1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

1979 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football
1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Fiesta Bowl champion; Eastern champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 16–10 vs. Arizona
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 7
1979 record	11–1
Head coach	Jackie Sherrill (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Wally English (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Foge Fazio (1st season)
Base defense	Multiple front
Home stadium	Pitt Stadium; (Capacity: 56,500)
	Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Panthers competed in the 1980 Fiesta Bowl. Pitt was awarded the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy as the champion of the East.

Schedule[]

In the Backyard Brawl, Pittsburgh was led by freshman quarterback Dan Marino. He directed Pitt to a 24–17 victory in the last college football game played at old Mountaineer Field.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 15	1:30 p.m.	Kansas	No. 16	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 24–0	41,545
September 22	1:00 p.m.	at North Carolina	No. 13	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		L 7–17	50,500
September 29	7:30 p.m.	at Temple		Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 10–9	34,039
October 6	1:30 p.m.	Boston College		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 28–7	37,146
October 13	10:00 a.m.	Cincinnati		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (River City Rivalry)		W 35–0	31,620
October 20	4:30 p.m.	at No. 12 Washington	No. 17	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		W 26–14	52,485
October 27	1:30 p.m.	No. 17 Navy	No. 12	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		W 24–7	51,332
November 3	12:30 p.m.	Syracuse	No. 12	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 28–21	43,500
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at West Virginia	No. 12	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Backyard Brawl)		W 24–17	38,681
November 17	1:30 p.m.	at Army	No. 11	Michie Stadium West Point, NY		W 40–0	31,689
December 1	12:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Penn State	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 29–14	76,958
December 25	3:30 p.m.	vs. Arizona	No. 10	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	W 16–10	55,347
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster[]

1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
G	`70`	Emil Boures	So
C	`56`	Russ Grimm	Jr
T	`64`	Bob Gruber	Sr
QB	`13`	Dan Marino	Fr
T	`73`	Mark May	Jr
RB	`40`	Randy McMillan	Jr
WR	`81`	Cliff Moore
TE	`84`	Benjie Pryor	Jr
WR	`88`	Ralph Still	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DT	`68`	Jerry Boyarsky	Jr
DE	`99`	Hugh Green	Jr
DE	`87`	Rickey Jackson	Jr
DT	`86`	Greg Meisner	Jr
DT	`76`	Bill Neill	Jr
CB	`3`	Lynn Thomas	Jr
SS	`48`	Carlton Williamson	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`5`	Mark Schubert	Sr

Head coach

Jackie Sherrill

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

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

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Coaching staff[]

1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football staff

	Coaching Staff Jackie Sherrill – Head Coach Jimmy Sharpe – Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line Wally English – Offensive Coordinator/Receivers Foge Fazio – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Ron Dickerson – Defensive Backs Bob Matey – Defensive Line Joe Moore – Offensive Backs Joe Pendry – Quarterbacks Ray Zingler – Defensive Ends			Support Staff Alex Kramer – Executive Assistant Kevin Dickey – Recruiting Coordinator Nick Gasparato – Graduate Assistant Jerry Leith – Graduate Assistant Nick Rapone– Graduate Assistant			Strength and Conditioning Staff Paul Stark – Weight, Strength Coach

^[2]

Team players drafted into the NFL[]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Jo Jo Heath	Defensive Back	6	141	Cincinnati Bengals
Bob Gruber	Tackle	10	276	Los Angeles Rams

^[3]

References[]

Dan Marino quarterbacks Pitt in 35-0 rout of Cincinnati on October 13, 1979

^ "Site Unavailable".
^ "Coaches Biographies". 1979 Pitt Football. University of Pittsburgh Department of Athletics. 1979. pp. 19–24. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
^ "1980 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-22.

This college football 1970s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

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[1] "Site Unavailable".

[2] "Coaches Biographies". 1979 Pitt Football. University of Pittsburgh Department of Athletics. 1979. pp. 19–24. Retrieved December 26, 2012.

[3] "1980 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-22.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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

1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football

Fiesta Bowl champion Eastern champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 16–10 vs. Arizona
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 7
1979 record	11–1
Head coach	Jackie Sherrill (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Wally English (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Foge Fazio (1st season)
Base defense	Multiple front
Home stadium	Pitt Stadium (Capacity: 56,500)
Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

1979 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 6 Florida State		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
No. 7 Pittsburgh		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
UNLV		–		–		9	–	1	–	2
No. 17 Temple		–		–		10	–	2	–	0
Tulane		–		–		9	–	3	–	0
Rutgers		–		–		8	–	3	–	0
East Carolina		–		–		7	–	3	–	1
No. 20 Penn State		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
South Carolina		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–		7	–	4	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–		7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–		6	–	4	–	1
Syracuse		–		–		7	–	5	–	0
Colgate		–		–		5	–	4	–	1
Boston College		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Memphis		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Miami		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
North Texas State		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Villanova		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
West Virginia		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–		4	–	6	–	1
Louisville		–		–		4	–	6	–	1
William & Mary		–		–		4	–	7	–	0
Illinois State		–		–		3	–	8	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–		3	–	8	–	0
Army		–		–		2	–	8	–	1
Air Force		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Cincinnati		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Richmond		–		–		0	–	11	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll