1980 NCAA Division I-A football season

American college football season August 2023 December 2025 1980 File:NCAA primary logo 1980.svg 139http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1980.htm 1980 NCAA Division IA Football Power Ratings www.jhowell.nethttp://cfbscores.infinityfreeapp.com/standings.php?season=1980&class=FBS Standings for the 1980 FBS Season 2025-06-26 Ohio Statehttp://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=510 Archived copy 2009-01-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20111002005005/http://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=510 2011-10-02 dead 15 Georgia (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) South Carolina running back George Rogers The 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season was the season of college football played by teams at the highest level of the sport. The top five teams in the final AP and UPI polls were: Georgia, coached by Vince Dooley, compiled a perfect 12–0 record, defeated Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, and was ranked No. 1 in the final polls. Freshman running back Herschel Walker gained 1,616 rushing yards and was a unanimous All-American. Pittsburgh, coached by Jackie Sherrill, compiled an 11–1 record and defeated South Carolina in the Gator Bowl. The team was led by quarterback Dan Marino, defensive end Hugh Green, and offensive tackle Mark May. Green won the Maxwell Award and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. May won the Outland Trophy. Oklahoma, coached by Barry Switzer, compiled a 10–2 record and defeated Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Quarterback J.C. Watts tallied 905 passing yards, 678 rushing yards, and 18 touchdowns. Michigan, coached by Bo Schembechler, compiled a 10–2 record and defeated Washington in the Rose Bowl. The team did not allow a touchdown in its final five games. Wide receiver Anthony Carter caught 46 passes and was selected as the team's most valuable player. Florida State, coached by Bobby Bowden, compiled a 10–2 record, lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. During the regular season, the Seminoles defeated No. 3 Nebraska at Nebraska and the following week defeated No. 2 Pittsburgh. George Rogers of South Carolina tallied 1,781 rushing yards and won the Heisman Trophy. The year's statistical leaders included Rogers in rushing yardage, Jim McMahon of BYU with 4,571 passing yards, Rainey Meszaros of Pacific with 1,062 receiving yards, and Sammy Winder of Southern MIss with 120 points scored.1980 College Football Leaders Sports Reference SR/College Football September 1, 2026 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/1980-leaders.html Rules changes Offensive linemen are permitted full arm extension on so-called "retreat" blocking during pass plays, and clenched hands are permitted. The "chop block" (a second offensive player blocking a defensive player below the knees while engaged with another offensive player) is outlawed. A tie-breaker system was proposed for the post-season (similar to the one adopted for the 1995 post-season, except the start of overtime was at the 15–yard line and no defensive scores allowed), but failed to gain acceptance by the bowls. Facemasking now includes grabbing the helmet as well as the facemask. Conference and program changes School 1979 Conference 1980 Conference Air Force Falcons Independent WAC September Most of the top teams of 1979 were expected to have strong seasons again in 1980. The preseason AP Poll had a top five of No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Alabama, No, 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Oklahoma, all of whom had finished undefeated or with one loss the previous year. Georgia, which had gone just 6–5 in 1979, started at No. 16. September 6: No. 2 Alabama was the first top-five team to begin its schedule, winning 26–3 over Georgia Tech. The other teams at the top of the poll had not begun their seasons; the next poll changed only slightly, with No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 USC. September 13: No. 1 Ohio State hosted Syracuse and