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1980 Mississippi State

9–⁠3 (5–⁠1 Southeastern Conference), coached by Emory Bellard, finished No. 19 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Mississippi State in 1980, game by game: won at Memphis 34–7; won vs. Louisiana Tech 31–11; won at Vanderbilt 24–14; lost at Florida 15–21; won at Illinois 28–21; lost vs. Southern Miss 14–42; won at No. 18 Miami 34–31; won vs. Auburn 24–21; won vs. No. 1 Alabama 6–3; won vs. LSU 55–31; won vs. Ole Miss 19–14; lost vs. No. 8 Nebraska 17–31+27−28Won 34–7 at Memphis+27MemphisWon 31–11 vs. Louisiana Tech+20Louisiana TechWon 24–14 at Vanderbilt+10VanderbiltLost 15–21 at Florida-6FloridaWon 28–21 at Illinois+7IllinoisLost 14–42 vs. Southern Miss-28Southern MissWon 34–31 at No. 18 Miami+3No. 18 MiamiWon 24–21 vs. Auburn+3AuburnWon 6–3 vs. No. 1 Alabama+3No. 1 AlabamaWon 55–31 vs. LSU+24LSUWon 19–14 vs. Ole Miss+5Ole MissLost 17–31 vs. No. 8 Nebraska-14No. 8 Nebraska
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 6atMemphisW 34–⁠744%
Sep 13vsLouisiana TechW 31–⁠1172%
Sep 20atVanderbiltW 24–⁠1470%
Sep 27atFloridaL 15–⁠2149%
Oct 4atIllinoisW 28–⁠2159%
Oct 11vsSouthern MissL 14–⁠4246%
Oct 18at18MiamiW 34–⁠3136%
Oct 25vsAuburnW 24–⁠2155%
Nov 1vs1AlabamaW 6–⁠323%
Nov 15vsLSUW 55–⁠3154%
Nov 22vsOle MissW 19–⁠1475%
Dec 27Bowls & playoffvs8NebraskaSun BowlL 17–⁠3131%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Nebraska 31–⁠17 in the Sun Bowl; No. 19 in the final AP poll; 3rd in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 21st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 10: 19
  2. Wk 11: 19
  3. Wk 12: 17
  4. Wk 13: 16
  5. Wk 14: 16
  6. Wk 15: 17
  7. Final: 19

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1980.

Record
9–⁠3
Conference
5–⁠1 3rd in Southeastern Conference
AP final
No. 19 peak No. 16
Points
301–⁠247
Coach
Emory Bellard
Elo
1591 +110 this season
SP+ rating
14.7 No. 22 of 133; offense No. 15, defense No. 46
SRS
11.6 No. 29 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
Melvin Robertson

Drafted in 1981

The 1981 draft
Rd 2Mardye McDole WRMinnesota Vikings
Rd 5Tyrone Keys DENew York Jets

All-SEC

4 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1980 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1980 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Georgia6–⁠012–⁠01
Alabama6–⁠110–⁠26
Mississippi State5–⁠19–⁠319
Florida4–⁠28–⁠4
LSU4–⁠27–⁠4
Tennessee3–⁠35–⁠6
Ole Miss2–⁠53–⁠8
Kentucky1–⁠53–⁠8
Auburn0–⁠65–⁠6
Vanderbilt0–⁠62–⁠9

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.