the sidelines.

The 1976 Ohio State football season is marked as the last major bowl victory in Hayes’ illustrious career. But it’s also marked as the beginning of the end for Woody.

1976 Maryland Football: A Major Bowl Season

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Jerry Claiborne came to College Park in 1972, inheriting a program that hadn’t posted a winning season in ten years and gone 9-33 over the previous five seasons. Claiborne made immediate improvement, going 5-5-1. In 1973, the Terps went to a bowl game. In 1974 and 1975, they won consecutive ACC championships. The 1976 Maryland football team went one step further—a third straight conference crown, an undefeated regular season and the program’s first major bowl bid since 1955

The ’76 Terrapins were anchored by a defense that ranked second in the nation in points allowed. Joe Campbell was an All-American defensive tackle and would be a top 10 pick in the NFL draft.

Offensively, Maryland was strong in the trenches, with Ed Fulton, Tom Shick and Dave Conrad leading a solid line that cleared the way for a balanced running game. Alvin Maddox, Steve Wilson, and Tim Wilson each rushed for over 600 yards. Quarterback Mark Manges ran for 448 yards himself.

Manges also completed 59 percent of his passes, a high percentage in this era of college football and generated over eight yards per attempt. The Terps didn’t throw a lot, but they could do it well enough to move the ball.

Maryland opened up the season with a tune-up 31-7 win over Richmond. A road trip to mediocre West Virginia produced a 24-3 win. The defense was a little leaky on the road against a bad Syracuse team, but the offense delivered more than enough points. The final was 42-28. The run through a series of Eastern independents concluded with a 20-9 win over a respectable Villanova team that was still playing Division I football. At 4-0, the Terps were up to #7 in the national polls.

ACC play began with a road date against N.C. State. Maryland beat a bad team 16-6. There was enough fluidity at the top of college football this season, that this was still enough to move them to #5 in the rankings.

There were only seven teams in the ACC at this time, and everyone played just five conference games. The team that would cycle off the Maryland schedule this year was North Carolina. As it turned out, the Tar Heels were the only other conference team that would have a good team. And it made the events of October 16 decisive in the league race.

Maryland was a hefty 17-point home favorite over Wake Forest. The Terp offense was struggling, holding a 14-7 lead into the fourth quarter. A blocked punt set up a field goal, and Maryland ended up winning 17-15. North Carolina was not so fortunate—the Tar Heels lost at home to N.C. State. It would be UNC’s only league loss.

The Terrapins got the offense opened up at Duke in a 30-3 win. That set up a sequence of two big non-conference home games. Kentucky was on its way to a share of the SEC title. Cincinnati would end up with a strong eight-win season. The Wildcats and Bearcats were the biggest roadblocks in the way of Maryland’s undefeated campaign.

Kentucky got on the board with a first-quarter touchdown pass. Manges answered with a ten-yard touchdown run, but a missed extra point kept the Terps trailing 7-6. Dean Richards made the turning point play—a 49-yard punt return that set up the go-ahead touchdown. The Maryland running game began to take over. Maddox ran for 129 yards. Wilson added 81 and scored twice. The Terps won 24-14.

Cincinnati had a terrific defense themselves, one that would rank sixth in the nation for points allowed. But the Terp’s D was about to kick into high gear. They hung a 21-0 shutout on the Bearcats. Another whitewashing, 20-zip over Clemson secured at least a share of the conference championship. And the year ended with a third straight shutout—28-0 at Virginia. Maryland was the outright ACC champs, 11-0 and ranked #6.

There was no realistic path to the national championship. Pitt was also undefeated, the Panthers were ranked #1 and with wins over Notre Dame and Penn State, garnered more respect nationally than did Maryland. The lack of respect for the ACC generally also kept the Terps behind one-loss contenders—notably USC and Michigan, who would play each other in the Rose Bowl.

Even so, the Cotton Bowl came calling. Maryland would travel to Dallas to play Houston, the champions of the old Southwest Conference.

On an icy cold day in Dallas, Maryland just started too slowly. Houston drove for an early touchdown. A blocked punt and fumble set up two more Cougar TDs. The Terps were in a 21-0 hole before even settling in.

They still fought back. Manges ran for two touchdowns, threw for another, and closed the gap to 27-21 by the third quarter. The defense had Houston backed up deep in its own end, facing a third down. But a long pass completion broke the momentum, the Cougars drove for a field goal, and the 30-21 score held to the end.

Maryland still finished #8 in the final polls. To put this 1976 season in perspective, the Terps have only made one major bowl game—the Orange, following the 2001 season—in the years since. They have never finished in the final top 10. The spirit of ’76 is what has to carry the  football fans in College Park.

1976 Houston Football: Crashing The SWC Party

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The University of Houston’s football program had operated as an independent for much of its history. Prior to the 1976 season, the old Southwest Conference, led up by Texas and Arkansas, opened its doors and let Houston in. The Cougars were anything but timid new arrivals. The 1976 Houston football team not only won a share of the conference title and its coveted Cotton Bowl bid, but they ushered in a brief era where Houston ruled the roost in the old SWC.

There was nothing foreshadowing a special season. Bill Yeoman was in his 15th year on the sidelines, and after nine straight winning seasons, the Cougars had fallen to 2-8 in 1975. Their hopes for rebuilding would hinge on their defense and running game.

Houston’s defensive front was led by Wilson Whitley. The lineman went on to win the Lombardi Award in 1976 and was a top 10 draft pick in the NFL the following spring. The secondary had a pair of ballhawks. Anthony Francis intercepted ten passes and Mark Mohr added six more picks.

The running game was keyed by Alois Blackwell, who ran for 934 yards at better than six a pop. Dyral Thomas was a solid #2 option, rushing for over 500 yards.

Danny Davis was the quarterback and while his 47.8% completion rate was low, it wasn’t unthinkable in this era of college football. Davis did generate big plays, averaging 8.4 yards per attempt. And Davis contributed in the running game, adding over 400 rush yards. Houston would end up in the top nationally for both scoring offense and scoring defense.

An opening day road win over what would prove to be a pretty good Baylor team, 23-5, was promising, but the Cougars promptly lost 49-14 at Florida on September 18.

September 25 was what gave Houston fans real hope that this year would be different. They hosted ninth-ranked Texas A&M. The Aggies had a terrific running back in George Woodward, who would average 144 yards-per-game this season. Houston shut him down. They won that game 21-10, then blew out West Texas A&M two weeks later to move into the Top 20.

Houston thumped SMU, but then dropped a tough 14-7 decision at home to Broyles and Arkansas. The loss sent the Cougars back out of the polls. They began another climb and this time they didn’t stop.

Houston blasted winless TCU to move into the polls and then opened everyone’s eyes when they went into Austin and shut out Texas 30-0. It’s true that was not a vintage Longhorn team for Royals’ final year—they went 5-5-1—but beating Texas in any era is significant and certainly a road shutout in the mid-1970s.

It set up Houston’s biggest game, with unbeaten and fifth-ranked Texas Tech on November 20. The winner would hold the inside track to the Cotton Bowl.

Two second-quarter touchdowns put the Cougars in control, and they led 27-12 in the fourth quarter. Texas Tech made a last-gasp effort. The Red Raiders scored one touchdown to cut the lead to eight. Then they drove to the Houston 10-yard line late in the game.

There was no overtime in college football prior to 1996, but a tie would be as damaging to Houston as a loss. They trailed Texas Tech by a game in the standings. The Cougars needed the outright win and tiebreaker advantage that came with it.

Fittingly, a defensive back making a play was the difference. It wasn’t Francis or Mohr. This time it was Elvis Bradly coming up with the interception that preserved the 27-19 win.

.The victory moved Houston to #7 in the polls and they took care of three-win Rice a week later to sew up the Cotton Bowl spot. A non-conference home win over lowly Miami, 21-16, had the Cougars ranked #6 when New Year’s Day arrived.

A juicy opponent awaited—Maryland was undefeated and ranked #4 in the country. While the Terps were not under serious consideration for the national title, winning this game would still be a prestige win for Houston.

January 1 arrived with the kind of chill blast that’s not uncommon in north Texas and has created some icy Cotton Bowl conditions. This game was one of them. But the Cougars heated up quickly.

Facing a Maryland defense that closed the year with three straight shutouts, Houston drove the field and got an 11-yard touchdown run from Thomas to start the scoring. Then they blocked a punt, setting a up 33-yard scamper from Blackwell. Then they capitalized on a Maryland mistake, recovering a fumble on the Maryland 23. That set up another Blackwell touchdown.

Houston had roared out to a 21-0 lead before fans even got settled in. Then the Terrapins started to chip away. By the third quarter the lead was cut to 27-21. The Cougars were deep in their own end and facing a third down.

Davis met the challenge with a big throw for a first down. Later in the drive, on 4th-and-1, Thomas took off on a 32-yard run. That set up a field goal that gave the Cougars some needed breathing room. And 30-21 is where the game ended.

A year that had started with uncertainty had ended in triumph. Houston was ranked #4 in the final polls. Moreover, this year started a trend. They won conference titles again in 1978 and 1979, capturing another Cotton Bowl victory in ’79. The old Southwest Conference was good to Houston, and it got started right away in that inaugural year of 1976.

1976 Michigan Football: A Breakthrough Rose Bowl Trip

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Michigan had gone 38-3-3 the previous four regular seasons but never reached the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten did not allow runner-ups to go to bowls prior to 1975, so the previous year’s Orange Bowl—a loss to national champion Oklahoma—was the only postseason appearance for head coach Bo Schembechler since 1971. The only games the Wolverines were losing in that stretch came to Ohio State. But when you’re at Michigan—especially in the 1970s—that was also the only game that mattered. The 1976 Michigan football team not only got over the hump, but their triumph marked a decided shift in the Big Ten’s historic rivalry.

The ’76 Wolverines were dominant on both sides of the football. The Schembechler era would be defined by a punishing ground game and this edition was no different. The offensive line had All-Americans in guard Mark Donahue and tackle Bill Dufek. Walt Downing was an all-Big center. That line paved the way for Rob Lytle to rush for over 1,400 yards and lead the Big Ten in carries, total yards, and yards-per-attempt. Harlan Huckleby added over 900 yards.

