The 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season was the last for Paul "Bear" Bryant as head coach at Alabama, retiring with in
The Penn State Nittany Lions won their first consensus national championship, closing out an season by defeating Georgia and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker 27–23 in the Sugar Bowl to edge out undefeated SMU for the national championship. It was Joe Paterno's first national championship, after three undefeated non-championship
UCLA moved from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the Rose Bowl and fulfilled a promise made by coach Terry Donahue by closing out their season there as well, beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
It is also the year of "The Play", an improbable finish to the annual rivalry game between Cal and Stanford.
The Aloha Bowl premiered in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was won by Washington.
The California Bowl would have the only documented FCS vs FBS bowl game.
Rule changes The penalty for incidental grasping of a facemask was reduced from 15 yards to 5 yards. The 5 yard version of this penalty would be later abolished in the 2008 season. Coaches are no longer allowed to request a conference with the referee regarding a misapplication or misinterpretation of a rule, modifying a 1981 rule permitting such conferences, though a player or substitute can still request them. The penalty for offensive pass interference or illegal touching of a forward pass in the end zone was changed to a 15-yard penalty (5 yards for illegal touching) from a touchback. Penalties on the defense for fouls committed away from a catchable ball will be enforced from the previous spot and will no longer be considered pass interference. Intentional grounding where the spot of enforcement is in the end zone will no longer result in an automatic safety. The defense will have the option to take the result of the play or the safety. Intentional grounding will not be called if a passer throws the ball out of bounds to conserve time. Penalties against the offense that occur behind the scrimmage line will be enforced from the previous spot and not from the spot of the foul. Use of adhesive material (such as stickum) is prohibited, mirroring the NFL's outlawing of such products in 1981. The penalty for ineligible receiver downfield was reduced from 15 yards plus loss of down to 5 yards plus loss of down.
Conference changes and new programs This was the first season the Ivy League, Southern Conference, and Southland Conference competed at the I-AA (FCS) level.New York Times – 2006-11-17 Southwestern Louisiana was the only team from those three conferences to remain in Division I-A, becoming an independent. Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale Southern Conference — Appalachian State, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Furman, Marshall, The Citadel, VMI, and Western Carolina Southland Conference — Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, and Texas–Arlington Southwestern Louisiana, who had been a member of the Southland during the 1981 season, remained in Division I-A as an Independent. The school was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999. Most of the Missouri Valley Conference football schools were also reclassified. This began the few years where the MVC hosted both I-A and I-AA teams. Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, and West Texas State did not meet I-A standards and were reclassified to I-AA. New Mexico State, Tulsa, and Wichita State remained in I-A. The Mid-American Conference spent this one season as a FCS conference with all its members except Toledo and Central Michigan also forced to play as FCS members for the year, this was immediately appealed and Bowling Green State University became the only FCS school to face off against a FBS opponent in a bowl game during the 1982 California Bowl. Cincinnati was able to avoid demotion from the FBS this season due to a court injunction. They'd then be put into the FCS for the 1983 season, just so they could be returned to the FBS for the 1984 season onward. This season also saw the loss of Division I-A independent teams Colgate, Holy Cross, Northeast Louisiana, North Texas State, Richmond, and William & Mary; dropping the total number of Division I-A teams down to 105 from the previous season's 137 teams. As of 2020, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Northeast Louisiana (renamed the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1999), Louisiana Tech, Marshall, and North Texas have returned to Division I-A, renamed FBS in 2006.
School 1981 Conference 1982 Conference Colgate Raiders I-A Independent I-AA Independent Holy Cross Crusaders I-A Independent I-AA Independent Northeast Louisiana Indians I-A Independent Southland (I-AA) North Texas State Mean Green I-A Independent I-AA Independent Richmond Spiders I-A Independent I-AA Independent Southwestern Louisiana Southland I-AA Independent UNLV Rebels I-A Independent PCAA (Big West) William & Mary Tribe I-A Independent I-AA Independent Ball State MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Bowling Green MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Eastern Michigan MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Kent State MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Marshall Southern (I-A) Southern (I-AA) Miami (OH) MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Northern Illinois MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Ohio MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Western Michigan MAC (I-A) MAC (I-AA) Western Kentucky Ohio Valley I-AA Independent
Conference standings
Notable rivalry games Arizona 28, ASU 18 Auburn 23, Alabama 22 (Auburn's first victory in the series since 1972; Alabama coach Bear Bryant's last regular season game) Cal 25, Stanford 20 (The Play) UCLA 20, USC 19 – In the first game of this rivalry contested at the Rose Bowl, USC trailed 20–13 and had fourth down and goal from the one-yard line with 0:01 left in the game. USC scored a touchdown and decided to go for the two-point conversion with 0:00 on the clock. USC announcer Tom Kelly remarked, "Typical of this great rivalry--even when it's over, it isn't over!" On the ensuing try for two by USC, UCLA's Karl Morgan sacked USC QB Scott Tinsley. This occurred within minutes of The Play, which was happening 400 miles to the north in Berkeley. Washington State 24, No. 5 Washington 20 (Washington State's first Apple Cup victory since 1973). USC 17, Notre Dame 13 Tulane 31, No. 7 LSU 28 (Tulane's first win at Tiger Stadium since 1948 and the Green Wave's most recent victory in the series. The series has not been played annually since 1994 and not at all since 2009.) Ohio St. 24, Michigan 14 No. 8 Nebraska 28, No. 11 Oklahoma 24 No. 8 Penn St 27, No. 2 Nebraska 24
September Pittsburgh, with a 33–3 record in the past three seasons and quarterback Dan Marino heading into his senior year, was No. 1 in the preseason AP Poll despite the departure of head coach Jackie Sherrill to Texas A&M. The Panthers were followed by No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 North Carolina. In the first regular-season poll on September 6 (taken before any of the top five teams had begun their schedules), Nebraska and Alabama switched places to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
September 11: No. 1 Pittsburgh defeated No. 5 North Carolina 7–6. Nevertheless, No. 2 Washington moved ahead of Pitt in the next poll with a 55–0 shutout of UTEP. No. 3 Nebraska beat Iowa 42–7, No. 4 Alabama won 45–7 at Georgia Tech, and No. 6 Florida (which had already defeated then-No. 15 Miami a week earlier) beat No. 10 USC 17–9. The next poll featured No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Florida.
