1979 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

1979 Southwest Conference football standings
	+ – Conference co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

1979 Arkansas Razorbacks football
1979 Arkansas Razorbacks football
Southwest Conference co-champion
Sugar Bowl, L 9–24 vs. Alabama
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 8
1979 record	10–2 (6–2 SWC)
Head coach	Lou Holtz (3rd season);
Captains	Jim Howard; Roland Sales;
Home stadium	Razorback Stadium; War Memorial Stadium
	Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represented the University of Arkansas in the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach Lou Holtz, the Razorbacks compiled a 10–2 record (7–1 against SWC opponents), finished in a tie with Houston for the SWC championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 284 to 132. The Razorbacks' only regular season loss was to Houston by a 13–10 score. The team advanced to the 1980 Sugar Bowl, losing to undefeated national champion Alabama by a 24–9 score.^[1]^[2] Arkansas was ranked #8 in the final AP Poll and #9 in the final UPI Coaches Poll.

Offensive tackle Greg Kolenda was a consensus All-American for the Razorbacks in 1979.^[3] Placekicker Ish Ordonez led the nation in field goals with 18 and lead the Southwest Conference in scoring for the second year in a row with 80 points. He broke the NCAA record of 12 consecutive field goals making 16 and hit 18 of 22 field goals on the season, for an 82% average and was second-team All-American. Quarterback Kevin Scanlon was selected the Southwest Conference Player of the Year and honorable mention All American. As a defense, Arkansas was tied for 6th in scoring defense in the 1979 season, giving up 108 points in 11 games (9.8 ppg).

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 15	Colorado State*	No. 17	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR		W 36–3	55,317
September 22	Oklahoma State*	No. 15	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR		W 27–7	55,812
September 29	Tulsa*	No. 13	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR		W 33–8	45,742
October 6	at TCU	No. 13	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX		W 16–13	25,317
October 13	at Texas Tech	No. 12	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)		W 20–6	47,109
October 20	No. 2 Texas	No. 10	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (rivalry)	ABC	W 17–14	55,838
October 27	No. 6 Houston	No. 4	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR	ABC	L 10–13	43,319
November 3	at Rice	No. 9	Rice Stadium Houston, TX		W 34–7	17,000
November 10	No. 17 Baylor	No. 9	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR		W 29–20	43,284
November 17	at Texas A&M	No. 8	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)		W 22–10	62,648
November 24	SMU	No. 7	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR		W 31–7	54,718
January 1	vs. No. 2 Alabama*	No. 6	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	L 9–24	77,486
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll

Roster[]

RB Gary Anderson, Fresh
Jeff Goff (defense), Soph
DE Jim Howard
P Bruce Lahay
TE Darryl Mason
PK Ish Ordonez
Ricky Richardson (defense), Soph
QB Kevin Scanlon, Sr.
G George Stewart

Season summary[]

Texas[]

Texas' John Goodson missed a 51-yard field goal into a 24-mile per hour wind with 1:29 left to play as Arkansas beat the Longhorns for the first time since 1971. ^[4]

References[]

^ "Arkansas Yearly Results (1975-1979)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
^ "19789Arkansas Razorbacks Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
^ "Consensus All Americans."1979 Retrieved on July 31, 2007.
^ Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 Oct 21.

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[1] "Arkansas Yearly Results (1975-1979)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2015.

[2] "19789Arkansas Razorbacks Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 3, 2015.

[3] "Consensus All Americans."1979 Retrieved on July 31, 2007.

[4] Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 Oct 21.

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v t Arkansas Razorbacks football
Venues	The Hill (1894–1937) Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (1938–present) Quigley Stadium (alternate, 1932–1947) War Memorial Stadium (alternate, 1948–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games LSU Missouri: Battle Line Rivalry Ole Miss Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech
Culture & lore	Calling the Hogs Tusk Big Red "Arkansas Fight" Marching band 1969 "Game of the Century" 2001 Ole Miss game 2003 Kentucky game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	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

1979 Southwest Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 5 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Arkansas +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Texas	6	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Baylor	5	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Texas Tech	2	–	5	–	1	3	–	6	–	2
TCU	1	–	6	–	1	2	–	8	–	1
Rice	0	–	8	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll