1979 Stanford Cardinals football team

The 1979 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Rod Dowhower, an assistant coach under previous coach Bill Walsh, was hired as Stanford's new head coach, but resigned after the season to take an assistant coaching position with the NFL's Denver Broncos.[2]

1979 Stanford Cardinals football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
1979 record	5–5–1 (3–3–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Rod Dowhower (1st season)
Home stadium	Stanford Stadium (c. 85,500, grass)

1979 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 USC $	6	–	0	–	1			11	–	0	–	1
No. 11 Washington	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Arizona	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	1
Oregon	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
California	5	–	4	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Stanford	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Arizona State †	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
UCLA	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion † – Arizona State later forfeited 5 wins (3 in conference) due to NCAA sanctions[1] Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 8	at Tulane*	No. 13	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans,LA	L 10–33	41,251
September 15	San Jose State*		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	W 45–29	46,789
September 22	Army*		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	L 13–17	43,345
September 29	Boston College*		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	W 33–14	36,412
October 6	UCLA		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	W 27–24	70,205
October 13	at No. 1 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	T 21–21	76,067
October 20	at Arizona		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	W 30–10	55,000
October 27	at Oregon State		Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	L 31–33	16,000
November 3	Arizona State		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	W 28–21	40,184
November 10	Oregon		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	L 7–16	45,219
November 17	California		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (82nd Big Game)	L 14–21	85,577
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[3]

Game summaries

Tulane

San Jose State

Mike Dotterer became the first freshman in school history to score three touchdowns in one game during Stanford's 45-29 victory.[4]

Arizona

1 2 3 4 Total • Stanford 7 0 7 16 30 Arizona 0 7 3 0 10 Date: October 20 Location: Tucson, Arizona Source:

Scoring summary 1 STAN Hooper 3 yard pass from Schonert (Naber kick) STAN 7-0 2 ARIZ Hersey 5 yard run (Zivic kick) Tied 7-7 3 ARIZ Zivic 27 yard field goal ARIZ 10-7 3 STAN Tyler 15 yard pass from Schonert (Naber kick) STAN 14-10 4 STAN Naber 30 yard field goal STAN 17-10 4 STAN Dotterer 7 yard pass from Schonert (Naber kick) STAN 24-10 4 STAN Margerum 13 yard pass from Elway (kick failed) STAN 30-10

Roster

1979 Stanford Cardinal football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 24 Mike Dotterer Fr TE 83 Chris Dressel Fr QB 7 John Elway Fr T 79 Andre Hines Sr T 67 Brian Holloway Jr C 66 John Macauley Jr WR 28 Ken Margerum Jr G 68 Mike Neill Jr RB 31 Darrin Nelson Jr QB 14 Turk Schonert Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 89 Chuck Evans Sr DT 94 Dan Floyd Sr LB 99 Tom Hall Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Rod Dowhower Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "2017 Media Guide" (PDF). thesundevils.com. ASU Athletics. p. 127. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
2. "Dowhower quits to take Broncos' post". Palm Beach Post. January 24, 1980. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
3. "Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1979–1983". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2013-02-15. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
4. Palm Beach Post. 1979 Sept 16. Retrieved 2014-Jan-20.