1976 ohio state football roster11/16/2023 ![]() ![]() “The way we look at it, added Denison, who advocated P.M.A. “It was a thrilling season, but it did end with a disappointment,” said Dennison, who became the school’s first and only football coach to be voted Ohio Coach of the Year, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) District 5 Coach of the Year, and AFCA’s National College Coach of the Year. The Zips fell 11 points shy of a National Championship. UA rallied to close the gap to 17-13 on a three yard run by Axner and 22 yard pass from sophomore Rick Beeman to Evans before giving up a late fourth quarter touchdown. The Bobcats scored again with :27 left to take a 14-0 lead at intermission. MSU finally broke the ice with a 5-yard pass to cap a 51-yard drive with 5:47 remaining in the half. The teams played through a scoreless tie through the first quarter and most of the second. The day was made for the ground game and ball control offenses, and the opponents did not disappoint. 1 Montana State, 24-13, on a windy and bitter cold day. In the national championship game, called the Pioneer Bowl, in Wichita Falls, Texas, the Zips fell to No. The UA offense then took over and ran three rushing plays to move the ball to the 1-yard line where Bezbatchenko went over on a quarterback keeper to seal the victory. They pushed the Wildcats back to the 23-yard line where they hit a field goal. With each team trading a series from the opponent 15-yard line, the Zips won the toss and elected to defend. Starting on their own 29-yard line, the Zips drove the ball to the NMU 18-yard line where kicker Jim Embick split the uprights with :01 left to tie the contest at 23-23 and send it into overtime. Down by three points with 3:29 left on the clock, UA had one final shot. The Zips to a 14-10 lead entering the locker room. Akron took the lead in the closing minutes of the half. With 2:48 remaining in the first quarter, junior halfback Dave Axner took a Marty Bezbatchencko hand off on the right side and sprinted 56 yards to the end zone. Riding a six-game winning streak against NMU in series history, the Zips were down by 10 points before the Akron rushing machine began to roll. For Akron, the win marked the first postseason victory in program history.Īkron then hosted the semifinal playoff game, called the Knute Rochne Bowl, at the Rubber Bowl where it defeated Northern Michigan, the defending 1975 National Champions, 29-26, in the first overtime game in NCAA football playoff history. The offense rushed for 419 yards, controlled the ball for 40 minutes, while the Zips’ defense limited the Rebels to only eight yards rushing. In the 1976 Division II quarterfinal round of the playoffs, complete domination was the theme in Akron’s 27-6 win over highly regarded Nevada-Las Vegas. ![]() The 1976 team also played in the most postseason football contests (three). Since football was first played on the UA campus in 1891, the 1976 Zips produced the most wins–10– in school history that continues to be the mark to beat 40 years later.įollowing a regular-season record of 8-2 in Division II play, the Zips made just their second NCAA post-season bid in history on a schedule that included six NCAA I opponents. Positively thrilling, incredible, fantastic, unbelievable and superb are only few adjectives that could apply to the season’s performance of The University of Akron’s 1976 football team. Included on that roster were 29 returning lettermen, including 15 starters on a team that had compiled a 7-4 record the prior year. In his fourth year at the helm, head coach Jim Dennison greeted a roster of 95 players in 1976, proud that all had been recruited by him and his staff. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the 1976 football team is the Team of Distinction for 2016. ![]()
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