won 31–21. No. 2 Alabama was idle. No. 3 Pittsburgh defeated Boston College 14–6, No. 4 Oklahoma beat Kentucky 29–7, and No. 5 USC won 20–17 at Tennessee. The AP voters shuffled the teams around somewhat: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Pittsburgh. September 20: No. 1 Alabama defeated Mississippi 59–35 in a game arranged independently from the official SEC schedule. No. 2 Ohio State shut out Minnesota 47–0. No. 3 Oklahoma was idle. No. 4 USC won 23–13 over No. 20 South Carolina. No. 5 Pittsburgh defeated Kansas 18–3, but still fell out of the top five. No. 6 Nebraska impressed the voters with a 57–0 blowout of Iowa and moved up several spots in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 USC. September 27: Whilst both teams had no national ranking, the final meeting between college football's maiden rivalry occurred in Piscataway, New Jersey, as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights upended the Princeton Tigers 44–13. As both institutions have gone in opposite directions, no attempts to revive the first rivalry have transpired, nor will likely happen. No. 1 Alabama blanked Vanderbilt 41–0. No. 2 Ohio State won 38–21 over No. 20 Arizona State. No. 3 Nebraska visited No. 11 Penn State and came away with a 21–7 victory. The first of the top teams to lose was No. 4 Oklahoma, which fell 31–14 at home to John Elway and Stanford. No. 5 USC won 24–7 at Minnesota. No. 7 Texas shut out Oregon State 35–0 and moved into the top five in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Texas. October October 4: No. 1 Alabama recorded their second consecutive shutout, 45–0 over Kentucky, but the teams behind them were not as successful. No. 2 Ohio State was shut out at home by No. 11 UCLA, 17–0. No. 3 Nebraska was also upset at home, losing to No. 16 Florida State 18–14 on a fumble at the Seminoles’ three-yard line with 12 seconds left. No. 4 USC almost met a similar fate, but pulled out a 23–21 victory against Arizona State. No. 5 Texas won 41–28 at Rice. No. 6 Pittsburgh beat Maryland 38–9 and returned to the top five in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 UCLA. October 11: No. 1 Alabama had a surprisingly tough time with unheralded Rutgers, but the Tide prevailed 17–13. No. 2 USC won 27–10 at Arizona. No. 3 Texas met No. 12 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout and dealt the Sooners another loss, 20–13. No. 4 Pittsburgh lost by a score of 36–22 to No. 11 Florida State, the Seminoles’ second consecutive win against a top-four opponent. No. 5 UCLA defeated No. 16 Stanford 35–21. No. 7 Notre Dame won 32–14 against No. 13 Miami. Three of the Irish's four wins had been over ranked teams, and they moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Notre Dame. October 18: No. 1 Alabama bounced back with another shutout win, 27–0 at Tennessee. No. 2 USC got bogged down in the rain at Oregon and had to settle for a 7–7 tie. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 UCLA were idle. No. 5 Notre Dame dominated Army 30–3. No. 6 Georgia, who had been slowly moving up in the poll with a mixture of narrow wins and blowouts (three of their six wins were by a touchdown or less, and the other three were by more than 30 points) defeated Vanderbilt 41–0 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia. October 25: No. 1 Alabama won 42–7 over No. 20 Southern Mississippi. No. 2 Texas fell to SMU by a score of 20–6, and the Longhorns would end up losing five of their last seven games after a 5–0 start. No. 3 UCLA defeated California 32–9 on the road. No. 4 Notre Dame won 20–3 at Arizona. No. 5 Georgia registered a second straight shutout by defeating Kentucky 27–0. No. 6 Florida State, whose only loss was by a single point to Miami, beat Memphis 24–3 to move into the top five: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Florida State. November November 1: After five straight weeks with at least one major upset, this may have been the craziest day of all. No. 1 Alabama, which had held the top ranking for six weeks and was riding a 28-game winning streak, was knocked off by Mississippi State, 6–3; similar to the earlier Nebraska-Florida State game, the favored team lost on a late fumble at the three-yard line. No. 2 UCLA heard the news of Alabama's loss, but the Bruins could not take advantage, falling 23–17 to Arizona in Tucson. No. 3 Notre Dame shut out Navy 33–0. No. 4 Georgia squeaked past No. 14 South Carolina 13–10 in a matchup between star running backs Herschel Walker and George Rogers. No. 5 Florida State crushed Tulsa 45–2, No. 7 USC blew California out 60–7, and No. 8 Nebraska defeated No. 15 Missouri 38–16. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Nebraska. November 8: The madness continued as new No. 1 Notre Dame was held to a 3–3 tie by Georgia Tech, who would finish with a 1–9–1 record. For the second week in a row, the second-ranked team struggled after being notified that the team above them had lost. No. 2 Georgia trailed rival No. 20 Florida late in the game when QB Buck Belue hit WR Lindsay Scott on an out pattern; Scott turned upfield and went 90 yards for the winning score in the season's most memorable play. It was Scott's only touchdown reception all season and it gave the Bulldogs a 26–21 win, making them the only undefeated and untied team in the nation. The other top teams had less trouble. No. 3 Florida State defeated Virginia Tech 31–7, No. 4 USC won 34–9 at Stanford, No. 5 Nebraska beat Kansas State 55–8, and No. 6 Alabama won 28–7 over LSU. The next poll featured No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Alabama. November 15: No. 1 Georgia won 31–21 at Auburn, the first game of the season where their winning margin was more than 7 but less than 30; the victory clinched the SEC title and a Sugar Bowl berth for the Bulldogs. For the fifth week in a row, a top-two team suffered an upset, as No. 2 USC lost at home to Washington, 20–10, moving the Huskies into first place in the Pac-10. No. 3 Florida State was idle, beginning an unusual three-week layoff before their last game. No. 4 Nebraska shut out Iowa State 35–0. No. 6 Notre Dame went down to Birmingham and beat No. 5 Alabama 7–0. No. 7 Ohio State, who had started at the top of the poll and still had only one loss, beat Iowa 41–7 and finally returned to the top five: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Ohio State. November 22: No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 Florida State were idle, while No. 2 Notre Dame won 24–10 over Air Force. No. 4 Nebraska and No. 9 Oklahoma met to decide the Big 8 title and the Orange Bowl berth, and for the second straight year the underdog Sooners narrowly upset the Cornhuskers (this time winning 21–17 on a touchdown with less than a minute to play). No. 5 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan squared off in their usual showdown for the Big Ten championship, and once again the underdog won a close game, with the Wolverines prevailing 9–3. Michigan's Rose Bowl opponent would be No. 16 Washington, who clinched the Pac-10 title with a 30–23 win over Washington State. No. 6 Pittsburgh and No. 7 Penn State were idle as they prepared for their rivalry game, but both teams moved into the top five after the Nebraska and Ohio State losses: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 Penn State. November 28–29: No. 1 Georgia completed their undefeated season with a 38–20 win over Georgia Tech. No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Florida State were idle. No. 4 Pittsburgh faced No. 5 Penn State, and the Panthers’ defense led the way to a 14–9 victory. No. 6 Oklahoma had finished its season, but the Sooners moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 Oklahoma. December December 6: The season ended with one final upset as No. 2 Notre Dame, whose only previous blemish was their tie against Georgia Tech, fell 20–3 to No. 17 USC. No. 3 Florida State, the only other highly ranked team which had not finished its schedule, defeated No. 19 Florida 17–13. No. 6 Michigan moved up one spot in the final regular-season poll: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Michigan. The major bowls extended their invitations in mid-November when there were still games left to be played, which