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Arkansas football history

1977 Arkansas Football: A Historic Orange Bowl Win

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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 NFL’s New York Jets. The ’77 Hogs had a big year and their dramatic Orange Bowl victory profoundly impacted the national championship race.

Arkansas was led by a defense that was third in the nation for points allowed. Jimmy Walker, an All-American defensive tackle, was the anchor. On the offensive side of the trenches was another All-American, guard Leotis Harris.

Harris led way for running back Ben Cowins, who rolled up nearly 1,200 yards. Quarterback Ron Calcagni ran for 546 yards himself. Calcagni didn’t throw a lot—only 137 passes on the season. But he was good for 8.4 yards-per-attempt, and he hit some big throws in big games before all was said and done. The Razorback offense ranked 13th nationally in points allowed.

Arkansas had gone a mediocre 5-5-1 in Broyles’ swan song, so expectations were muted. The Hogs were unranked to start the season. They tuned up with a 53-10 rout of New Mexico State.

Oklahoma State was ranked #15 and came in to provide what looked like a real test. Arkansas passed, with a decisive 28-6 win. In retrospect, the Cowboys would struggle to a four-win season. But in the moment, the win was impressive enough to launch the Razorbacks to the #16 spot in the polls. They quickly moved to #12 with a 37-3 blasting of Tulsa. And a 42-6 rout at lowly TCU to open Southwest Conference play got the Hogs into the national top 10.

Texas was ranked #2 in the nation and a home date with the Longhorns was next. Arkansas hung in there against a loaded team that included Heisman Trophy-winning running back Earl Campbell. But the Hogs took a 13-9 loss. The competitiveness of the game kept the Razorbacks in the top 10.

Houston was the defending SWC champs, although headed for a pedestrian 6-5 season this year. The Hogs blanked the Cougars 34-0. They blew out a bad Rice team 30-7, and then hammered mediocre Baylor 35-9. Even though Texas was cruising to the #1 ranking and the SWC’s automatic Cotton Bowl bid, Arkansas was squarely in the mix for a New Year’s Day invitation at 7-1.

A big road trip to College Station to play #11 Texas A&M was crucial to that goal. The Hogs and Aggies were tied 20-20 in the final two minutes. Calcagni rolled to his left. Throwing against his body, he found big-play target Robert Farrell down the left side line for a 58-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked. That loomed large when A&M launched a last-ditch effort and got close enough to try a final pass into the end zone. But Patrick Martin came up with an interception and preserved Arkansas’ 26-20 win.

The Hogs came home and blew out a subpar SMU team 47-7 on November 19. There was a key game left at a pretty good Texas Tech team, but bowl bids had to be given out. At 9-1 and ranked #6, the Orange Bowl came calling and invited Arkansas.

Five days later, on Thanksgiving, the Hogs came out a little flat and trailed the Red Raiders 14-3 at halftime, scoring only on a 50-yard field goal by All-American kicker Steve Little. But in the second half, Calcagni again showed what he could do with his arm. He threw two touchdown passes, including a 59-yard strike to Bobby Duckworth with just over six minutes to play. Arkansas got out of Lubbock with a 17-14 triumph.

Oklahoma was the Orange Bowl opponent and ranked #2 in the nation. The Sooners were loaded and already favored by as many as 18 points. Then the suspensions came. Holtz suspended four offensive starters for the game. One of them was Cowins. Las Vegas responded by jumping the point spread to as high as 24 points.

The problems of Arkansas seemed even more pertinent by the events of early afternoon on January 1. Texas, with the national title in their grasp, was crushed by fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. Now, Oklahoma needed only take care of its business in Miami to claim the title for their own. No one gave the Hogs a chance.

But Holtz had his team ready. They capitalized on an early turnover and scored right away for a 7-0 lead. Roland Sales, given the opportunity to play in light of Cowins’ suspension, ran wild and piled up 205 yards on the ground. Oklahoma, even with a future Heisman Trophy winner in Billy Sims and another future NFL back in Kenny King, couldn’t get anything going. Or when they did, the ball ended up on the ground.

Arkansas was up 24-0 at halftime and coasted home in the second half to win 31-6. In a shocking development, OU couldn’t have covered that 24-point Vegas spread even if it had been reversed.

