September
In the preseason poll released on September 5, 1977, the AP ranked Oklahoma first, followed by #2 Michigan, #3 Notre Dame, #4 USC and #5 Ohio State. Alabama was 6th, and the defending champion, Pittsburgh (minus Tony Dorsett and Johnny Majors) was ranked 7th.
September 10 #1 Oklahoma opened its season against the visiting Vanderbilt Commodores, who had finished 2-9-0 the year before. Though the Sooners avoided an upset, their 25-23 win didn't impress the pollsters, and OU dropped to fifth. #2 Michigan won at Illinois, 37-9. #3 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh, 19-9. #4 USC won at Missouri, 27-10. #5 Ohio State beat visiting Miami (of Florida) 10-0. #6 Alabama beat Ole Miss, 34-13, at Birmingham. Although the top six teams all won their openers, The next poll shuffled the rankings (2-4-3-6-1-5): 1.Michigan 2.USC 3.Notre Dame 4.Alabama 5.Oklahoma 6. Ohio State.
September 17 #1 Michigan beat Duke, 21-9 and #2 USC won at Oregon State, 17-10. A week after losing to Alabama, the Ole Miss Rebels stunned the nation as they defeated #3 Notre Dame 20-13 in a humid 100 degree plus day in Jackson. Humiliated by their loss to Red and Blue, Irish dropped to 11th, and as low as 14th the week after. The #11 Maryland Terrapins fell to an unranked West Virginia team in College Park, 24-16. #4 Alabama lost at #14 Nebraska, 31-24. #5 Oklahoma crushed visiting Utah, 62-24. #6 Ohio State and #10 Penn State which beat Minnesota (38-7) and Houston (31-14), respectively, reached the top five: 1.Michigan 2.USC 3.Oklahoma 4.Ohio State 5.Penn State
September 24 #1 Michigan beat Navy, 14-7. #2 USC beat visiting TCU, 51-0. #3 Oklahoma and #4 Ohio State met in Columbus, Ohio, in the season's first big matchup. In a close game, the visiting Sooners won 29-28 after a touchdown, an onside kick recovery, and a last second field goal by Uwe Von Schaman, and reclaimed first place in the next poll. #5 Penn State beat Maryland, 27-9. #6 Texas A&M, which won at #7 Texas Tech, 33-17, reached the top five: 1.Oklahoma 2.USC 3.Michigan 4.Penn State 5.Texas A&M
Read more about this topic: 1977 College Football Season
Famous quotes containing the word september:
“April is in my mistress’ face,
And July in her eyes hath place,
Within her bosom is September,
But in her heart a cold December.”
—Unknown. Subject #4: July Subject #5: September Subject #6: December. All Seasons in One. . .
Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse, The. E. K. Chambers, comp. (1932)
“On 16 September 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)