led to problems for some of the top-ranked teams. Predicting that Notre Dame would defeat USC and finish undefeated, the Sugar Bowl organizers arranged for a meeting between the Fighting Irish and Georgia, which would have been a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown. The early invitation, combined with Notre Dame's late-season loss, cost Florida State (the actual No. 2 team in the final poll) a chance to play in a de facto national championship game. The Seminoles ended up in an Orange Bowl rematch against Oklahoma, who had defeated them in the same event the previous year. The other unfortunate team was Pittsburgh, which was shut out of the New Year's Day bowls despite a No. 3 ranking and a 10–1 record (their only loss being to Florida State). The Cotton Bowl organizers invited No. 9 Alabama to face No. 6 Baylor (who earned the automatic bid as the SWC champion) before the Panthers had obtained their resume-building win over Penn State. Since the Rose Bowl was contracted to feature the Big Ten and Pac-10 winners, the Panthers had to settle for a Gator Bowl bid against No. 18 South Carolina and Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers. Conference standings No. 1 and No. 2 Progress WEEKS No. 1 No. 2 Event PRE Ohio State Alabama 1–3 Alabama Ohio State UCLA 17, Ohio State 0 (Oct. 4) 4–5 Alabama USC Oregon 7, USC 7 (Oct 18) 6 Alabama Texas SMU 20, Texas 6 (Oct 25) 7 Alabama UCLA Miss. St 6, Alabama 3 (Nov. 1) & Arizona 23, UCLA 17 (Nov. 1) 8 Notre Dame Georgia Ga. Tech 3, Notre Dame 3 (Nov. 8) 9 Georgia USC Washington 20, USC 10 (Nov 15) 10–11 Georgia Florida State USC 20, Notre Dame 3 (Dec 6) 12 Georgia Pittsburgh End Regular Season Notable rivalry games Notre Dame 29, Michigan 27 Rutgers 44, Princeton 13 (Final meeting) Michigan 9, Ohio State 3 No. 9 Oklahoma 21, No. 5 Nebraska 17 UCLA 20, USC 17 Pitt 14, Penn State 9 California 28, Stanford 23 No. 1 Georgia 38, Georgia Tech 20 LSU 24, Tulane 7 USC 20, No. 2 Notre Dame 3 I-AA team wins over I-A teams Italics denotes I-AA teams. no no September 6 no Boise State Utah Robert Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, Utah no 28–7 27,231 FCS wins vs. FBS teams: All-time victories, upsets, wins vs. ranked teams https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/fcs-wins-vs-fbs-teams-all-time-victories-upsets NCAA.com September 7, 2025 October 2, 2025 September 6 no Wofford East Tennessee State Memorial Center Johnson City, Tennessee no 16–9 7,477 September 13 no UT Arlington Northwestern State Harry Turpin Stadium Natchitoches, Louisiana no 31–38 September 13 no Western Carolina Tennessee Tech Tucker Stadium Cookeville, Tennessee no 10–26 9,313 September 20 no Delaware Temple Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, Pennsylvania no 28–7 23,013 September 20 no Villanova UMass Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium Amherst, Massachusetts no 12–24 11,494 September 20 no Murray State Louisville Fairgrounds Stadium Louisville, Kentucky no 13–9 September 20 no East Tennessee State Southeastern Louisiana Strawberry Stadium Hammond, Louisiana no 3–7 8,500 September 26 no Lehigh Penn Franklin Field Philadelphia, Pennsylvania no 35–6 14,864 September 27 no Bucknell Brown Brown Stadium Providence, Rhode Island no 28–20 7,000 September 27 no New Hampshire Dartmouth Memorial Field Hanover, New Hampshire Granite Bowl no 24–7 11,027 September 27 no Southeastern Louisiana Illinois State Hancock Stadium Normal, Illinois no 28–21 6,622 October 4 no Colgate Connecticut Memorial Stadium Storrs, Connecticut no 21–24 11,439 October 4 no Long Beach State Tennessee State Hale Stadium Nashville, Tennessee no 35–38 15,203 October 11 no Eastern Michigan Akron Rubber Bowl Akron, Ohio no 10–21 October 18 no Cal State Fullerton 9 (I-AA) Boise State Bronco Stadium Boise, Idaho no 11–26 17,052 October 18 no 8 (I-AA) Connecticut Holy Cross Fitton Field Worcester, Massachusetts no 18–17 6,000 October 18 no East Tennessee State Eastern Kentucky Hanger Field Richmond, Kentucky no 6–25 9,500 October 18 no Penn Lafayette Fisher Field Easton, Pennsylvania no 0–3 12,000 October 25 no T–10 (I-AA) Delaware