The 1982 season
Penn State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–1 under Joe Paterno, after it beat Georgia 27–23 in the Sugar Bowl. SMU also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Penn State 27, No. 1 Georgia 23 (Jan 1, 1983). Four Division I-A teams finished unbeaten. 35 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.
The Heisman vote: Herschel Walker 1,926 points, John Elway 1,231
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herschel Walker RB, Georgia | 1,926 | 525 | 155 | 41 | |
| John Elway QB, Stanford | 1,231 | 139 | 335 | 144 | |
| Eric Dickerson RB, SMU | 465 | 31 | 100 | 172 | |
| Anthony Carter WR, Michigan | 142 | 11 | 27 | 55 | |
| Dave Rimington C, Nebraska | 137 * | 12 | 23 | 52 | |
| Todd Blackledge QB, Penn State | 108 | 4 | 26 | 44 | |
| Tom Ramsey QB, UCLA | 65 | 2 | 16 | 27 | |
| Tony Eason QB, Illinois | 60 | 5 | 6 | 33 | |
| Dan Marino QB, Pittsburgh | 47 | 1 | 6 | 32 | |
| Curt Warner RB, Penn State | 40 | 2 | 8 | 18 | |
| Mike Rozier RB, Nebraska | 40 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. * The votes shown don’t add up to the points shown; the source has a typo in one of them.
Scoreboards
Final AP poll
| 1 | Penn State | Independent |
| 2 | SMU | Southwest Conference |
| 3 | Nebraska | Big Eight |
| 4 | Georgia | Southeastern Conference |
| 5 | UCLA | Pac-10 |
| 6 | Arizona State | Pac-10 |
| 7 | Washington | Pac-10 |
| 8 | Clemson | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| 9 | Arkansas | Southwest Conference |
| 10 | Pittsburgh | Independent |
| 11 | LSU | Southeastern Conference |
| 12 | Ohio State | Big Ten |
| 13 | Florida State | Independent |
| 14 | Auburn | Southeastern Conference |
| 15 | USC | Pac-10 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | Big Eight |
| 17 | Texas | Southwest Conference |
| 18 | North Carolina | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| 19 | West Virginia | Independent |
| 20 | Maryland | Atlantic Coast Conference |
Biggest upsets
| Nov 6, 1982 | Notre Dame 31, 1Pittsburgh 16 |
| Oct 16, 1982 | Tennessee 35, 2Alabama 28 |
| Oct 30, 1982 | Stanford 43, 2Washington 31 |
| Oct 2, 1982 | LSU 24, 4Florida 13 |
| Nov 6, 1982 | Baylor 24, 5Arkansas 17 |
| Nov 20, 1982 | Washington State 24, 5Washington 20 |
| Nov 13, 1982 | Mississippi State 27, 6LSU 24 |
| Nov 27, 1982 | Arizona 28, 6Arizona State 18 |
| Nov 27, 1982 | Tulane 31, 7LSU 28 |
| Dec 25, 1982 | North Carolina 26, 8Texas 10 |
| Sep 11, 1982 | West Virginia 41, 9Oklahoma 27 |
| Oct 16, 1982 | Arizona 16, 9Notre Dame 13 |
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
Climbed
- UCLANo. 20 → No. 5
- LSUunranked → No. 11
- Arizona StateNo. 19 → No. 6
- Florida Stateunranked → No. 13
- Auburnunranked → No. 14
Fell
- AlabamaNo. 3 → unranked
- MichiganNo. 12 → unranked
- North CarolinaNo. 5 → No. 18
- MiamiNo. 15 → unranked
- FloridaNo. 16 → unranked
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Todd Dillon (Long Beach State) | 3,517 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Passing touchdowns | John Elway (Stanford) | 24 TD |
| Passer rating | Tom Ramsey (UCLA) | 153.5 |
| Rushing yards | Ernest Anderson (Oklahoma State) | 1,877 yds |
| Rushing touchdowns | Greg Allen (Florida State) | 20 TD |
| Yards per carry | Marcus Dupree (Oklahoma) | 7.8 |
| Receptions | Mike Martin (Illinois) | 69 catches |
| Receiving yards | Henry Ellard (Fresno State) | 1,510 yds |
| Yards per catch | Herkie Walls (Texas) | 28.1 |
| Receiving touchdowns | Henry Ellard (Fresno State) | 15 TD |
| Points | Greg Allen (Florida State) | 126 pts |
| Points per game | Greg Allen (Florida State) | 11.5 |
| Total offense | Todd Dillon (Long Beach State) | 3,587 yds |
