During the 1970s, the top-ranked team won its bowl game only three times: Pittsburgh joined Nebraska (1971)and USC (1972).
Kiosk in the Great Hall at Heinz Field celebrating Pitt's 1976 national championshipA football signed by the 1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football team, including Tony Dorsett and head coach Johnny Majors.
The previous season saw Pitt win the Sun Bowl over Kansas for an 8–4 record, highlighted by wins at Georgia and Notre Dame. The stage was set for 1976, with Pitt ranked ninth in the AP preseason poll, for the Panthers to make a run for the national championship.
In the first game of the 1976 season, the Panthers faced off against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. A year earlier, Tony Dorsett had finished with 303 yards rushing in Pitt's 34–20 victory over the Irish. "They even grew the grass high," said Carmen DeArdo, a diehard Pitt alumnus, "and everyone knew Tony would get the ball." "They didn't let that grass grow long enough," Dorsett said later. He darted 61 yards on his first run of the season and tacked on 120 more by the end of the 31–10 Pitt win.[7][8]
The season continued with a 42–14 win at Georgia Tech and a 36–19 win over Miami. The Panthers traveled to Annapolis on October 23 to face Navy and Dorsett broke the NCAA career rushing record on a 32-yard touchdown run in the 45–0 victory. Dorsett's achievement prompted a mid-game celebration in which even Navy saluted the feat with a cannon blast.[9] Pitt won a tough, hard-fought battle against struggling rival Syracuse.
On November 6, the second-ranked Panthers hosted Army at Pitt Stadium and won handily, but the significant action was taking place several hundred miles west, in West Lafayette, Indiana, where the Purdue Boilermakers held off the top-ranked Michigan Wolverines 16–14 in the closing seconds. The Pitt Stadium crowd erupted in celebration when the stadium public address announcer dramatically gave the final score from Purdue. For the first time in the modern era, Panther fans could legitimately claim, "We're number one!" Pitt defended its ranking in a close Backyard Brawl against West Virginia to go 10–0 heading into the regular season finale on national television against instate rival Penn State (7–3).[10]
At a packed Three Rivers Stadium on the night after Thanksgiving, the Nittany Lions scored first and held Dorsett to 51 yards in the first half; the game was tied at seven at halftime.[11] Majors adjusted for the second half by shifting Dorsett from tailback to fullback, enabling him to explode for an additional 173 yards as Pitt rolled to a 24–7 victory to cap an undefeated regular season.[11][12]
In December, Dorsett became the first (and remains the only) Pitt Panther to win the Heisman Trophy as the nation's best college football player. Dorsett also won the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, and was named UPI Player of the Year. He led the nation in rushing with 1,948 yards and was selected as an All-American. Dorsett finished his college career with 6,082 total rushing yards, then an NCAA record for career rushing.
Sugar Bowl
The 11–0 Panthers accepted an invitation to the Sugar Bowl to face fifth-ranked Georgia. Pitt defeated the Bulldogs 27–3 and was voted number one by both the Associated Press and Coaches polls, claiming their ninth national championship.[13] This was Pitt's first undefeated national championship since 1937. The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) named Majors the 1976 Coach of the Year. Following this historic season, Majors returned to his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, to take the head coaching job.[14]
Game summaries
At #11 Notre Dame
No. 9 Pittsburgh Panthers at No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Game summary
^Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book(PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. p. 85. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
^"Pitt rolls past Georgia Tech, 42–14". Kingsport Times-News. September 19, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Pitt struggles by Duke". The Tampa Tribune. October 3, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Panthers hold off WVU, 24–16". The Pittsburgh Press. November 14, 1976. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Pitt: How sweet it is!". The Pittsburgh Press. January 2, 1977. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^"CNNSI.com – College Football – Heisman Heroes – Suzuki presents Heisman Heroes: Tony Dorsett – Friday August 25, 2000 01:29 PM". CNN.
^Gorman, Kevin (October 30, 2008). "Pitt-Notre Dame series produces phenomenal performances". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
^"Tony Dorsett No. 1". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. October 24, 1976. p. 77.
^Axelrod, Phil (November 26, 1976). "Pitt, State, maybe Tennessee". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 18.
^Mackin, Mike (June 12, 2008). "Let's Learn From the Past: The 1976 Pitt Panthers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
^"Yearly National Championship Selections: 1976 National Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on November 9, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
^Fitzgerald, Francis J., ed. (1996). The Year the Panthers Roared. Louisville, Kentucky: AdCraft Sports. ISBN 1-887761-06-3.
^"Pitt loses quarterback, but Dorsett nears record." Eugene Register-Guard. 1976 Oct 10. Retrieved 2018-Dec-30.
^"1977 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007.
^"1976 – 42nd Award Tony Dorsett Pittsburgh Back". HeismanTrophy.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
^"Football". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
Further information
The Year the Panthers Roared. Francis J. Fitzgerald, ed., Louisville, Kentucky, AdCraft Sports, 1996, ISBN 1-887761-06-3
1976 team where are they now?
Pitt Magazine article
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1976 Pittsburgh Panthers football—consensus national champions
