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The 1977 season

Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Dan Devine, after it beat Texas 38–⁠10 in the Cotton Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 5 Notre Dame 38, No. 1 Texas 10 (Jan 2, 1978). 42 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Earl Campbell, RB, Texas.

The Heisman vote: Earl Campbell 1,547 points, Terry Miller 812
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Earl Campbell RB, Texas1,54737118760
Terry Miller RB, Oklahoma State812125159119
Ken MacAfee TE, Notre Dame343555470
Doug Williams QB, Grambling State266365254
Ross Browner DE, Notre Dame213214560
Guy Benjamin QB, Stanford111141735
Matt Cavanaugh QB, Pittsburgh8661734
Rick Leach QB, Michigan596923
Charles Alexander RB, LSU5421322
Wes Chandler WR, Florida5041116

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

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Notre DameIndependent
2AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
3ArkansasSouthwest Conference
4TexasSouthwest Conference
5Penn StateIndependent
6KentuckySoutheastern Conference
7OklahomaBig Eight
8PittsburghIndependent
9MichiganBig Ten
10WashingtonPac-8
11Ohio StateBig Ten
12NebraskaBig Eight
13USCPac-8
14Florida StateIndependent
15StanfordPac-8
16San Diego StateIndependent
17North CarolinaAtlantic Coast Conference
18Arizona StateWestern Athletic Conference
19ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
20BYUWestern Athletic Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 22, 1977Minnesota 16, 1Michigan 0
Sep 17, 1977Ole Miss 20, 3Notre Dame 13
Sep 17, 1977Nebraska 31, 4Alabama 24
Oct 1, 1977Kentucky 24, 4Penn State 20
Oct 1, 1977LSU 36, 9Florida 14
Oct 15, 1977Iowa State 24, 9Nebraska 21
Oct 29, 1977California 17, 10USC 14
Sep 17, 1977West Virginia 24, 11Maryland 16
Nov 19, 1977Colorado State 25, 12Arizona State 14
Oct 8, 1977Oregon State 24, 13BYU 19
Nov 19, 1977San Diego State 41, 13Florida State 16
Oct 8, 1977Washington State 17, 14California 10

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 1977, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13FinalWashington: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 unranked, Wk 11 No. 19, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 13, Final No. 1010 WashingtonMichigan: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Final No. 99 MichiganPittsburgh: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 16, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 16, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 13, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 10, Final No. 88 PittsburghOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 2, Final No. 77 OklahomaKentucky: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 16, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Final No. 66 KentuckyPenn State: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 8, Final No. 55 Penn StateTexas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Final No. 44 TexasArkansas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Final No. 33 ArkansasAlabama: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 3, Final No. 22 AlabamaNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Final No. 11 Notre Dame
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. Arkansasunranked → No. 3
  2. Texasunranked → No. 4
  3. Kentuckyunranked → No. 6
  4. Washingtonunranked → No. 10
  5. Florida Stateunranked → No. 14

Fell

  1. Texas TechNo. 8 → unranked
  2. Texas A&MNo. 9 → unranked
  3. MarylandNo. 10 → unranked
  4. UCLANo. 11 → unranked
  5. ColoradoNo. 12 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsDoug Williams (Grambling)3,286 yds
Passing touchdownsDoug Williams (Grambling)38 TD
Passer ratingDave Wilson (Ball State)164.2
Rushing yardsEarl Campbell (Texas)1,744 yds
Rushing touchdownsEarl Campbell (Texas)18 TD
Yards per carryHenry White (Colgate)7.9
ReceptionsWayne Tolleson (Western Carolina)73 catches
Receiving yardsRod Foppe (Louisiana Tech)1,274 yds
Yards per catchErnest Gray (Memphis)29.5
PointsEarl Campbell (Texas)114 pts
Points per gameEarl Campbell (Texas)10.4
Total offenseDoug Williams (Grambling)3,249 yds
Total offense per gameDoug Williams (Grambling)293.5
Punt return averageRobert Woods (Grambling)25.4
Kickoff return averageTony Ball (Chattanooga)36.4

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
North Carolina
Big Eight
Oklahoma
Big Sky
Boise State
Big Ten
Michigan and Ohio State (shared)
Ivy League
Yale
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Pac-8
Washington
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Fresno State
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Southern Conference
Chattanooga and VMI (shared)
Southland Conference
Louisiana Tech
Southwest Conference
Texas
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling
Western Athletic Conference
Arizona State and BYU (shared)
Yankee Conference
Massachusetts

Division II and below

California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State
Heartland Collegiate Conference
Butler
Lone Star Conference
Abilene Christian
Metropolitan Intercollegiate Conference
Fordham
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis
Ohio Valley Conference
Austin Peay
South Atlantic Conference
Elon
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Tarleton 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

25 playersAll 8 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1977 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1977 All-America teams page.

The 1977 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 17, 1977Louisiana Tech 24, Louisville 14Independence Bowl
Dec 19, 197712Nebraska 21, 14North Carolina 17Liberty Bowl
Dec 22, 1977Maryland 17, Minnesota 7Hall of Fame Classic
Dec 23, 197719Florida State 40, Texas Tech 17Tangerine Bowl
Dec 25, 19778Penn State 42, 15Arizona State 30Fiesta Bowl
Dec 30, 197710Pittsburgh 34, 11Clemson 3Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 1977NC State 24, Iowa State 14Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 197720USC 47, 17Texas A&M 28Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Dec 31, 1977Stanford 24, LSU 14Sun Bowl
Jan 2, 19783Alabama 35, 9Ohio State 6Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 19786Arkansas 31, 2Oklahoma 6Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 19785Notre Dame 38, 1Texas 10Cotton Bowl
Jan 2, 197813Washington 27, 4Michigan 20Rose Bowl