CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1976 season

Pittsburgh finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 12–⁠0 under Johnny Majors, after it beat Georgia 27–⁠3 in the Sugar Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 USC 24, No. 2 UCLA 14 (Nov 20, 1976). 47 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Tony Dorsett 2,357 points, Ricky Bell 1,346
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Tony Dorsett RB, Pittsburgh2,35770111230
Ricky Bell RB, USC1,34673485157
Rob Lytle RB, Michigan4133585138
Terry Miller RB, Oklahoma State197184357
Tommy Kramer QB, Rice636731
Gifford Nielsen QB, BYU451728
Ray Goff QB, Georgia4421214
Mike Voight RB, North Carolina411724
Joe Roth QB, California320620
Jeff Dankworth QB, UCLA312613

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1PittsburghIndependent
2USCPac-8
3MichiganBig Ten
4HoustonSouthwest Conference
5OklahomaBig Eight
6Ohio StateBig Ten
7Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
8MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference
9NebraskaBig Eight
10GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
11AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
12Notre DameIndependent
13Texas TechSouthwest Conference
14Oklahoma StateBig Eight
15UCLAPac-8
16ColoradoBig Eight
17RutgersIndependent
18KentuckySoutheastern Conference
19Iowa StateBig Eight
20Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference

Biggest upsets

Nov 6, 1976Purdue 16, 1Michigan 14
Sep 25, 1976Missouri 22, 2Ohio State 21
Oct 9, 1976Ole Miss 21, 4Georgia 17
Oct 23, 1976Oklahoma State 31, 5Oklahoma 24
Sep 11, 1976Ole Miss 10, 6Alabama 7
Sep 18, 1976Illinois 31, 6Missouri 6
Sep 11, 1976Boston College 14, 7Texas 13
Oct 16, 1976Iowa State 21, 7Missouri 17
Sep 11, 1976Missouri 46, 8USC 25
Oct 9, 1976Oklahoma State 21, 8Kansas 14
Sep 25, 1976Houston 21, 9Texas A&M 10
Nov 13, 1976Iowa State 37, 9Nebraska 28

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1976, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13FinalGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 16, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 5, Final No. 1010 GeorgiaNebraska: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 13, Final No. 99 NebraskaMaryland: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 4, Final No. 88 MarylandTexas A&M: Wk 1 No. 14, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 17, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 18, Wk 10 No. 16, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 10, Final No. 77 Texas A&MOhio State: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Final No. 66 Ohio StateOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 13, Wk 9 No. 17, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Final No. 55 OklahomaHouston: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 19, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 19, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 6, Final No. 44 HoustonMichigan: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Final No. 33 MichiganUSC: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 19, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Final No. 22 USCPittsburgh: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Final No. 11 Pittsburgh
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Houstonunranked → No. 4
  2. Texas Techunranked → No. 13
  3. Oklahoma Stateunranked → No. 14
  4. Coloradounranked → No. 16
  5. Rutgersunranked → No. 17

Fell

  1. Arizona StateNo. 3 → unranked
  2. TexasNo. 7 → unranked
  3. Penn StateNo. 10 → unranked
  4. ArkansasNo. 13 → unranked
  5. CaliforniaNo. 15 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsTommy Kramer (Rice)3,317 yds
Passing touchdownsGifford Nielsen (BYU)29 TD
Passer ratingSteve Haynes (Louisiana Tech)146.9
Rushing yardsTony Dorsett (Pittsburgh)2,150 yds
Rushing touchdownsTerry Miller (Oklahoma State)23 TD
Yards per carryScott McConnell (App State)6.9
ReceptionsBilly Ryckman (Louisiana Tech)77 catches
Receiving yardsBilly Ryckman (Louisiana Tech)1,382 yds
Yards per catchJim Smith (Michigan)27.5
PointsTony Dorsett (Pittsburgh)134 pts
Points per gameTony Dorsett (Pittsburgh)12.2
Total offenseTommy Kramer (Rice)3,272 yds
Total offense per gameTommy Kramer (Rice)297.5
Punt return averageHenry Jenkins (Rutgers)15.0
Kickoff return averageIra Matthews (Wisconsin)29.6

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I

Atlantic Coast Conference
Maryland
Big Eight
Colorado, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (shared)
Big Ten
Michigan and Ohio State (shared)
Ivy League
Brown and Yale (shared)
Mid-American Conference
Ball State
Missouri Valley Conference
New Mexico State and Tulsa (shared)
Pac-8
USC
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
San José State
Southeastern Conference
Georgia and Kentucky (shared)
Southern Conference
East Carolina
Southland Conference
McNeese
Southwest Conference
Houston and Texas Tech (shared)
Western Athletic Conference
BYU and Wyoming (shared)

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Big Sky
Montana State
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Norfolk State
Gulf South Conference
Troy
Metropolitan Intercollegiate Conference
Long Island University
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Morgan State and South Carolina State (shared)
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
South Atlantic Conference
Elon
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn State

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

24 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1976 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1976 All-America teams page.

The 1976 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 13, 1976McNeese 20, Tulsa 16Independence Bowl
Dec 18, 197614Oklahoma State 49, BYU 21Tangerine Bowl
Dec 20, 197616Alabama 36, 7UCLA 6Liberty Bowl
Dec 25, 19768Oklahoma 41, Wyoming 7Fiesta Bowl
Dec 27, 197615Notre Dame 20, 20Penn State 9Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 1976Kentucky 21, 19North Carolina 0Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 197613Nebraska 27, 9Texas Tech 24Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 1, 19776Houston 30, 4Maryland 21Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 197711Ohio State 27, 12Colorado 10Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19771Pittsburgh 27, 5Georgia 3Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19773USC 14, 2Michigan 6Rose Bowl
Jan 2, 197710Texas A&M 37, Florida 14Sun Bowl