William & Mary Cary Field Williamsburg, Virginia rivalry no 7–3 11,600 October 25 no Southeastern Louisiana Northeast Louisiana Malone Stadium Monroe, Louisiana no 55–30 17,203 November 1 no VMI T–7 (I-AA) Boston University Nickerson Field Boston, Massachusetts no 22–38 3,000 November 1 no Cornell Bucknell Memorial Stadium Lewisburg, Pennsylvania no 16–33 2,500 November 1 no Villanova 9 (I-AA) Delaware Delaware Stadium Newark, Delaware Battle of the Blue no 7–17 22,680 November 1 no Illinois State Western Illinois Hanson Field Macomb, Illinois no 0–27 3,631 November 8 no T–10 (I-AA) UMass Holy Cross Fitton Field Worcester, Massachusetts no 17–13 7,121 November 15 no T–6 (I-AA) Eastern Kentucky East Carolina Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, North Carolina no 28–16 10,021 Note: Lehigh at Army tied 24–24. Colgate at Lehigh tied 17–17. Wofford at Furman tied 14–14. Division II team wins over I-A teams Italics denotes D-II teams. no no October 4 no Illinois State Eastern Illinois O'Brien Stadium Charleston, Illinois Mid-America Classic no 14–31 10,500 Bowl games New Year's Day Sugar Bowl: No. 1 Georgia 17, No. 7 Notre Dame 10 Orange Bowl: No. 4 Oklahoma 18, No. 2 Florida State 17 Rose Bowl: No. 5 Michigan 23, No. 16 Washington 6 Cotton Bowl: No. 9 Alabama 30, No. 6 Baylor 2 Other bowls Gator Bowl: No. 3 Pittsburgh 37, No. 18 South Carolina 9 Sun Bowl: No. 8 Nebraska 31, No. 17 Mississippi State 17 Fiesta Bowl: No. 10 Penn State 31, No. 11 Ohio State 19 Peach Bowl: No. 20 Miami 20, Virginia Tech 10 Bluebonnet Bowl: No. 13 North Carolina 16, Texas 7 Liberty Bowl: Purdue 28, Missouri 25 Hall of Fame Classic: Arkansas 34, Tulane 15 Tangerine Bowl: Florida 35, Maryland 20 Holiday Bowl: No. 14 BYU 46, No. 19 SMU 45 Garden State Bowl: Houston 35, Navy 0 Independence Bowl: Southern Mississippi 16, McNeese State 14 Final AP and UPI rankings 1980 NCAA Division I-A football rankings RankAPUPI 1. GeorgiaGeorgia2. PittsburghPittsburgh3. OklahomaOklahoma4.MichiganMichigan5.Florida StateFlorida State6.AlabamaAlabama7.NebraskaNebraska8.Penn StatePenn State9.Notre DameNorth Carolina10.North CarolinaNotre Dame11.UCLABYU12.BYUUCLA13.USCBaylor14.BaylorUSC15.Ohio StateOhio State16.WashingtonPurdue17.PurdueWashington18.Miami (FL)Miami (FL)19.Mississippi St.Florida20.SMUSMU Heisman Trophy voting The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Player School Position 1st 2nd 3rd Total George Rogers South Carolina RB 216 179 122 1,128 Hugh Green Pittsburgh DE 179 125 74 861 Herschel Walker Georgia RB 107 120 122 638 Mark Herrmann Purdue QB 58 71 89 405 Jim McMahon BYU QB 30 32 35 189 Art Schlichter Ohio State QB 18 34 36 158 Neil Lomax Portland State QB 10 11 17 69 Jarvis Redwine Nebraska RB 4 16 20 64 Kenny Easley UCLA S 5 5 19 44 Anthony Carter Michigan WR 4 6 10 34 Source: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W1hYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6294%2C69372 Eugene Register-Guard Oregon Associated Press Rogers wins Heisman Trophy December 1, 1980 1Bhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hoIwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RvkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5598%2C112359 Spokane Daily Chronicle Washington UPI Rogers selected Heisman winner December 1, 1980 21 Other major awards Maxwell - Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh Outland – Mark May, OT, Pittsburgh Camp - Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh Lombardi - Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh Attendances Average home attendance top 3: Rank Team Average 1 Michigan Wolverines 104,292 2 Tennessee Volunteers 88,649 3 Ohio State Buckeyes 87,925 Source:ATTENDANCE RECORDS https://s3.amazonaws.com/fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attend.pdf References Pitt To Honor Mark May and The 1980 Panthers At Homecoming This Weekend http://pittsburghpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101705aam.html 2007-07-25 2007-11-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20071130210507/http://pittsburghpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101705aam.html dead