Rick Leach was a versatile quarterback. He added to the running game and also completed 50 percent of his passes—which was respectable by the standards of the mid-1970s. Leach also averaged 9.6 yards-per-attempt, which was outstanding. The key to that was Jim Smith. Getting All-American mention for both his receiving and return skills, Smith’s 24 catches averaged an astonishing 27.6 yards-per-catch. The Leach-to-Smith combo could make defenses pay when they stacked the box.

All-American linebacker Calvin O’Neal anchored the defense, and Greg Morton was an all-conference performer in the trenches. The average final score of Michigan games in 1976 was 36-8—they ranked first in the nation offensively and second on defense.

Expectations were high and Michigan opened the year ranked #2 in the nation. The Big Ten was known as “The Big Two” and “The Little Eight” in those days, recognizing that the Wolverines and Buckeyes were the only programs capable of serious contention. The middle was a mass of mediocrity with seven teams losing five or six games, and only Minnesota finishing with a winning record. Moreover, Michigan had not yet started its season-opening series with Notre Dame, so there was no one there to challenge them for much of the year.

The season began at home against Wisconsin with some shaky defense, but the offense was potent enough to win 40-27. Moreover, #1 Nebraska had played to a tie, so the Wolverines quickly moved to the top of the national polls.

The defense got their game together the following week when a respectable Stanford team came to Ann Arbor. Michigan dropped a 51-0 beatdown. They hosted Navy the following week and rolled up a 70-14 final. Wake Forest completed the non-conference schedule by coming in and taking a 31-zip pasting.

Michigan hosted in-state rival Michigan State and racked up a 42-10 victory. They went to Northwestern, the one truly awful team in this conference and posted a 38-7 W. A road trip to Indiana, who was coached by Lee Corso, was a 35-0 whitewash.

Minnesota, with a quarterback by the name of Tony Dungy, came to Ann Arbor on October 30. The rain was falling steadily, and temperatures were cold. After one quarter, the Gophers were hanging in, trailing 7-0. That’s when Michigan took over. Leach did it with his legs, running for 114 yards on just ten carries. He only threw the ball four times, but he completed all four for 40 more yards. Homecoming turned into a 45-0 shellacking.

The Wolverines were riding high when they went to Purdue. There was no reason to expect problems in West Lafayette. But the UM defense gave up 162 yards rushing to future NFL running back Scott Dierking, trailed 16-14 and then missed a 37-yard field goal as time expired.

Michigan bounced back to beat Illinois 38-7, which set up the final parlay of the visit to Columbus, and what the Wolverines hoped would be the long-sought trip to Pasadena. They were #4 in the national polls. UCLA and USC were in the 2-3 spots, while Pitt was ranked #1.

On November 20, the Michigan-Ohio State game would be followed by USC-UCLA. These games were both winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl. Thus, the Wolverines could control their destiny to move to #2 if they could win out. But they needed help. Pitt would have to either lose next week against Penn State, or lose the Sugar Bowl, where the Panthers were headed.

Ohio State had lost a non-conference game to Missouri and played UCLA to a tie, so the Buckeyes were out of the national picture. But for the first half, they fought Michigan to a draw and then started a drive late in the second quarter. An interception in the end zone preserved the scoreless tie as the Wolverines went to the locker room.

It was the third quarter when the tide turned in this game and in the Bo Schembechler-Woody Hayes rivalry as a whole. Michigan went on two long scoring drives of 80 and 52 yards, and they held the ball for over 11 minutes in that decisive third period. The defense, already playing well, stepped up its game even further. Ohio State was going nowhere. The final score was 22-0.

USC beat UCLA, so the Trojans and Wolverines were now 2-3 and hoping that Pitt would stumble. There would be no such luck there. The Panthers won their own rivalry game with the Nittany Lions, and then easily won the Sugar Bowl in the early afternoon slot on New Year’s Day. By the time Rose Bowl kicked off, Michigan and USC knew they were playing for #2.

The Wolverines had some early momentum. The Trojans’ great running back, Ricky Bell, was knocked out on the game’s second play. Lytle scored on a short rushing touchdown. But the extra point was blocked and that started a momentum shift to USC. The Trojans took a 7-6 lead. That score held until late in the fourth quarter when USC scored again to make it 14-6.

With no overtime in college football, the best Michigan could do was tie, and that made a noble run at it, driving down near the USC 20-yard line and facing a 2nd-and-4. But three straight incomplete passes ended the bid.

Michigan would still finish #3 in the final polls. More important, they had beaten Ohio State. The Wolverines did the same each of the next two years and went to the Rose Bowl each time. Getting that victory in Pasadena proved a little more elusive, but in 1980, Michigan finally capped off a Big Ten championship year with a Rose Bowl victory. It was the culmination of a change in fortune that started in 1976.

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1976 USC Football: The Robinson Era Starts With A Rose Bowl Win

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The 1976 USC football team was one going through change. The Trojans were one of college football’s top programs under the leadership of John McKay. After taking over in 1960, McKay had a splendid 16-year run in Los Angeles that included three national championships. Now, he was off to coach the NFL’s new expansion franchise in Tampa Bay. John Robinson took over. Moreover, Robinson was inheriting a team that had come off a disappointing four-loss season in 1975. Robinson needed to put USC back on top of the Pac-8 and return them to the national elite. He did exactly that in 1976.