September 18: No. 1 Washington opened their conference schedule with a 23–13 win at Arizona, while No. 2 Pittsburgh beat Florida State 37–17 in Tallahassee. The Panthers were again leapfrogged by a team that dominated a weak opponent, as No. 3 Nebraska beat New Mexico 68–0. No. 4 Alabama defeated Mississippi 42–14, and No. 5 Florida was idle. The next poll featured No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Florida.
September 25: No. 1 Washington defeated Oregon 37–21, while No. 2 Nebraska lost at No. 8 Penn State by a score of 27–24. The outcome of the game was controversial as Penn State tight end Mike McCloskey would later admit possibly catching a key pass out of bounds before the winning touchdown.. No. 3 Pittsburgh beat No. 19 Illinois 20–3. No. 4 Alabama looked vulnerable in a 24–21 win over Vanderbilt while No. 5 Florida defeated Mississippi State 27–17, and the two teams switched places in the next poll: No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Alabama.
October October 2: No. 1 Washington beat San Diego State 46–25, and No. 2 Pittsburgh came back from a 13-0 fourth-quarter deficit to win 16–13 over No. 14 West Virginia. No. 3 Penn State was idle. No. 4 Florida lost at home to LSU 24–13. No. 5 Alabama defeated Arkansas State 34–7, and No. 6 Georgia won 29–22 at Mississippi State. The next poll featured No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Georgia.
October 9: No. 1 Washington dominated California 50–7. No. 2 Pittsburgh was idle. No. 4 Alabama defeated No. 3 Penn State in Birmingham 42–21. No. 5 Georgia beat Mississippi 33–10, while No. 6 SMU won 22–19 at Baylor. Alabama moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 SMU.
October 16: No. 1 Washington won 34–17 at Oregon State. No. 2 Alabama was knocked off in Knoxville by Tennessee, 35–28, the Volunteers’ first victory over the Crimson Tide in twelve years. After a 5–0 start and a big win over Penn State, Alabama would lose four of their last six regular-season games to end coach Bear Bryant's storied career. No. 3 Pittsburgh beat Temple 38–7, No. 4 Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 27–13, No. 5 SMU won 20–14 over Houston, and No. 6 Nebraska beat Kansas State 42–13. The next poll featured No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 SMU, and No. 5 Nebraska.
October 23: No. 1 Washington struggled to beat Texas Tech 10-3 while No. 2 Pittsburgh shut out Syracuse 14–0, leading the two teams to switch places at the top. No. 3 Georgia won 27–14 at Kentucky, and No. 4 SMU defeated No. 19 Texas 30–17. No. 5 Nebraska squeaked by Missouri 23-19 while No. 6 Arkansas blasted Houston 38–3, leading to another change in the next poll: No. 1 Pittsburgh, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 SMU, and No. 5 Arkansas.
October 30: No. 1 Pittsburgh beat Louisville 63–14, while John Elway and Stanford stunned No. 2 Washington in a 43–31 shootout. No. 3 Georgia defeated Memphis 34-3 but was still passed by No. 4 SMU, which drubbed Texas A&M 47–9. No. 5 Arkansas hosted Rice and won 24–6. No. 7 Arizona State beat No. 12 USC 17–10 to remain undefeated and move up in the next poll: No. 1 Pittsburgh, No. 2 SMU, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Arizona State, and No. 5 Arkansas.
November November 6: No. 1 Pittsburgh was stunned at home by Notre Dame, 31–16. The teams behind them switched spots again, as No. 2 SMU won 41–14 at Rice but No. 3 Georgia was even more impressive with a 44–0 shutout of No. 20 Florida. No. 4 Arizona State beat Oregon State 30–16, but No. 5 Arkansas fell 24–17 to Baylor. Moving back into the top five were No. 6 Nebraska, which defeated Oklahoma State 48–10, and No. 7 Penn State, which blanked North Carolina State 54–0. The poll featured No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 SMU, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Penn State.