The 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season was the season of college football played by teams at the highest level of the sport. The top five teams in the final AP and UPI polls were:
Georgia, coached by Vince Dooley, compiled a perfect 12–0 record, defeated Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, and was ranked No. 1 in the final polls. Freshman running back Herschel Walker gained 1,616 rushing yards and was a unanimous All-American. Pittsburgh, coached by Jackie Sherrill, compiled an 11–1 record and defeated South Carolina in the Gator Bowl. The team was led by quarterback Dan Marino, defensive end Hugh Green, and offensive tackle Mark May. Green won the Maxwell Award and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. May won the Outland Trophy. Oklahoma, coached by Barry Switzer, compiled a 10–2 record and defeated Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Quarterback J.C. Watts tallied 905 passing yards, 678 rushing yards, and 18 touchdowns. Michigan, coached by Bo Schembechler, compiled a 10–2 record and defeated Washington in the Rose Bowl. The team did not allow a touchdown in its final five games. Wide receiver Anthony Carter caught 46 passes and was selected as the team's most valuable player. Florida State, coached by Bobby Bowden, compiled a 10–2 record, lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. During the regular season, the Seminoles defeated No. 3 Nebraska at Nebraska and the following week defeated No. 2 Pittsburgh.
George Rogers of South Carolina tallied 1,781 rushing yards and won the Heisman Trophy. The year's statistical leaders included Rogers in rushing yardage, Jim McMahon of BYU with 4,571 passing yards, Rainey Meszaros of Pacific with 1,062 receiving yards, and Sammy Winder of Southern MIss with 120 points scored.
Rules changes Offensive linemen are permitted full arm extension on so-called "retreat" blocking during pass plays, and clenched hands are permitted. The "chop block" (a second offensive player blocking a defensive player below the knees while engaged with another offensive player) is outlawed. A tie-breaker system was proposed for the post-season (similar to the one adopted for the 1995 post-season, except the start of overtime was at the 15–yard line and no defensive scores allowed), but failed to gain acceptance by the bowls. Facemasking now includes grabbing the helmet as well as the facemask.
Conference and program changes
School 1979 Conference 1980 Conference Air Force Falcons Independent WAC
September
Most of the top teams of 1979 were expected to have strong seasons again in 1980. The preseason AP Poll had a top five of No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Alabama, No, 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Oklahoma, all of whom had finished undefeated or with one loss the previous year. Georgia, which had gone just 6–5 in 1979, started at No. 16.
September 6: No. 2 Alabama was the first top-five team to begin its schedule, winning 26–3 over Georgia Tech. The other teams at the top of the poll had not begun their seasons; the next poll changed only slightly, with No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 USC.
September 13: No. 1 Ohio State hosted Syracuse and won 31–21. No. 2 Alabama was idle. No. 3 Pittsburgh defeated Boston College 14–6, No. 4 Oklahoma beat Kentucky 29–7, and No. 5 USC won 20–17 at Tennessee. The AP voters shuffled the teams around somewhat: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Pittsburgh.
September 20: No. 1 Alabama defeated Mississippi 59–35 in a game arranged independently from the official SEC schedule. No. 2 Ohio State shut out Minnesota 47–0. No. 3 Oklahoma was idle. No. 4 USC won 23–13 over No. 20 South Carolina. No. 5 Pittsburgh defeated Kansas 18–3, but still fell out of the top five. No. 6 Nebraska impressed the voters with a 57–0 blowout of Iowa and moved up several spots in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 USC.
September 27: Whilst both teams had no national ranking, the final meeting between college football's maiden rivalry occurred in Piscataway, New Jersey, as the Rutgers Scarlet Knights upended the Princeton Tigers 44–13. As both institutions have gone in opposite directions, no attempts to revive the first rivalry have transpired, nor will likely happen. No. 1 Alabama blanked Vanderbilt 41–0. No. 2 Ohio State won 38–21 over No. 20 Arizona State. No. 3 Nebraska visited No. 11 Penn State and came away with a 21–7 victory. The first of the top teams to lose was No. 4 Oklahoma, which fell 31–14 at home to John Elway and Stanford. No. 5 USC won 24–7 at Minnesota. No. 7 Texas shut out Oregon State 35–0 and moved into the top five in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Texas.
October
October 4: No. 1 Alabama recorded their second consecutive shutout, 45–0 over Kentucky, but the teams behind them were not as successful. No. 2 Ohio State was shut out at home by No. 11 UCLA, 17–0. No. 3 Nebraska was also upset at home, losing to No. 16 Florida State 18–14 on a fumble at the Seminoles’ three-yard line with 12 seconds left. No. 4 USC almost met a similar fate, but pulled out a 23–21 victory against Arizona State. No. 5 Texas won 41–28 at Rice. No. 6 Pittsburgh beat Maryland 38–9 and returned to the top five in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 UCLA.