The Trojans were led by Ricky Bell, who ran for over 1,400 yards and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, trailing only the great Tony Dorsett at Pitt. Charles White was the #2 back, a future Heisman winner himself, and he added over 700 yards. All-American offensive lineman Marvin Powell anchored the trenches.

There were two good receivers in Shelton Diggs and Tandy Simmrin and a future NFL starter in Vince Evans at quarterback. USC’s offense would rank fifth in the nation for points scored by season’s end.

Defensively, the Trojans were also in the national top ten. Tackle Gary Jeter and corner Dennis Thurman—both future pros—got All-American notice. Respect for the USC program was high enough that, even with the down year in 1975 and the coaching transition, they still were ranked #8 in the preseason polls.

The season opener was at home against Missouri. The Tigers had a strange season. They ended up a pedestrian 6-5. They lost to several mediocre teams. But they beat a lot of good, ranked opponents. And USC was one of them. A shocking 46-25 beatdown at the hands of Mizzou was a less-than-ideal start to the Robinson era, and the Trojans went tumbling out of the national rankings entirely.

An early conference game, at Oregon, got USC back on track. They beat a bad Ducks team 53-0. That put the Trojans back in the rankings. And with college football off to a volatile start in 1976, a 31-13 win over mediocre Purdue pushed USC back to #12 by the time September ended.

Another game against a bad Big Ten team resulted in another blowout—this one a 55-zip whitewashing of Iowa. From there USC settled into five straight games against the Pac-8 undercard. They didn’t play well at a subpar Washington State but won 23-14. They crushed lowly Oregon State 56-0 and beat mediocre Cal 20-6. Stanford was a respectable opponent, and the Trojans won 48-24. A 20-3 victory over Washington set the stage for the season’s defining moments.

USC was up to #3 in the polls. They were tied for first in the Pac-8 with crosstown rival UCLA, who was ranked #2 nationally. The Trojans and Bruins would play on November 20 for the Rose Bowl bid. That would be followed by a visit from Notre Dame on November 27. USC needed to win both, beat the Michigan–Ohio State winner in the Rose Bowl, and hope that top-ranked Pitt stumbled somewhere along the line.

Thus, at the L.A. Coliseum, USC and UCLA took the field playing for both conference and national stakes. And the Trojan defense dominated. For 53 minutes of play, the Bruins gained only ten yards on USC’s side of the field. The defense forced a turnover that set up the game’s first touchdown. The Trojans took a 10-0 lead into the locker room.

In the meantime, Bell was pounding away. He got the ball 36 times and gained 167 yards. Early in the fourth quarter, the dam broke, and USC scored two touchdowns. A brief flurry from UCLA—two touchdowns in the final minutes—made the final score cosmetically respectable at 24-14—but the Trojans were dominant. And they were up to #2 in the polls.

On Black Friday, USC watched with disappointment as Pitt handled its business in a big rivalry showdown with Penn State. But the Trojans still had their business to take care of. Notre Dame was not a great team in 1976, but they were still pretty good, coming in at #13 in the polls. USC chiseled out a 17-13 win.

The stage was set for New Year’s Day. USC and Michigan were playing in Pasadena in the 2-3 spots in the rankings. Pitt was going to the Sugar Bowl to play #5 Georgia. A Panther loss meant the Rose Bowl would settle the national championship. The Sugar Bowl was played in the early afternoon, so everyone in Pasadena would know the stakes when they kicked off.

There was no such luck in the national picture–Pitt routed Georgia. But the pride of the Rose Bowl rivalry was more than enough for both schools. Particularly with Michigan’s Bo Schembechler having never won a Rose Bowl and Robinson coaching in his first.

USC got off to a rough start. Bell was knocked out on the second play of the game and Michigan got the game’s first touchdown. But the extra point was blocked. It was a point that would loom large the rest of the afternoon and marked a shift of momentum to the Trojans.

White took advantage of the opportunity Bell’s injury offered. He ran for 114 yards in his breakout game on the national stage. Evans would throw for 181 yards, including a big 4th-and-goal rollout touchdown run that gave USC the lead.

The 7-6 score held much of the second half. With three minutes to play. White ran in for a touchdown. With overtime not yet in existence, the 14-6 score all but assured USC of at least a tie. They had to make one last stand. Michigan drove into Trojan territory and had a 2nd-and-4 situation set up. But the defense came through one more time—three straight incompletions secured the win.

After the tough year of 1975, the tough transition, and the tough opening of 1976, USC football was back. They were #2 in the nation, and they weren’t going anywhere. They won a share of the national championship in 1978 and finished #2 again in 1979. The Robinson era was off and running.

1976 Georgia Football: An Outright SEC Championship

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In the eleven years since Vince Dooley came to Georgia, the proud Bulldog program had been successful, but were generally submerged behind Bear Bryant’s Alabama in the SEC. 1968 was Georgia’s last conference championship. The 1976 Georgia football team broke through and captured an outright league title.

Georgia had, even by the standards of 1976, a run-heavy offense, led by quarterback Ray Goff. The man who one day would be the Bulldog head coach, was the SEC Player of the Year thanks to his running ability. He ran for 724 yards, and Kevin McLee was the top back, with over 1,000 yards. Mike Wilson and Joel Parrish, a pair of All-American offensive lineman, paved the way for the powerful ground attack. The defense was led by end Dickey Clark and safety Bill Krug, each of whom made all-conference.

The Dawgs opened the season ranked #16 and their first game was at home with Cal, who was ranked #15. The Golden Bears proved to be overrated and Georgia quickly exposed that with an easy 36-24 win. There were a series of upsets around the country and the Bulldogs immediately moved up to #9 in the polls.

Traditional rivals, Clemson, and South Carolina were both pedestrian in 1976. Georgia racked up wins of 41-0 and 20-12 respectively. Now, Alabama was coming to town.

Big games between Georgia and Alabama were rare in the late 1970s and early 1980s, even though both teams were good. There were only six SEC games each year and Bulldogs-Tide didn’t get priority. But they were playing this year in Athens. And the Dawg defense delivered—they held ‘Bama to 86 yards on the ground and won 21-0. Georgia moved to #4 in the rankings.

But a letdown followed—a 21-17 loss at mediocre Ole Miss and the Bulldogs went plummeting to #11. They bounced back with a 45-0 blasting of lowly Vanderbilt. That set up another big game, this time with Kentucky.

Georgia and Kentucky had one conference loss, and were chasing Florida, who had yet to lose in league play. The Bulldogs needed to win this game and set up their annual November rivalry game with the Gators.  

The Bulldogs went on the road and made a big statement with an easy 31-7 win. They were now ranked #7 and followed that up by beating a pretty good Cincinnati team, 31-17 at home. It was time for the Cocktail Party rivalry game.

Florida was not the perennial football power that it became in the 1990s, but their 1976 team was one of the best the school had seen to that time. They had overcome a season-opening loss to North Carolina, were 6-1, and ranked 10th in the country. The winner of this game had the inside track to the SEC championship and the automatic bid to the Sugar Bowl.

The Georgia defense couldn’t keep up early in the game and gave up 27 points in the first half, trailing by two touchdowns. Goff quickly got his team back in the game with a touchdown pass and then the defense, aided by some questionable Florida game management, stepped up.

It was 4th-and-1 for Florida on their own 29-yard line and head coach Doug Dickey opted to go for it. “Fourth And Dumb” is how the play lives in Gator infamy. The Dawgs made the stop, scored the touchdown and the momentum irrevocably shifted. Georgia won 41-27.

The Bulldogs still needed to close out their SEC title and they did it with a 28-0 win at a bad Auburn team. Georgia was #4 in the nation. Their path to the national title was realistically blocked, with USC and Michigan both ranked ahead of them and playing each other in the Rose Bowl. But the Bulldogs did have a chance to play spoiler—the #1-ranked Pitt Panthers were ticketed as their opponent in the Sugar Bowl.

Before that happened, Georgia had the traditional Thanksgiving Saturday game with Georgia Tech. A shaky 13-10 win nudged the Dawgs down to #5 in the polls as they got ready for Pitt.

The Panthers had a Heisman Trophy-winning running back by the name of Tony Dorsett, and the Bulldogs stacked the box with eight men to try and deal with him. But things didn’t go as well defensively as they had against Alabama and Kentucky. Pitt was able to open things up in the passing game, Dorsett still went off for over 200 yards, and Georgia was pounded, 27-3.

It was a disappointing ending, but 1976 was still a year when Georgia won an outright SEC championship, and still held on to a final #10 ranking. The Bulldogs slipped back to mediocrity two of the next three seasons. But their ultimate vindication wasn’t far off—the arrival of a freshman running back named Herschel Walker and a national championship year in 1980.

1976 College Football: The Road To The Major Bowls

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The 1976 college football season saw several new teams step up and reach the four major New Year’s Day bowl games. No team made a bigger splash than Pitt, who produced the Heisman Trophy winner in Tony Dorsett, displaced Penn State as the top team in the East and eventually won the national title.

 


Pitt PanthersPitt got its chance to win the national title in the Sugar Bowl and took advantage in a win over Georgia. No one could call the Bulldogs a new team on the national stage, but they did manage to end Alabama’s five-year run atop the SEC.

Other new teams included Houston, Maryland and Colorado. Houston won the Southwest Conference in their first year of membership, vaulting over traditional powers Texas & Arkansas. Maryland went undefeated and matched up with Houston in the Cotton Bowl. Colorado shared the Big Eight title and got the Orange Bowl bid out of a conference that usually produced Oklahoma or Nebraska.

Only the Rose Bowl went according to form. The Big Ten & Pac-8 races came down to winner-take-all finales between Michigan-Ohio State and USC-UCLA. The Wolverines and Trojans won and each went into New Year’s Day holding out hopes of a national championship if Pitt lost. Ohio State got the consolation prize of the Orange Bowl over UCLA.

You can read about the season-long paths of all eight participants in the major bowl games and how each one unfolded, at the links below.

READ THE ROAD TO THE SUGAR BOWL
READ THE ROAD TO THE ROSE BOWL
READ THE ROAD TO THE COTTON BOWL
READ THE ROAD TO THE ORANGE BOWL

The Road To The 1977 Orange Bowl: Ohio State & Colorado

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The 1977 Orange Bowl was a consolation prize for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who had gone as high as #2 in the polls during the 1976 college football season, but lost their shot at the national title and then lost the Rose Bowl bid to Michigan. The Buckeyes met the Colorado Buffaloes, a program for whom this prime-time date in Miami was anything but a consolation prize. Let’s look back on the road Ohio State and Colorado took to reach this game.

