Jump to content

1977 Texas Longhorns football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1977 Texas Longhorns football
Co-national champion (Rothman (FACT)) Southwest Conference champion
ConferenceSouthwest Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 4
Record11–1 (8–0 SWC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorLeon Manley (1st season)
Offensive schemeVeer/I formation
Defensive coordinatorLeon Fuller (1st season)
Base defense4–3
CaptainEarl Campbell
LB Morgan Copeland
OT George James
DT Brad Shearer
Home stadiumTexas Memorial Stadium
Seasons
← 1976
1978 →
1977 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Texas $ 8 0 0 11 1 0
No. 3 Arkansas 7 1 0 11 1 0
Texas A&M 6 2 0 8 4 0
Houston 4 4 0 6 5 0
Texas Tech 4 4 0 7 5 0
Baylor 3 5 0 5 6 0
SMU 3 5 0 4 7 0
TCU 1 7 0 2 9 0
Rice 0 8 0 1 10 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 1977 NCAA Division I football season. The Longhorns finished the regular season with an 11–0 record. Earl Campbell won the Heisman Trophy in 1977 and led the nation in rushing with 1,744 yards. In 1977, he became the first recipient of the Davey O'Brien Memorial Trophy, which was awarded to the most outstanding player in the now-defunct Southwest Conference. He was selected as the Southwest Conference running back of the year in each of his college seasons and finished with 4,444 career rushing yards. Rothman (FACT), a mathematical rating system in use since 1968 and NCAA-designated major selector, selected Texas as co-national champions with Notre Dame and Arkansas.

Schedule

[edit]
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 104:00 p.m.Boston College*No. 18W 44–050,000
September 174:00 p.m.Virginia*No. 9
  • Texas Memorial Stadium
  • Austin, TX
W 68–041,000[1]
October 14:00 p.m.RiceNo. 8
  • Texas Memorial Stadium
  • Austin, TX (rivalry)
W 72–1547,500
October 82:00 p.m.vs. No. 2 Oklahoma*No. 5W 13–672,032
October 1512:00 p.m.at No. 8 ArkansasNo. 2ABCW 13–944,296
October 221:30 p.m.at SMUNo. 2
  • Cotton Bowl
  • Dallas, TX
W 30–1436,151
October 292:00 p.m.No. 14 Texas TechNo. 1
  • Texas Memorial Stadium
  • Austin, TX (rivalry)
W 26–078,809
November 52:00 p.m.at HoustonNo. 1W 35–2172,124
November 122:00 p.m.TCUNo. 1
  • Texas Memorial Stadium
  • Austin, TX (rivalry)
W 44–1450,150
November 193:00 p.m.BaylorNo. 1
  • Texas Memorial Stadium
  • Austin, TX
ABCW 29–760,000
November 261:30 p.m.at No. 12 Texas A&MNo. 1W 57–2857,443
January 2, 19781:00 p.m.vs. No. 5 Notre Dame*No. 1
CBSL 10–3876,701
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

[2]

Roster

[edit]
1977 Texas Longhorns football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
RB 20 Earl Campbell Sr
WR 2 Alfred Jackson Sr
QB 6 Randy McEachern Jr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DT 99 Steve McMichael So
DL 77 Brad Shearer Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 15 Russell Erxleben Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Game summaries

[edit]

Oklahoma

[edit]
#2 Oklahoma vs. #5 Texas
1 234Total
Sooners 3 030 6
Longhorns 0 1003 13
  • Date: October 9
  • Location: Cotton Bowl
  • Game attendance: 72,000

[3]

At Arkansas

[edit]

At Texas A&M

[edit]
#1 Texas at Texas A&M
1 234Total
Longhorns 14 19717 57
Aggies 7 7140 28

[4]

vs. Notre Dame (Cotton Bowl)

[edit]
1 234Total
Fighting Irish 3 2177 38
Longhorns 3 700 10

Rankings

[edit]

Awards and honors

[edit]

1977 team players in the NFL

[edit]

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player Position Round Pick Franchise
Earl Campbell Running back 1 1 Houston Oilers
Brad Shearer Defensive tackle 3 74 Chicago Bears
Alfred Jackson Wide receiver 7 167 Atlanta Falcons

[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Texas bombards Virginia, 68–0". Del Rio News Herald. September 18, 1977. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Football, All-Time Results". mackbrown-texasfootball.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  3. ^ "Texas Knocks Off Oklahoma." Palm Beach Post. 1977 Oct 8. Retrieved 2014-Nov-27.
  4. ^ "Campbell, Texas Overpowering." Palm Beach Post. 1977 Nov 27. Retrieved 2014-Dec-04.
  5. ^ "Heisman Winners". heisman.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "2010 NCAA Football Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletics Association.
  7. ^ "1978 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007.