| Total offense per game | Todd Dillon (Long Beach State) | 326.1 |
| Punt return average | Lionel James (Auburn) | 15.8 |
| Kickoff return average | Carl Monroe (Utah) | 30.1 |
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-A
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- Clemson
- Big Eight
- Nebraska
- Big Ten
- Michigan
- Mid-American Conference
- Bowling Green
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Tulsa
- Pac-10
- UCLA
- Pacific Coast Athletic Association
- Fresno State
- Southeastern Conference
- Georgia
- Southwest Conference
- SMU
- Western Athletic Conference
- BYU
Division I-AA
- Big Sky
- Idaho, Montana and Montana State (shared)
- Ivy League
- Dartmouth, Harvard and Pennsylvania (shared)
- Mid-Continent Conference
- Eastern Illinois and Northern Iowa (shared)
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
- South Carolina State
- Ohio Valley Conference
- Eastern Kentucky
- Southern Conference
- Furman
- Southland Conference
- Louisiana Tech
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Jackson State
- Yankee Conference
- Maine, Massachusetts and UConn (shared)
Division II and below
- Gulf South Conference
- Jacksonville State
- Lone Star Conference
- Texas State
- North Central Conference
- North Dakota State
- Northern California Athletic Conference
- UC Davis
- Western Football Conference
- Cal Poly
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
- WRAnthony Carter, Michigan
- TEGordon Hudson, BYU
- OTDon Mosebar, Southern California
- OTJim Covert, Pittsburgh
- OGSteve Korte, Arkansas
- OGBruce Matthews, USC
- CDave Rimington, Nebraska
- QBJohn Elway, Stanford
- RBHerschel Walker, Georgia
- RBEric Dickerson, SMU
- RBMike Rozier, Nebraska
- DEBilly Ray Smith Jr., Arkansas
- DEVernon Maxwell, Arizona State
- DTMike Pitts, Alabama
- DTRick Bryan, Oklahoma
- DTGabriel Rivera, Texas Tech
- MGGeorge Achica, USC
- LBDarryl Talley, West Virginia
- LBMarcus Marek, Ohio State
- LBRicky Hunley, Arizona
- LBWilber Marshall, Florida
- DBTerry Kinard, Clemson
- STerry Hoage, Georgia
- DBMike Richardson, Arizona State
- KChuck Nelson, Washington
- PJim Arnold, Vanderbilt
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1982 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1982 All-America teams page.
The 1982 awards
Every awardPlayer of the year
By position
- Davey O’BrienTodd Blackledge, QB, Penn State
- OutlandDave Rimington, C, Nebraska
- LombardiDave Rimington, C, Nebraska
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Dec 11, 1982 | Wisconsin 14, Kansas State 3Independence Bowl |
| Dec 17, 1982 | 17Ohio State 47, BYU 17Holiday Bowl |
| Dec 18, 1982 | 18Auburn 33, Boston College 26Tangerine Bowl |
| Dec 18, 1982 | Fresno State 29, Bowling Green 28California Bowl |
| Dec 25, 1982 | North Carolina 26, 8Texas 10Sun Bowl |
| Dec 25, 1982 | 9Washington 21, 16Maryland 20Aloha Bowl |
| Dec 29, 1982 | Alabama 21, Illinois 15Liberty Bowl |
| Dec 30, 1982 | Florida State 31, 10West Virginia 12Gator Bowl |
| Dec 31, 1982 | Air Force 36, Vanderbilt 28Hall of Fame Classic |
| Dec 31, 1982 | 14Arkansas 28, Florida 24Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl |
| Dec 31, 1982 | Iowa 28, Tennessee 22Peach Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1983 | 11Arizona State 32, 12Oklahoma 21Fiesta Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1983 | 3Nebraska 21, 13LSU 20Orange Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1983 | 2Penn State 27, 1Georgia 23Sugar Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1983 | 4SMU 7, 6Pittsburgh 3Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1983 | 5UCLA 24, 19Michigan 14Rose Bowl |