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Woody Hayes had taken Ohio State to four straight Rose Bowls from 1972-75, although the Buckeyes lost three of them, including the most recent to UCLA, which cost Ohio State a national championship. They were still loaded for bear and ranked #4 to open the 1976 season.

The Buckeyes had All-Americans on each side of the ball in offensive tackle Chris Ward and defensive end Bob Brudzinski, and they controlled the tempo of games with a powerful ground attack. Jeff Logan ran for over 1,200 yards to lead the team and powerful fullback Pete Johnson ground out over 700 more. The two quarterbacks, Jim Pacenta and Rod Gerald only threw a combined 94 passes all season long.

Ohio State opened the season by blasting Michigan State 49-21, and some upheaval among other top teams, quickly moved the Buckeyes to #2. The next game was a trip to Penn State, the first one Ohio State would ever make to Happy Valley.

The Buckeyes played opportunistic football against the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions. They forced a pair of turnovers in the red zone, built a 12-0 lead and then hung on after Penn State rallied. Ohio State forced one more turnover with 1:41 left and secured a 12-7 win.

But a letdown did the Buckeyes in back home in Columbus. They faced a Missouri team that was decent, but on their way to a 6-5 season, the Tigers should not have been able to compete with Ohio State. Instead, Hayes’ team suffered a 22-21 loss and skidded back to #8 in the polls. The schedule didn’t get easier with a road trip to fourth-ranked UCLA, but the Buckeyes ground out a 10-10 tie in Los Angeles.

The national championship was gone, with a loss and a tie, and Ohio State took it out on their next six Big Ten opponents. The conference only had one other winning team beyond OSU and Michigan, and that team—Minnesota—was only 6-5. Ohio State had to win a 9-3 battle with the Gophers, and rolled into their traditional season-ending battle with Michigan undefeated in league play and still ranked #8 nationally.

Another bitter home loss awaited. The game was scoreless in the first half when Gerald threw an interception in the end zone just prior to halftime. That was the last time Ohio State seriously threatened to win the game, as Michigan took over the second half and won 22-0. The Buckeyes dropped to #11 and the decision of the Orange Bowl to take them over higher-ranked UCLA was controversial.

The rationale of the Orange Bowl was about business—Ohio State would bring more fans than UCLA, and the bowl committee wanted an Eastern/Rustbelt presence to balance off Colorado. But it has to be said that even on the football merits, Ohio State had played UCLA to a tie on the road and it was reasonable to argue the Buckeyes simply deserved this bid.

Colorado’s path to Miami was quite different. Bill Mallory had taken over a struggling program and gotten a Bluebonnet Bowl invitation in 1974, but there were no signs of the Buffs being ready to challenge Nebraska, and certainly not Oklahoma, who had won the last two national championships. Colorado was unranked to start the 1976 season, and a road loss to what would prove a good Texas Tech team didn’t raise anyone’s expectations.

The Buffs bounced back with a win at Washington and then beat a bad Miami team at home. A rout of Drake sent Colorado into the Big Eight schedule, which they opened with a 24-12 loss to Nebraska.

Colorado bounced back with a 20-10 win at Oklahoma State, moving them into the Top 20 and a 33-14 rout of #16 Iowa State gained the Buffs further credibility. Oklahoma was coming to Boulder on October 30, and while the Sooners weren’t a vintage Barry Switzer powerhouse, they were still ranked #13.

The Buffaloes pulled off a 42-31 upset and the Big Eight race was officially in chaos. Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma State were each 3-1 in league play, with Oklahoma and Iowa State both giving chase at 2-2. The Orange Bowl bid, which went automatically to the league champ, was in the grasp of more than half the conference as November opened.

Colorado gave some of their progress back with a 16-7 loss at Missouri—the Tigers, even though their season was disappointing, still managed to beat both entrants in the Orange Bowl in 1976. The Buffs quickly responded with a blowout of Kansas and the conference race was now a four-way tie at the top.

That Mallory had his team still holding a chance at the Orange Bowl bid with one game left was still amazing. He had only one All-American, defensive back Mike Davis. Quarterback Jeff Krapple only completed 44 percent of his passes. The offense relied on 1,200-yard rusher Tony Reed. Now this team needed to just beat Kansas State and get some help.

Colorado upheld their end of the bargain in Manhattan, winning a wild game. They had won a share of the league crown, as had Oklahoma State. One more team was poised to claim a piece of what would be a tri-championship, and it was going to be the winner of the Nebraska-Oklahoma game, played six days later on Black Friday.

The Buffs needed the Sooners to win—since Colorado had beaten both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, they would win the tiebreakers for the Orange Bowl nod. A Nebraska win, and the higher-ranked Cornhuskers would likely go to Miami. OU did its part to help the Cinderella story with a win, and the Buffs were going to South Beach.

Colorado looked like they might continue this magical ride a little longer when they jumped on top of Ohio State early in the Orange Bowl. The Buffs got an early field goal and they converted a big 4th-and-2 on the Buckeye 11 for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead. And they would win the turnover battle 4-2.

