1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

1975 NCAA Division I independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football
1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Sun Bowl champion
Sun Bowl, W 33–19 vs. Kansas
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 15
1975 record	8–4
Head coach	Johnny Majors (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	George Haffner (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Veer and I
Defensive coordinator	Jackie Sherrill (3rd season)
Base defense	Basic 50
Home stadium	Pitt Stadium; (Capacity: 56,500)
	Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

The 1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. The Panthers won the Sun Bowl.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	2:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Georgia		Sanford Stadium Athens, GA		W 19–9	38,500
September 20	1:30 p.m.	at No. 1 Oklahoma	No. 15	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		L 10–46	70,286
September 27	1:30 p.m.	William & Mary		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 47–0	31,022
October 4	1:30 p.m.	Duke		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 14–0	33,778
October 11	1:30 p.m.	at Temple		Temple Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 55–6	10,791
October 18	1:30 p.m.	at Army		Michie Stadium West Point, NY		W 52–20	41,195
October 25	1:30 p.m.	Navy	No. 17	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		L 0–17	41,986
November 1	1:30 p.m.	at Syracuse		Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY (rivalry)		W 38–0	20,065
November 8	1:30 p.m.	at West Virginia	No. 20	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Backyard Brawl)	ABC	L 14–17	35,298
November 15	1:30 p.m.	No. 9 Notre Dame		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)		W 34–20	56,480
November 22	1:30 p.m.	No. 10 Penn State	No. 17	Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 6–7	46,846
Fri. Dec. 26	12:00 p.m.	vs. No. 19 Kansas	No. 20	Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	W 33–19	32,240
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster[]

1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
C	`67`	Tom Brzoza	So
QB	`12`	Matt Cavanaugh	So
TE	`81`	James Corbett	Jr
RB	`33`	Tony Dorsett	Jr
WR	`24`	Gordon Jones	Fr
WR	`19`	Randy Reutershan	So
WR	`29`	Willie Taylor	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`55`	Al Chesley	Fr
DT	`75`	Ed Gallagher	Fr
DE	`70`	Randy Holloway	So
DE	`60`	Cecil Johnson	Jr
CB	`31`	Bob Jury	So
DT	`78`	David Logan	Fr
DT	`68`	Don Parrish	Jr
DE	`85`	Tom Perko	Sr
DE	`91`	Al Romano	Jr
CB	`21`	J.C. Wilson	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`41`	Larry Swider	Jr

Head coach

Johnny Majors

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Coaching staff[]

1975 Pittsburgh Panthers football staff

	Coaching Staff Johnny Majors – Head Coach Jackie Sherrill – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator George Haffner – Offensive Coordinator Henry Lee Parker – Recruiter Joe Avezzano – Offensive Line Jim Dyar – Defensive Line Larry Holton – Junior Varsity Coach Harry Jones – Offensive Backs Bob Leahy – Receivers Joe Madden – Defensive Secondary Bobby Roper – Defensive Ends Bob Matey – Scouting/Middle Guards Keith Schroeder – Scouting			Support Staff			Strength and Conditioning Staff

Team players drafted into the NFL[]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Tom Perko	Linebacker	4	101	Green Bay Packers
Karl Farmer	Wide receiver	7	193	Atlanta Falcons
Randy Cozens	Defensive end	17	474	Denver Broncos

^[1]

References[]

^ "1976 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-21.

[1] "1976 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-21.

[1]

v t Pittsburgh Panthers football
Venues	Recreation Park (1898–1899) Exposition Park (1900) Schenley Park (1901) Coliseum (1902–1903) Exposition Park (1904–1908) Forbes Field (1909–1924) Pitt Stadium (1925–1999) Three Rivers Stadium (2000) Heinz Field (2001–present) UPMC Sports Performance Complex (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Cincinnati (River City Rivalry) Notre Dame Penn State Syracuse West Virginia (Backyard Brawl)
Culture & lore	Panthers "Hail to Pitt" "Pitt Victory Song" Marching band 1921 Backyard Brawl (first college football game to be radio broadcasted) 2007 Backyard Brawl Highest-scoring game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1975 NCAA Division I independents football records
v t	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
Rutgers		–		9	–	2	–	0
No. 10 Penn State		–		9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 West Virginia		–		9	–	3	–	0
Notre Dame		–		8	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		8	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Pittsburgh		–		8	–	4	–	0
Boston College		–		7	–	4	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		7	–	4	–	0
Memphis State		–		7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		7	–	4	–	0
North Texas State		–		7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		7	–	4	–	0
South Carolina		–		7	–	5	–	0
Colgate		–		6	–	4	–	0
Cincinnati		–		6	–	5	–	0
Hawaii		–		6	–	5	–	0
Syracuse		–		6	–	5	–	0
Temple		–		6	–	5	–	0
Utah State		–		6	–	5	–	0
Indiana State		–		5	–	5	–	0
Dayton		–		5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		4	–	6	–	1
Tulane		–		4	–	7	–	0
Villanova		–		4	–	7	–	0
Florida State		–		3	–	8	–	0
Air Force		–		2	–	8	–	1
Houston		–		2	–	8	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		2	–	8	–	0
Army		–		2	–	9	–	0
Marshall		–		2	–	9	–	0
Southern Illinois		–		1	–	9	–	1
Holy Cross		–		1	–	10	–	0
Louisville		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll