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]

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		W 5–3	59,950
October 11	No. 2 USC	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 10–27	54,789
October 18	Washington State	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 14–38	47,132
October 25	at No. 4 Notre Dame	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 3–20	56,211
November 1	No. 4 UCLA	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		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 (Territorial Cup)	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

See also: 1980 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–2	1978	W 23–3

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

See also: 1980 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
29–24	1979	W 27–24

[5]

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. "Sun Devils Club Arizona with Defense". The Register-Guard. Eugene. November 30, 1980. p. 3B. Retrieved November 22, 2019.