But in spite of falling behind, losing the turnover battle and having a completely inept passing game, the Ohio State running game was just too good. Logan bolted 36 yards up the middle for one touchdown and a field goal tied it up in the second quarter. Before halftime, Ohio State went on a 99-yard touchdown march that was capped off with a Johnson TD run. It was 17-10 at half, and the Buckeyes continued to control the second half, winning 27-10.

Mallory would go on to more success as a head coach, here, at Northern Illinois and at Indiana, but he never again reached a major bowl game. More surprising is that this game is the last big bowl Woody ever won. His team lost the Sugar Bowl the next year at Alabama, and one year later was the infamous Gator Bowl defeat where he punched an opposinag player and got fired. Had this been known at the time, the 1977 Orange Bowl win would have been more than just a light ending to a day when the national champion had already been crowned much earlier.

The Road To The 1977 Cotton Bowl: Houston & Maryland

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Upstarts crashed the 1977 Cotton Bowl. The Houston Cougars were in the first year of the old Southwest Conference, which had the bowl’s automatic bid. Rather than pay deference to legendary coaches in Texas’ Darrell Royal and Arkansas’ Frank Broyles, both in their final year, Houston quickly won the league. Their opponent was Maryland, who rose up to enjoy an undefeated season. Here’s how they arrived in Dallas following the 1976 college football season.

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Bill Yeoman had taken over the Houston program in 1962, and after nine straight winning seasons, the Cougars fell to 2-8 in 1975. Nothing suggested a turnaround was in the offing. They were unranked to start the year. An opening day road win over what would prove to be a pretty good Baylor team was promising, but the Cougars promptly lost 49-14 at Florida on September 18.

September 25 was what gave Houston fans real hope that this year would be different. They hosted ninth-ranked Texas A&M. The Aggies had a terrific running back in George Woodward, who would average 144 yards-per-game this season. Houston shut him down.

The Cougar defensive front was led by Wilson Whitley, who won the Lombardi Award and would go #8 overall in the coming spring’s NFL draft. Houston won the game 21-10, then blew out West Texas A&M two weeks later to move into the Top 20.

Houston thumped SMU, but then dropped a tough 14-7 decision at home to Broyles and Arkansas. The loss sent the Cougars back out of the polls. They began another climb and this time they didn’t stop.

The Cougar running game was led by Alois Blackwell, who rushed 934 yards and they had a ballhawking defensive back in Anthony Francis, who intercepted ten passes. Houston blasted winless TCU to move into the polls and then opened everyone’s eyes when they went into Austin and shut out Texas 30-0. It’s true that was not a vintage Longhorn team for Royals’ final year—they went 5-5-1—but beating Texas in any era is significant and certainly a road shutout in the mid-1970s.

It set up Houston’s biggest game, at unbeaten and fifth-ranked Texas Tech on November 20. The winner would hold the inside track to the Cotton Bowl. Cougar quarterback Danny Davis was often erratic—even by the standards of the era, his 47.8% completion rate was low, but he led an offense that put up 27 points in Lubbock. Houston led 27-19 late in the game and an interception killed a final Red Raider drive.

The victory moved Houston to #7 in the polls and they took care of three-win Rice a week later to sew up the Cotton Bowl spot. A non-conference home win over Miami, 21-16, had the Cougars ranked #6 when New Year’s Day arrived.

Maryland was a program that head coach Jerry Claiborne had moving up, with a 25-10-1 record in the coach’s first three years in College Park. All three years had resulted in bowl appearances, but the Terps had yet to play on the New Year’s stage. They opened the 1976 season ranked #12.

The Terrapins opened with seven games that were relatively easy. Villanova, then playing Division I football, was the only one of the seven to finish with a winning record, and Maryland won all seven games. They elevated from #12 to #5 in the process.

Maryland, like Houston, was led by a great defensive tackle. Joe Campbell was an All-American and would be chosen one spot ahead of Whitley in the coming NFL draft. The Terps also had two excellent guards in Ed Fulton and Tom Shick, and tackle Dave Conrad rounded out a very good offensive line. The line cleared the way for fullback Tim Wilson, running back Alvin Maddox, and running quarterback Mark Manges.

The biggest game of the year wasn’t an ACC opponent—it was a home date with Kentucky, the place Claiborne had gone to school and would eventually return to coach in 1982. The Wildcats would finish the season 7-4, and had beaten ranked teams in Penn State and LSU. Kentucky came to College Park on October 30 and Maryland answered the bell with a 24-14 win.

Claiborne’s team followed that up with a win over eight-win Cincinnati, and then shut out Clemson and Virginia. It put a lock on not just an ACC title and not just a Cotton Bowl bid, but an undefeated season.

Maryland was ranked #4, but had no real chance at the national championship. Another undefeated upstart out of the East, the Pitt Panthers, were ranked #1 and in the Sugar Bowl. If Pitt lost, the polls would surely crown the winner of Michigan-USC in the Rose Bowl, the two teams immediately behind Pitt in the rankings. Neither were undefeated, but the Terps simply lacked the respect and the weakness of the ACC at this time didn’t help.

There might not have been a national title to settle in Dallas, but the winner of this game would end up in the Top 5 of the final polls, a much better neighborhood than either team was accustomed to.

