Hidden Yardage: The Story of the 1980 College Football Season Joe Moore

As the 1980 college football season begins, everybody is hunting Alabama and The Bear. Winners of two straight national titles to close out the decade, the Crimson Tide starts the year perched at number two and riding an eighteen-game winning streak. The first week of games features Bobby Bowden and his renegade band of Seminoles continuing their raid on college football’s elite with a season opener in Death Valley against LSU while the Georgia Bulldogs and their prized freshman recruit, Herschel Walker, take on Tennessee in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a football game in the South. Meanwhile, in the Midlands of South Carolina, the Gamecocks’ George Rogers gallops against the University of the Pacific. 

After losing the 1979 National Championship by a single point, the number-one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes open their 1980 season against the Syracuse Orangemen in the Horseshoe. In Pittsburgh, Jackie Sherrill and the Panthers uncage one the most talented defenses of all time to feast on Boston College while Lawrence Taylor and the fifteenth-ranked UNC Tar Heels travel to West Texas for a duel with the Red Raiders.  

Alabama reclaims its top spot in the polls after Ohio State’s close call with Syracuse. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame look for their second big win of the season when the Michigan Wolverines come calling and it’s a battle of USC’s as South Carolina and George Rogers invade Los Angeles to take on Ronnie Lott and the Southern Cal Trojans. Plus, Georgia squares off against Clemson between the hedges with freshman running back Herschel Walker firmly entrenched as the starter.

The oldest rivalry in college football plays its final chapter 111 years after giving birth to the game. The Nebraska Cornhuskers make a trip to Happy Valley for their biggest test of the season against an unbeaten Penn State team looking for revenge. Michigan once again finds itself in a close contest that is decided on the final play, this time against George Rogers and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Plus Bobby Bowden has to make a do or die decision when Florida State and its top-ranked defense puts its shutout streak on the line in the Orange Bowl against Miami and sophomore quarterback Jim Kelly.

The Florida State Seminoles take on third-ranked Nebraska in Lincoln with a walk-on center and big, bad Ron Simmons. Ohio State defends The Horseshoe against a revenge-minded UCLA Bruins team with nothing to lose while Penn State goes to Columbia, Missouri and comes away with a win and a quarterback. Plus, Colorado is on the wrong end of history as Oklahoma puts up offensive numbers higher than the Rocky Mountains.

The largest crowd in Florida State history awaits an encore from the Seminoles as they take on their second straight top-five opponent. This time they host the Pitt Panthers, the Beast of the East, and their star defender Hugh Green in a battle of top-ranked independents. Bear Bryant and the Crimson Tide look for some national media exposure while in the Big Apple to take on Rutgers and find themselves in an unexpected battle with the Scarlet Knights. UCLA continues its redemption tour as it returns to the West Coast after silencing the Horseshoe with a win over Ohio State and tries to slow down John Elway and Stanford. Plus, a recap of the title contenders as we near the midway point of the 1980 season.