As spectacular a season as 1976 was, the road to the championship was actually set up on a cold November 15th day at Pitt Stadium in 1975. That was the day that Tony Dorsett ran for a school record 303 yards en route to a 34-20 destruction on Notre Dame. It not only showed Pitt that it could play with the big boys, but that they could humiliate them also.
There were a couple other big moments in 1975 that help set up 1976, one was the game against Penn State the following week. Despite the fact Pitt lost 7-6 on a couple of uncharacteristic short Field Goal misses by Carson Long, they outplayed the Nittany Lions and it gave them a confidence against Penn State that they hadn't had in many years, a confidence that would be very important if they were to defeat the Lions the next year and go on to win their title.
The other Big Moment came in their Sun Bowl appearance against Kansas the day after Christmas. The Panthers crushed the Jayhawks by amassing 372 yards on the ground on their way to a 33-19 victory. This not only gave Pitt their 1st Bowl win since the 1937 National Championship season, but it gave them a #15 ranking. This would be very important for the following season as it catapulted them to a #3 preseason ranking in the AP poll and put them in prime position.
The season began with a bit of hurdle, Pitt had to go to South Bend to play a Notre Dame team that was hellbent on revenge after their humiliation of a season ago. The Irish stormed down the field on the opening posesion to take a 7-0 lead, but when Pitt took the ball, Dorsett took off on a 62 yard run that Johnny Majors called one of the most spectacular he had ever seen, and so went the Irish hopes down the drain. TD finished with 181 yards and All-American Bob Jury finished with 3 int as Pitt again crushed Notre Dame 31-10.
Pitt won their next 2 against Georgia Tech 42-14, as punter Larry Swider had a big day averaging 57 yards on 6 punts, and against Temple 21-7. Pitt was 3-0 and ranked #2 behind Michigan, but starting QB Bobby Haygood went down with a season ending injury. A problem, no, enter Junior Matt Cavanaugh, who gave the Panthers another threat to an otherwise frightening offense, the threat of the pass. Haygood was a brilliant runner, but was no where near the passer that Cavanaugh was.
He proved that in a 44-31 victory over the Duke Blue Devils. Cavanaugh was 14 out of 17 for 339 yards and a then school record 5 touchdowns leading Pitt to 541 total yards of offense. Tight End Jim Corbett also came up big that day with 6 receptions for 165 yards and a sparkling 27.5 ave.
With Cavanaugh at the helm, Pitt was unstoppable, that is until he was injured the next week in a 27-6 victory vs Louisville. Pitt's defense led the way this day by holding the Cardinals to only 79 yards of offense and 4 first downs. Pitt was in trouble until 3rd string QB Tom Yewcic came in to save the day.
Against Miami the next week, Yewcic was solid and Dorsett was spectacular, rambling to 227 yards, that included runs of 53 and 44 yards, and 3 td's in a 36-19 victory. Pitt had now improved to 6-0 and had the Midshipman of Navy coming up, a date that Dorsett would rewrite the NCAA record book.
TD finished with 180 yards in a 45-0 bruising of Navy, and broke the all time NCAA rushing record of 2-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin. Dorsett eclipsed Griffing record of 5177 yards on an incredible 32 yard touchdown run.
The next week Dorsett rambled for 241 yards in a 23-13 win against Syracuse. This set up another game against a service academy, the Black Knights of Army. It would be game that was arguably the greatest moment of 1976.
The game itself was not particularly great as Pitt amassed 447 yards rushing, including 212 by Dorsett and a 32 yard run by Cavanaugh(I guess he wasnt so bad a runner) in a 37-7 rout. But what made the day was the fact that Purdue held off Michigan which sent the Panthers to the #1 ranking in all the land. Now Pitt had their destiny in their own hands. Defeat West Virginia, Penn State and a bowl opponent, and the national championship was theirs. This was easier said than done.
The Panthers had their hands full against the Moutaineers the following week, but Dorsett with 199 yards and Cavanaugh with 124 led Pitt to a hard fought 24-16 victory and a 10-0 record.
Pitt was to finish the season, against long time rival Penn State, a team that Pitt had not defeated since legendary coach Joe Paterno took over in 1966. The Lions took an early lead on a Chuck Fusina 21 yard lateral to Bob Torrey and held the #1 Panthers to a 7-7 halftime tie. It was at that point that Johnny Majors inserted Dorsett as the fullback, the first time he had ever played that position in his 4 years at Pitt, for a few plays and Dorsett ran for 173 of his 224 yards in the second half leading Pitt to a dominating 24-7 victory and the perfect season.
On the way Dorsett had a 40 yard td run that broke Glen Davis' all time points scored record of 354 with 356, a 28 yd run which made him the 1st runner ever to eclipse 6000 yards in a career and a 38 yard run which broke Ed Marinaro's record of 1881 yards rushing in a season(Dorsett finished with 1948)
Pitt accepted a bid to play in the Sugar Bowl against the #5 Mighty Gawd Awful Dogs of Georgia, basically saved their best for last.
The Panthers broke out to a dominant 21-0 halftime lead on the strength of a 59 yard Matt Cavanaugh to Gordon Jones td pass and a 11 yd Dorsett scamper, and never looked back. Pitt tacked on a couple of Carson Long fg's in the second half and the defense stuffed the Dawgs into submission holding Georgia to 3 of 22 passing for 46 yards and 4 int's in a 27-3 victory.
Cavanaugh was named the games MVP going 10 of 18 for 192 yds and a td. Dorsett also added 202 yards, a Sugar Bowl record in the win.
Unfortunately, this spelled the end for coach Johnny Majors at Pitt who was to return to alma mater at Tennessee for 1977 only to return again in the 90's in a stiuation as embarrasing as the one he came to in 1973 but alas could not perform the same magic a second time.
Nonetheless, he did revitilize the Panthers in his first go around, leading Pitt to the 1976 National Championship and a memory that this town will never forget.
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