The weather was ice cold in Dallas, and it was Houston who came out and struck very quickly. After a touchdown drive, the Cougars blocked a punt to set up another quick score. Then they recovered a fumble and scored again. It was 21-0 and all three touchdowns had come within a 5 ½ minute span.

But Maryland stormed back. Manges ran for a touchdown in the second quarter. Houston answered that one, but missed the extra point. In the third quarter, Manges both ran and threw for a touchdown and now it was 27-21. Houston was backed up on their own goal line in the fourth quarter facing third and long. Davis made one of the biggest throws of the season, converting the first down. Later in the drive, on 4th-and-1, Yeoman went for it, and it kept a drive for a clinching field goal alive.

Houston won 30-21, keyed by Blackwell going for two touchdowns and over 160 yards against a defense that hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown for 22 quarters coming into the game. The Cougars got into the Top 5, finishing fourth in the final poll.

1976 Sports: Knight & Madden Win First Rings; Big Red Machine Dominates

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This article offers a snapshot of 1976 sports, a year that saw future legends like Bob Knight and John Madden win their first championships, and the Big Red Machine solidify their place in history.

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Bob Knight and John Madden are two names who have become synonymous with their sports, college basketball and the NFL respectively. Knight would become the ultimate love-him-or-hate-him figure in his time at Indiana when he won three national championships. Madden won a Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders, would go on to become a famous as a TV analyst and get the NFL’s most popular video game eventually named after him. 1976 was the year they both got over the hump and won titles.
Indiana went undefeated through the 1976 college basketball season. The previous year had seen them go unbeaten in the regular season, but a key injury cost them in the NCAA Tournament. Nothing stopped the Hoosiers in ’76 as they won the national title with a perfect record, something no team has done since.
The Oakland Raiders knew frustration to an even greater degree. The franchise had lost the previous three AFC Championship Games, lost the legendary “Immaculate Reception” game in 1972 and lost an AFC title game in 1970, all under Madden’s leadership. In ’76, the Raiders went 13-1, got help from controversial officiating in their first playoff game and then dominated both the conference championship game and Super Bowl
Read more about the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers
Read more about the 1976 Oakland Raiders

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True greatness wasn’t confined to teams that were coming off postseason frustrations. The Cincinnati Reds—the famed Big Red Machine had broken through their own string of playoff shortcomings when they won the World Series in 1975. Thus liberated, the Reds simply dominated in 1976.
They won 102 games and then went 7-0 in what was then a two-round postseason format. The Reds swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the League Championship Series and the New York Yankees in the World Series. No team matched that feat in the remaining years of the two-round format through 1993, and certainly not since.
Cincinnati’s dominance might have been stripping October baseball of its drama, but the Yankees and Kansas City Royals filled the void. The American League Championship Series was one of the great postseason battles fought, with its ending alone telling the story—trailing 6-3, the Royals tied the game with a three-run blast from George Brett. In the ninth, the Yankees won the pennant on a walkoff shot by Chris Chambliss, getting to the World Series for the first time under George Steinbrenner’s ownership.
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The Boston Celtics and Montreal Canadiens are the proudest franchises in their respective sports and the won the NBA title and Stanley Cup respectively. But the two teams were going in opposite directions. For the Celtics, this championship was the last gasp of a veteran team that would fall apart one year later. For the Canadiens, it was the first of four straight titles.
Boston’s battle with the Phoenix Suns in the 1976 NBA Finals is remembered most for an incredible Game 5, one that went triple-overtime before the Celtics finally won. Montreal’s Stanley Cup matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers was a clash of powers—the Flyers had won the previous two Cups and the ’76 Finals proved to be a changing of the guard moment.
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The NBA season produced more than just an incredible Finals game. Phoenix’s road to the Game 5 dramatics was an unlikely one to begin with. The Suns finished 42-40, and were taking on heavily favored Golden State in the conference finals.
The Warriors were the defending champs and # 1 seed. Their key player, Rick Barry was an elite star at this time. Phoenix stayed in the series, trailing 3 games to 2, and winning Game 6 with a driving layup at the buzzer by Alvan Adams for a 105-104 win. They then beat Golden State on the road in Game 7. The final was 94-86 and ESPN’s Bill Simmons, author of The Book of Basketball, insists that Barry intentionally sabotaged the second half after his teammates didn’t rush to his defense during a first-half brawl.
A more significant long-term development for the league as a whole and the West in particular, took place in Los Angeles. The Lakers had gone 30-52 in 1975 and were looking for a way to rebuild, just four years removed from their 1972 championship season, a year in which they set a league record with 33 consecutive wins. Prior to the 1976 season, Los Angeles found the way out—they acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Milwaukee. The results for the team weren’t immediate—the Lakers again missed the playoffs—but Jabbar won the league MVP award and gave the franchise a foundation for its eventual return to greatness

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College football had a surprise year, something that was quite rare in the pre-parity era of 1976. Oklahoma, the two-time defending national champion had a down year, and the door opened for a national contender from the East to finish #1. What was surprising is that the team was not Penn State, but their then-rival Pitt. The Panthers got a Heisman Trophy year from running back Tony Dorsett, went undefeated and then sealed it with an easy win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
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