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On this day in sports history

BY COLIN “BIG C” MACGUIRE

The Greenville Standard

 

Recently on my radio show, I was talking about the 1977 college football season and if there was a college football playoff that season who would have been in it.

Alabama was one of the teams. I started to think about how the SEC standings were at the end of that season. I realized how the SEC teams did against out of conference teams and there were some highly ranked teams that lost against the SEC.

To follow are how teams finished in the standings. Also included is overall record and conference and the highly ranked team they beat.

Alabama (11-1) beat USC (8-4) 21-20. The day the teams played, USC was ranked #1. USC finished 13th in the final AP Poll. Alabama finished #2 in the final AP Poll.

Kentucky (10-1), the Wildcats, were not eligible for conference because of probation. Kentucky beat #4 Penn State 24-20. Penn State finished the season at 11-1 and were Fiesta Bowl Champions and number #5 in the final AP Poll. Kentucky finished #6 in the final AP Poll.

LSU (8-4), their non-conference schedule that season was weak. They lost to unranked Indiana.

Auburn (5-6), their non-conference schedule was also weak. Arizona was the only non-conference team Auburn beat. Arizona was in the Western Athletic Conference that season.

Florida (6-4-1) tied #15 Pitt 17-17. Pitt (9-2-1) finished the season at #8 and won the Gator Bowl.

Georgia (5-6), their non-conference was weak. It was the only losing season for Coach Vince Dooley at Georgia.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-6) beat Washington 27-18. The Huskies finished #10 in the final AP Poll. Washington beat Michigan 27-20 in the Rose Bowl. Washington won The PAC 8 Conference Championship.

Ole Miss (5-6) scored a major upset in Jackson on September 17. Notre Dame ranked #3 entering the game got beat 20-13. A week earlier Ole Miss lost to Alabama 34-13. Notre Dame #5 beat #1 Texas 38-10 in the Cotton Bowl. They leap frogged #3 Alabama who beat #8 Ohio State 35-6 in the Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame finished #1 in the final poll.

Tennessee (4-7) also had a weak non-conference schedule. It was the first year of the Johnny Majors era.

Vanderbilt (2-9) opened the season vs Pre-Season #1 Oklahoma losing 25-23. Vandy jumped out to a 14-0 lead but could not hang on. Oklahoma finished with a 10-2 record, were Big 8 Conference Champions and # 8 AP final record.

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