October 11: No. 1 Alabama had a surprisingly tough time with unheralded Rutgers, but the Tide prevailed 17–13. No. 2 USC won 27–10 at Arizona. No. 3 Texas met No. 12 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout and dealt the Sooners another loss, 20–13. No. 4 Pittsburgh lost by a score of 36–22 to No. 11 Florida State, the Seminoles’ second consecutive win against a top-four opponent. No. 5 UCLA defeated No. 16 Stanford 35–21. No. 7 Notre Dame won 32–14 against No. 13 Miami. Three of the Irish's four wins had been over ranked teams, and they moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 18: No. 1 Alabama bounced back with another shutout win, 27–0 at Tennessee. No. 2 USC got bogged down in the rain at Oregon and had to settle for a 7–7 tie. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 UCLA were idle. No. 5 Notre Dame dominated Army 30–3. No. 6 Georgia, who had been slowly moving up in the poll with a mixture of narrow wins and blowouts (three of their six wins were by a touchdown or less, and the other three were by more than 30 points) defeated Vanderbilt 41–0 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia.
October 25: No. 1 Alabama won 42–7 over No. 20 Southern Mississippi. No. 2 Texas fell to SMU by a score of 20–6, and the Longhorns would end up losing five of their last seven games after a 5–0 start. No. 3 UCLA defeated California 32–9 on the road. No. 4 Notre Dame won 20–3 at Arizona. No. 5 Georgia registered a second straight shutout by defeating Kentucky 27–0. No. 6 Florida State, whose only loss was by a single point to Miami, beat Memphis 24–3 to move into the top five: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Florida State.
November
November 1: After five straight weeks with at least one major upset, this may have been the craziest day of all. No. 1 Alabama, which had held the top ranking for six weeks and was riding a 28-game winning streak, was knocked off by Mississippi State, 6–3; similar to the earlier Nebraska-Florida State game, the favored team lost on a late fumble at the three-yard line. No. 2 UCLA heard the news of Alabama's loss, but the Bruins could not take advantage, falling 23–17 to Arizona in Tucson. No. 3 Notre Dame shut out Navy 33–0. No. 4 Georgia squeaked past No. 14 South Carolina 13–10 in a matchup between star running backs Herschel Walker and George Rogers. No. 5 Florida State crushed Tulsa 45–2, No. 7 USC blew California out 60–7, and No. 8 Nebraska defeated No. 15 Missouri 38–16. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Nebraska.
November 8: The madness continued as new No. 1 Notre Dame was held to a 3–3 tie by Georgia Tech, who would finish with a 1–9–1 record. For the second week in a row, the second-ranked team struggled after being notified that the team above them had lost. No. 2 Georgia trailed rival No. 20 Florida late in the game when QB Buck Belue hit WR Lindsay Scott on an out pattern; Scott turned upfield and went 90 yards for the winning score in the season's most memorable play. It was Scott's only touchdown reception all season and it gave the Bulldogs a 26–21 win, making them the only undefeated and untied team in the nation. The other top teams had less trouble. No. 3 Florida State defeated Virginia Tech 31–7, No. 4 USC won 34–9 at Stanford, No. 5 Nebraska beat Kansas State 55–8, and No. 6 Alabama won 28–7 over LSU. The next poll featured No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Alabama.
November 15: No. 1 Georgia won 31–21 at Auburn, the first game of the season where their winning margin was more than 7 but less than 30; the victory clinched the SEC title and a Sugar Bowl berth for the Bulldogs. For the fifth week in a row, a top-two team suffered an upset, as No. 2 USC lost at home to Washington, 20–10, moving the Huskies into first place in the Pac-10. No. 3 Florida State was idle, beginning an unusual three-week layoff before their last game. No. 4 Nebraska shut out Iowa State 35–0. No. 6 Notre Dame went down to Birmingham and beat No. 5 Alabama 7–0. No. 7 Ohio State, who had started at the top of the poll and still had only one loss, beat Iowa 41–7 and finally returned to the top five: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Ohio State.
November 22: No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 Florida State were idle, while No. 2 Notre Dame won 24–10 over Air Force. No. 4 Nebraska and No. 9 Oklahoma met to decide the Big 8 title and the Orange Bowl berth, and for the second straight year the underdog Sooners narrowly upset the Cornhuskers (this time winning 21–17 on a touchdown with less than a minute to play). No. 5 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan squared off in their usual showdown for the Big Ten championship, and once again the underdog won a close game, with the Wolverines prevailing 9–3. Michigan's Rose Bowl opponent would be No. 16 Washington, who clinched the Pac-10 title with a 30–23 win over Washington State. No. 6 Pittsburgh and No. 7 Penn State were idle as they prepared for their rivalry game, but both teams moved into the top five after the Nebraska and Ohio State losses: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 Penn State.
November 28–29: No. 1 Georgia completed their undefeated season with a 38–20 win over Georgia Tech. No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Florida State were idle. No. 4 Pittsburgh faced No. 5 Penn State, and the Panthers’ defense led the way to a 14–9 victory. No. 6 Oklahoma had finished its season, but the Sooners moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, No. 4 Pittsburgh, and No. 5 Oklahoma.
December December 6: The season ended with one final upset as No. 2 Notre Dame, whose only previous blemish was their tie against Georgia Tech, fell 20–3 to No. 17 USC. No. 3 Florida State, the only other highly ranked team which had not finished its schedule, defeated No. 19 Florida 17–13. No. 6 Michigan moved up one spot in the final regular-season poll: No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Michigan.