1980 Arizona Wildcats football team

The 1980 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their first season under head coach Larry Smith, the Wildcats compiled a 5–6 record (3–4 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in a tie for sixth place in the Pac-10, and were outscored by their opponents, 275 to 215.[1][2] The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.

1980 Arizona Wildcats football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
1980 record	5–6 (3–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Larry Smith (1st season)
Captain	Hubie Oliver
Home stadium	Arizona Stadium

1980 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 16 Washington $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 13 UCLA	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 11 USC	4	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Arizona State	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Oregon	4	–	3	–	1			6	–	3	–	2
Stanford	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Arizona	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
California	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The team's statistical leaders included Tom Tunnicliffe with 1,204 passing yards, Hubert Oliver with 655 rushing yards, and Tim Holmes with 545 receiving yards.[3] Linebacker Jack Housley led the team with 104 total tackles.[4]

Before the season

Arizona finished the 1979 season with a 6–5 record, and lost to Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. During the offseason, head coach Tony Mason was discovered as being allegedly involved in a cash payment scandal by giving boosters money to players, which was illegal under NCAA rules. As a result, Mason was fired and replaced by Smith, who was coaching at Tulane.[5] [6] Smith was a former assistant coach at Arizona under Mason’s predecessor Jim Young. In a press conference, Smith promised to rebuild the program and bring the team to a winning success.[7]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 20	Colorado State	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 13–15	48,511
September 27	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 31–24	41,000
October 4	at Iowa*	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN	W 5–3	59,950
October 11	No. 2 USC	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	NBC	L 10–27	54,789
October 18	Washington State	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 14–38	47,132
October 25	No. 4 Notre Dame	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	CBS	L 3–20	56,211
November 1	No. 4 UCLA	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	ABC	W 23–17	42,876
November 8	at Washington	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 22–45	49,341
November 15	Pacific	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		W 63–35	39,576
November 22	at Oregon State	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 24–7	15,300
November 29	Arizona State	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ (rivalry)	ABC	L 7–44	53,108
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

at Iowa

Arizona at Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total • Wildcats 2 3 0 0 5 Hawkeyes 0 0 0 3 3 Date: October 4 Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA Game attendance: 59,950

Scoring summary 1 12:07 ARIZ Safety, punt blocked by Ware out of end zone ARIZ 2–0 2 7:31 ARIZ Weber 37-yard field goal ARIZ 5–0 4 9:23 IOWA Reggie Roby 36-yard field goal ARIZ 5–3

Notre Dame

Notre Dame took down the Wildcats in their first and, to date, only trip to Tucson.[8]

UCLA

Arizona upset the second-ranked Bruins for Smith’s first big win as the Wildcat coach (UCLA was set to become the top-ranked team had they won).[9]

Arizona State

Arizona State at Arizona

1 2 3 4 Total • Sun Devils 14 17 13 0 44 Wildcats 0 0 7 0 7 Date: November 29 Location: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ Television network: ABC

Scoring summary 1 ASU Wetzel 22-yard pass from Pagel (Lewis kick) ASU 7-0 1 ASU Maxwell recovers blocked punt in end zone (Lewis kick) ASU 14-0 2 ASU Richards 35-yard interception return (Lewis kick) ASU 21-0 2 ASU Lewis 23-yard field goal ASU 24-0 2 ASU Mistler 4-yard pass from Pagel (Lewis kick) ASU 31-0 3 ARIZ Netting 18-yard pass from Tunnicliffe (Weber kick) ASU 31-7 3 ASU Pagel 1-yard run (Lewis kick) ASU 38-7 3 ASU Weathers yard run ASU 44-7

[10]

Season notes

• Smith’s first season was known as a “rebuilding year“, leading to the team’s 5–6 record.
• The season was the only one in the 1980s that Arizona finished with a losing record.
• Also, this season started a decade of resurgence for the Wildcats, fulfilling Smith’s promise when he was hired before the season started (see above).
• The victory over UCLA was the first big win under Smith, which became overshadowed by Arizona’s upset of USC during the following season.
• Arizona did not lose to ASU at home again until 1992.
• This was the last season until 2012 that Arizona wore red helmets and also the last season until 2005 that they wore red jerseys.

References

1. "1980 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
2. "Arizona Football 2016 Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona. 2016. p. 107. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
3. "1980 Arizona Wildcats Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
4. 2016 Media Guide, p. 86.
5. "Mason out as UA football coach in wake of alleged fraud scandal". Arizona Daily Star. April 15, 1980.
6. "Smith introduced as new UA football coach". Arizona Daily Star. April 28, 1980.
7. "New football coach promises change, hopes to bring success back to Tucson". Arizona Daily Wildcat. April 30, 1980.
8. "#4 Notre Dame 20, Arizona 3: Irish top Wildcats in desert". Chicago Tribune. October 26, 1980.
9. "Wildcats shock #2 Bruins for major upset". Arizona Daily Star. November 2, 1980.
10. "Sun Devils Club Arizona with Defense". The Register-Guard. Eugene. November 30, 1980. p. 3B. Retrieved November 22, 2019.