1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football
1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Consensus national champion; Sugar Bowl champion; Eastern champion
Sugar Bowl, W 27–3 vs. Georgia
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	12–0
Head coach	Johnny Majors (4th season);
Offensive coordinator	Joe Avezzano (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Veer
Defensive coordinator	Bobby Roper (1st season)
Base defense	Basic 50
Home stadium	Pitt Stadium
	Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1976 NCAA Division I football season and is recognized as a consensus national champion.^[2] Pitt was also awarded the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy as the best Division I team in the East. The Panthers played their home games at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

ConferenceIndependent

CoachesNo. 1

APNo. 1

Record12–0

Quick facts Pittsburgh Panthers football, Consensus national championSugar Bowl championEastern champion ...

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1976 NCAA Division I independents football records
v t e	Conf.			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 1 Pittsburgh		–		12	–	0	–	0
No. 17 Rutgers		–		11	–	0	–	0
San Diego State		–		10	–	1	–	0
No. 12 Notre Dame		–		9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		8	–	2	–	0
Boston College		–		8	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati		–		8	–	3	–	0
Memphis State		–		7	–	4	–	0
North Texas State *		–		7	–	4	–	0
Southern Illinois		–		7	–	4	–	0
Penn State		–		7	–	5	–	0
Villanova		–		6	–	4	–	1
South Carolina		–		6	–	5	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		6	–	5	–	0
Army		–		5	–	6	–	0
Florida State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Illinois State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Richmond		–		5	–	6	–	0
West Virginia		–		5	–	6	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		4	–	6	–	1
Temple		–		4	–	6	–	0
Air Force		–		4	–	7	–	0
Dayton		–		4	–	7	–	0
Louisville		–		4	–	7	–	0
Marshall		–		4	–	7	–	0
Navy		–		4	–	7	–	0
Indiana State		–		3	–	7	–	0
Hawaii		–		3	–	8	–	0
Holy Cross		–		3	–	8	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		3	–	8	–	0
Syracuse		–		3	–	8	–	0
Utah State		–		3	–	8	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		2	–	9	–	0
Southern Miss		–		2	–	9	–	0
Tulane		–		2	–	9	–	0

North Texas State (originally 6–5) was awarded a forfeit win after Mississippi State was found to be using an ineligible player.^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

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During the 1970s, the top-ranked team won its bowl game only three times: Pittsburgh joined Nebraska (1971) and USC (1972).

In the first game of the 1976 season, the Panthers faced off against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. A year earlier, Tony Dorsett had finished with 303 yards rushing in Pitt's 34–20 victory over the Irish. "They even grew the grass high," said Carmen DeArdo, a diehard Pitt alumnus, "and everyone knew Tony would get the ball." "They didn't let that grass grow long enough," Dorsett said later. He darted 61 yards on his first run of the season and tacked on 120 more by the end of the 31–10 Pitt win.^[3]^[4]

The season continued with a 42–14 win at Georgia Tech and a 36–19 win over Miami. The Panthers traveled to Annapolis on October 23 to face Navy and Dorsett broke the NCAA career rushing record on a 32-yard touchdown run in the 45–0 victory. Dorsett's achievement prompted a mid-game celebration in which even Navy saluted the feat with a cannon blast.^[5] Pitt won a tough, hard-fought battle against struggling rival Syracuse.

On November 6, the second-ranked Panthers hosted Army at Pitt Stadium and won handily, but the significant action was taking place several hundred miles west, in West Lafayette, Indiana, where the Purdue Boilermakers held off the top-ranked Michigan Wolverines 16–14 in the closing seconds. The Pitt Stadium crowd erupted in celebration when the stadium public address announcer dramatically gave the final score from Purdue. For the first time in the modern era, Panther fans could legitimately claim, "We're number one!" Pitt defended its ranking in a close Backyard Brawl against West Virginia to go 10–0 heading into the regular season finale on national television against instate rival Penn State (7–3).^[6]

At a packed Three Rivers Stadium on the night after Thanksgiving, the Nittany Lions scored first and held Dorsett to 51 yards in the first half; the game was tied at seven at halftime.^[7] Majors adjusted for the second half by shifting Dorsett from tailback to fullback, enabling him to explode for an additional 173 yards as Pitt rolled to a 24–7 victory to cap an undefeated regular season.^[7]^[8]

In December, Dorsett became the first (and remains the only) Pitt Panther to win the Heisman Trophy as the nation's best college football player. Dorsett also won the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, and was named UPI Player of the Year. He led the nation in rushing with 1,948 yards and was selected as an All-American. Dorsett finished his college career with 6,082 total rushing yards, then an NCAA record for career rushing.