 Given Holtz’s future coaching endeavors, it was no small coincidence that the ultimate result of the Orange Bowl win was to give Notre Dame the national championship. The Razorbacks would finish #3 in the final polls.

Holtz enjoyed a good seven-year run at Arkansas, including a trip to the Sugar Bowl in 1979. But 1977 was his best year as the Razorbacks’ boss. In fact, the Hogs have not matched that #3 finish since. 1977 was a special season in Arkansas football history.

1977 College Football Season: The Road To The Major Bowls

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The 1977 college football season defined by a dramatic January 2, when the four major bowl games were played. Two big blowouts created chaos and a controversial national champion.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Oklahoma and Michigan spent the first half of the season trading the #1 spot, moving up and down based on victories that were less than impressive. In October, both fell. Michigan’s loss was an upset to Minnesota, while OU lost a showdown battle with Texas. The Longhorns were the program on the rise.

Texas, after opening the season unranked, with a first-year head coach in Fred Akers, came barreling through the regular season as the nation’s only undefeated team. They had a Heisman Trophy winner at running back in Earl Campbell and were fully expected to make the national championship an easy vote in the Cotton Bowl.

Notre Dame was the opponent in Dallas, ranked #5. The Irish had bounced back from an early season to Ole Miss to get their season around. If Notre Dame could win, other candidates for the top of the polls included Orange Bowl foes Oklahoma and Arkansas, who had only lost to Texas. Third-ranked Alabama was hoping to make its case in the Sugar Bowl against Ohio State. And Michigan was still out there, ranked fourth and headed for the Rose Bowl to face unheralded Washington.

The Fighting Irish stunned the nation and the crowd in Dallas with a 38-10 blowout that was out of hand by halftime. Alabama blasted Ohio State, while Michigan was upset by Washington. There would still be no real debate if second-ranked Oklahoma could win—but the Sooners were crushed by the suspension-laden Razorbacks.

Notre Dame and Alabama were who the debate revolved around, with Arkansas, the runner-up in the old SWC to Texas, destined to finish third. The Irish had lost to an SEC opponent and had been ranked two spots behind the Tide coming into the bowl games. Conversely, another common opponent was USC—whom Notre Dame beat by thirty and Alabama beat by one. And the Irish had buried the consensus #1 team in a road-neutral environment.

The vote went to Notre Dame. The rise from #5 to #1 has not been duplicated since, and with the advent of the new era of playoff football, it never will

READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 COTTON BOWL
READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 SUGAR BOWL
READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 ORANGE BOWL
READ MORE ABOUT THE ROAD TO THE 1978 ROSE BOWL

The Road To The 1980 Sugar Bowl: Alabama & Arkansas

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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.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

Alabama was ranked #2 in the nation to start the year, right behind USC, whom they had split the title with the year before. Tide head coach Bear Bryant changed out a lot of the spots at the skill position. Steadman Shealy took most of the snaps at quarterback and though he only threw 81 passes all season, Shealy was the team’s leading rusher with 791 yards.

The running backs were a cadre of Steve Whitman, Major Ogilvie, Don Jacobs, John Hill and Billy Jackson, whom Bryant kept moving in and out and constantly attacking defenses with a fresh back behind an offensive line led by All-American guard Jim Bunch.

The top receiver was Keith Pugh, and in this offensive system, his 25 catches for 433 yards seemed to make him look like an early version of Jerry Rice.

Defensively, Alabama only had one All-American, corner Don McNeal. But the whole was much greater than the sum of the parts—the Tide gave up just 5.6 points per game, the best in the land.

The title quest started at mediocre Georgia Tech with a 30-5 win. Alabama then hosted Baylor, a program that was started to move upward—in fact these teams would meet the following season in the Cotton Bowl. The Tide smacked down the Bears 45-zip, then crushed lowly Vanderbilt 66- and shutout overmatched Wichita State.

Florida was a hapless foe that would not win a game, even with future NFL wide receiver and TV analyst Cris Collingsworth in the lineup. ‘Bama beat the Gators 40-0. That same day, USC blew a three-touchdown lead and tied Stanford, vaulting Alabama into the top poll position.

One week later, 18th-ranked Tennessee provided a test. Alabama, playing at home, fell behind 14-0 early and trailed 17-7 at the half. Shealy then did something rare and made a big play with his arm, throwing a 33-yard touchdown pass. Ogilvie got rolling, going for 109 yards on the day and scoring two second half-touchdowns. Alabama took over in the second half and won 27-17.

Easy victories over losing teams in Mississippi State and Virginia Tech followed.  A trip to LSU was nearly fatal—the Tide mustered only a field goal worth of offense. Fortunately, their elite defense saved them, as they pulled off a 3-0 shutout over a team with future Super Bowl-starting quarterback David Woodley.

The defense spun another shutout against 5-6 Miami, and the offense picked up the pace in a 30-0 rout. One more opponent remained and it was archrival Auburn, ranked #14. The Tigers had the SEC Player of the Year, Joe Cribbs in the backfield. Cribbs and his backfield mate James Brooks would each go on to productive NFL careers and they gave Alabama everything the Tide could handle.

Auburn kicked an early field goal, but when Alabama scored two second-quarter touchdowns it looked like business as usual. But with Cribbs running for 93 yards, Auburn came back and took an 18-17 lead in the fourth quarter.

Alabama was getting a big game from Whitman, who carried 14 times for 107 yards, and Shealy, who rushed for 99. The quarterback capped off a drive with an eight-yard touchdown run and the Tide took a 25-18 lead. Auburn came right back, driving to the ‘Bama 24 before the Tide defense finally held.

The undefeated season and national title shot was preserved, but the AP poll moved Alabama down to #2. The Tide still controlled the UPI poll, but now they were again set to share honors with unbeaten Ohio State, bound for the Rose Bowl.

Arkansas had reached the top five of the final polls two years earlier in Holtz’s first year before taking a modest step back in 1978. The Razorbacks were built on the running game, with Roland Sales going behind All-American tackle Greg Kolenda. Quarterback Kevin Scanlan threw 139 passes, which was moderate for the time. Scanlan was reasonably effective, completing 66 percent and getting 8.7 yards-per-attempt.

The Hogs opened the season ranked #20 and had moved up three spots before they played their first game on September 15. Arkansas blew out Colorado State to open the year. The Razorbacks then hosted Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were led by a rookie coach with whom Holtz would one day have an epic battle with—Jimmy Johnson. Nine years before the legendary Catholics vs. Convicts battle of Notre Dame-Miami, Holtz got the best of Johnson. Arkansas won 27-7.

After an easy win over Tulsa and a surprising 16-13 escape of lowly TCU, Arkansas beat Texas Tech 20-6. That win moved them to #10 in the polls in time for their two biggest games of the year, both at home—fellow Southwest Conference rivals Texas and Houston.

Texas was ranked #2 in the country, behind only Alabama, before the Longhorns came to Little Rock. Arkansas won it 17-14 and vaulted to #4, now in the national title picture themselves. When they led sixth-ranked Houston 10-7 at the half the following week, the picture looked even brighter. But the Razorback offense faltered after intermission and they lost 13-10, moving back to #9.

Arkansas opened November with a rout of an awful Rice team and then got an impressive 29-20 win over 17th-ranked Baylor, 29-20. That same day, Texas beat Houston and the Razorbacks were in a three-way tie for first in the SWC, which had an automatic bid to the Cotton Bowl.

The Hogs beat Texas A&M and SMU to end the year and at least claim their share of the conference championship. Texas was upset by A&M in the final week, removing the Longhorns from the tiebreaking and giving the Cotton Bowl bid to Houston on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Either way, Arkansas was ranked #6, with a piece of a league championship and still going to a major bowl as they got set to challenge Alabama.

Arkansas’ challenge was credible for about one quarter. McNeal fumbled the opening kickoff, but Arkansas could get only a field goal out of it. The Tide defense and Major Ogilvie took over. The Hogs couldn’t move, while Ogilvie scored two touchdowns and also had a 50-yard punt return to set up a field goal.

The score was 17-3 by half and after Arkansas briefly made it a game at 17-9, ‘Bama went on a soul-crushing 98-yard drive for the touchdown that sealed the 24-9 win and at least a share of the national championship.

It wasn’t until 1982 that the Sugar Bowl began being played in prime-time, so this was the first game of New Year’s Day. The national championship’s other half would now go up for grabs in the Rose Bowl, where Ohio State was meeting USC. The Buckeyes led 16-10 in the fourth quarter and looked like they might stake their claim. But the Trojans scored a late touchdown, won the game and the national championship belonged exclusively to Alabama.