1977 Texas Longhorns football team

1977 Texas Longhorns football
Co-national champion (Rothman (FACT)) SWC champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, L 10–38 vs. Notre Dame
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 4
Record	11–1 (8–0 SWC)
Head coach	Fred Akers (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Leon Manley (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Veer, I formation
Defensive coordinator	Leon Fuller (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Earl Campbell Morgan Cope George James Brad Shearer
Home stadium	Texas Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  1976 1978  →

1977 Southwest Conference football standings

v t e	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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 10	4:00 p.m.	Boston College *	No. 18	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 44–0	50,000	[1]
September 17	4:00 p.m.	Virginia *	No. 9	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 68–0	41,000	[2]
October 1	4:00 p.m.	Rice	No. 8	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 72–15	47,500	[3]
October 8	2:00 p.m.	vs. No. 2 Oklahoma *	No. 5	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)		W 13–6	72,032	[4]
October 15	12:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Arkansas	No. 2	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR (rivalry)	ABC	W 13–9	44,296	[5]
October 22	1:30 p.m.	at SMU	No. 2	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX		W 30–14	36,151	[6]
October 29	2:00 p.m.	No. 14 Texas Tech	No. 1	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 26–0	78,809	[7]
November 5	2:00 p.m.	at Houston	No. 1	Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 35–21	72,124	[8]
November 12	2:00 p.m.	TCU	No. 1	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)		W 44–14	50,150	[9]
November 19	3:00 p.m.	Baylor	No. 1	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	ABC	W 29–7	60,000	[10]
November 26	1:30 p.m.	at No. 12 Texas A&M	No. 1	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)		W 57–28	57,443	[11]
January 2, 1978	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 5 Notre Dame *	No. 1	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	CBS	L 10–38	76,701	[12]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

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Rankings

Main article: 1977 NCAA Division I football rankings

Game summaries

Oklahoma

#2 Oklahoma vs. #5 Texas

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Sooners	3	0	3	0	6
•Longhorns	0	10	0	3	13

• Date: October 9
• Location: Cotton Bowl
• Game attendance: 72,000

Scoring summary

Q1		OKLA	von Schamann 47 yard field goal	OKLA 3–0
Q2		TEX	Erxleben 64 yard field goal	Tie 3–3
Q2		TEX	Campbell 24 yard run (Erxleben kick)	TEX 10–3
Q3		OKLA	von Schamann 33 yard field goal	TEX 10–6
Q4		TEX	Erxleben 58 yard field goal	TEX 13–6

See also: 1977 Oklahoma Sooners football team and Red River Shootout

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At Arkansas

See also: 1977 Arkansas Razorbacks football team and Arkansas–Texas football rivalry

At Texas A&M

#1 Texas at Texas A&M

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
•Longhorns	14	19	7	17	57
Aggies	7	7	14	0	28

• Date: November 26
• Location: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
• Game attendance: 57,443

Scoring summary

Q1		TA&M	Dickey 7 yard run (Franklin kick)	TA&M 7–0
Q1		TEX	Campbell 60 yard pass from McEachern (McMichael kick)	Tie 7–7
Q1		TEX	Campbell 4 yard run (McMichael kick)	TEX 14–7
Q2		TEX	H. Jones 4 yard run (McMichael kick)	TEX 21–7
Q2		TEX	Jackson 9 yard pass from McEachern (kick failed)	TEX 26–7
Q2		TEX	Jackson 12 yard pass from McEachern (McMichael kick)	TEX 33–7
Q2		TA&M	Woodard 1 yard run (Franklin kick)	TEX 33–14
Q3		TEX	Campbell 6 yard run (McMichael kick)	TEX 40–14
Q3		TA&M	Walker 8 yard run (Franklin kick)	TEX 40–21
Q3		TA&M	Woodard 1 yard run (Franklin kick)	TEX 40–28
Q4		TEX	Campbell 23 yard run (McMichael kick)	TEX 47–28
Q4		TEX	L. Jones 37 yard pass from McEachern (McMichael kick)	TEX 54–28
Q4		TEX	McMichael 48 yard field goal	TEX 57–28

See also: 1977 Texas A&M Aggies football team and Texas–Texas A&M football rivalry

• Earl Campbell 27 Rush, 222 Yds (career-high)

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vs. Notre Dame (Cotton Bowl)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
•Fighting Irish	3	21	7	7	38
Longhorns	3	7	0	0	10

• Date: January 2
• Location: Cotton Bowl
• Game attendance: 76,701
• Game weather: Sunny; 35 °F (2 °C)
• Referee: Vance Carlson
• TV announcers (CBS): Lindsey Nelson, Paul Hornung, Paul Alexander, and Don Criqui

Scoring summary

Q1	11:35	ND	Reeve 47-yard field goal	ND 3–0
Q1	6:07	TEX	Erxleben 42-yard field goal	Tie 3–3
Q2	14:56	ND	Eurick 6-yard run (Reeve kick)	ND 10–3
Q2	11:37	ND	Eurick 10-yard run (Reeve kick)	ND 17–3
Q2	7:28	ND	Ferguson 17-yard pass from Montana (Reeve kick)	ND 24–3
Q2	0:00	TEX	Lockett 13-yard pass from McEachern (Erxeleben kick)	ND 24–10
Q3	6:49	ND	Ferguson 3-yard run (Reeve kick)	ND 31–10
Q4	9:41	ND	Ferguson 26-yard run (Reeve kick)	ND 38–10

Main article: 1978 Cotton Bowl Classic

See also: 1977 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

Roster

1977 Texas Longhorns football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 20 Earl Campbell Sr WR 2 Alfred Jackson Sr WR 26 Lam Jones So QB 6 Randy McEachern Jr G 76 Jim Yarbrough Sr	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 Fred Akers Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Awards and honors

• Earl Campbell – Heisman Trophy, ^[16] Davey O'Brien Memorial Trophy, Consensus All-American ^[17]
• Brad Shearer – Outland Trophy, Consensus All-American ^[17]
• Fred Akers – SWC Coach of the Year

1977 team players in the NFL

Main article: 1978 NFL draft

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

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References

1. "Texas stampedes; Longhorn firepower cuts down Boston College, 44–0". Valley Morning Star. September 11, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Texas bombards Virginia, 68–0". Del Rio News Herald. September 18, 1977. Retrieved January 26, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Longhorns pile up 72 more points". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. October 2, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Campbell, third-string QB lead Longhorns". The Orange Leader. October 9, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
5. "Texas defeats Arkansas in stirring 13–9 battle". The Waxahachie Daily Light. October 16, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Campbell steers Texas right, 30–14". Tulsa World. October 23, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Longhorns not subtle in justifying ranking". The El Paso Times. October 30, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Longhorns explode past Cougs, 35–21". The Shreveport Times. November 6, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
9. "Longhorns romp over Frogs". Longview Morning Journal. November 13, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
10. "UT blasts Bears on TV". The Victoria Advocate. November 20, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Campbell warhead razes Aggie defenses". Port Arthur Daily News. November 27, 1977. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Notre Dame claims grid title". The Indianapolis Star. January 3, 1978. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
13. "1977 Texas Longhorns Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
14. "Texas Knocks Off Oklahoma." Palm Beach Post. 1977 Oct 8. Retrieved 2014-Nov-27.
15. "Campbell, Texas Overpowering." Palm Beach Post. 1977 Nov 27. Retrieved 2014-Dec-04.
16. "Heisman Winners". heisman.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
17. "2010 NCAA Football Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletics Association.
18. "1978 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com . Archived from the original on December 22, 2007.