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Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	4:20 pm	at No. 11 Notre Dame	No. 9	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–10	59,075	^[9]
September 18	7:30 pm	at Georgia Tech	No. 3	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		W 42–14	43,424	^[10]
September 25	1:30 pm	Temple	No. 3	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 21–7	38,500	^[11]
October 2	1:30 pm	at Duke	No. 2	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC		W 44–31	37,200	^[12]
October 9	1:30 pm	Louisville	No. 2	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 27–6	34,000	^[13]
October 16	1:30 pm	Miami (FL)	No. 2	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 36–19	42,434	^[14]
October 23	2:00 pm	at Navy	No. 2	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, MD		W 45–0	26,346	^[15]
October 30	1:30 pm	Syracuse	No. 2	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)		W 23–13	50,399	^[16]
November 6	1:30 pm	Army	No. 2	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 37–7	45,753	^[17]
November 13	12:30 pm	West Virginia	No. 1	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (Backyard Brawl)	ABC	W 24–16	56,500	^[18]
November 26	9:00 pm	No. 16 Penn State	No. 1	Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 24–7	50,250	^[19]
January 1	12:30 pm	vs. No. 5 Georgia	No. 1	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 27–3	76,117	^[20]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Statistics	PITT	ND
First downs	12	20
Total yards	277	287
Rushes/yards	53–191	50–112
Passing yards	87	175
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	6–13–0	13–38–4
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Pittsburgh	Passing	Robert Haygood	5–12, 83 yards
	Rushing	Tony Dorsett	22 carries, 181 yards, 1 TD
	Receiving	Jim Corbett	4 receptions, 72 yards
Notre Dame	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Statistics	PITT	GT
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing	Tony Dorsett	27 carries, 113 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving
Georgia Tech	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

Schedule

Rankings

AP Poll

UPI Poll

Game summaries

at No. 11 Notre Dame

at Georgia Tech

Temple

at Duke

Louisville

Miami (FL)

at Navy

Syracuse

Army

West Virginia

vs. No. 16 Penn State

vs. No. 5 Georgia (Sugar Bowl)

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NFL

Media

Radio

References

Further information

Related Articles

1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Consensus national champion Sugar Bowl champion Eastern champion
Sugar Bowl, W 27–3 vs. Georgia
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	12–0
Head coach	Johnny Majors (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Joe Avezzano (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Veer
Defensive coordinator	Bobby Roper (1st season)
Base defense	Basic 50
Home stadium	Pitt Stadium
Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Temple	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisville	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing	Tony Dorsett	30 carries, 130 yards
	Receiving

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Miami (FL)	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing	Tony Dorsett	35 carries, 227 yards, TD
	Receiving	Tony Dorsett	1 reception, 40 yards, TD

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Syracuse	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Army	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Pittsburgh	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Virginia	Passing	Dan Kendra	8–24, 70 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
	Rushing	Walt Easley	16 carries, 75 yards
	Receiving	Steve Lewis	6 receptions, 74 yards, 2 TD
Pittsburgh	Passing	Matt Cavanaugh	8–14, 49 yards
	Rushing	Tony Dorsett	38 carries, 199 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Jim Corbett	4 receptions, 27 yards

Position	Starting Lineups vs. Georgia (Sugar Bowl)
Offense
SE	#24 Gordon Jones
LT	#64 John Hanhauser
LG	#77 Matt Carroll
C	#50 John Pelusi
RG	#67 Tom Brzoza
RT	#76 George Messich
TE	#81 James Corbett
QB	#12 Matt Cavanaugh
TB	#33 Tony Dorsett
FB	#44 Bob Hutton
FL	#29 Willie Taylor
Defense
LE	#80 Ed Wilamowski
LT	#68 Don Parrish
MG	#91 Al Romano
RT	#70 Randy Holloway
RE	#60 Cecil Johnson
LLB	#59 Arnie Weatherton
RLB	#58 James Cramer
MON	#14 Jeff Delaney
LHB	#21 J.C. Wilson
RHB	#37 LeRoy Felder
S	#31 Bob Jury

1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football staff

	Coaching staff Johnny Majors – head coach Joe Madden – assistant head coach/defensive secondary Joe Avezzano – offensive coordinator/offensive line Bobby Roper – defensive coordinator/defensive line Bill Cox – quarterbacks/receivers Jim Dyar – defensive secondary Larry Holton – defensive ends Harry Jones – offensive backs Bob Matey – middle guards/junior varsity			Support staff Henry Lee Parker – administrative assistant to the head coach Keith Schroeder – coordinator of computer scouting Ray Olsen – graduate assistant Dave Wannstedt – graduate assistant			Strength and conditioning staff

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Tony Dorsett	Running back	1	2	Dallas Cowboys
Larry Swider	Punter	7	185	Denver Broncos
Jim Corbett	Tight end	7	194	Cincinnati Bengals
Al Romano	Defensive lineman	11	289	Houston Oilers
Carson Long	Kicker	11	302	Los Angeles Rams
Don Parrish	Defensive end	12	314	Atlanta Falcons

Related Articles

"Pitt, Dorsett crush Notre Dame, 31–10"

"Pitt rolls past Georgia Tech, 42–14"

"Pitt's 'marathon man' smashes Miami"

"Dorsett's TD rush KOs Archie's record"

"Dorsett peels Orange for 242 yards"

"Dorsett runs Pitt past Army, 37–7"

"Panthers hold off WVU, 24–16"

"Dorsett, Pitt roll over Penn State"

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Panthers	7	14	0	10	31
No. 11 Fighting Irish	7	3	0	0	10

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Panthers	7	7	14	14	42
Yellow Jackets	0	7	7	0	14

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	7	0	0	0	7
No. 3 Panthers	0	6	8	7	21

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Panthers	7	23	14	0	44
Blue Devils	7	0	16	8	31