Earl Campbell Won the Heisman Trophy the Last Time a Triple Crown Came Around

If Big Brown wins the Belmont Stakes in a couple of weeks, he'll become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown.

There's a good chance that this will be the first and only time I mention horse racing on a football blog, but I'm doing it for a reason.

What was going on in the college football world when Affirmed took the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont?

- Earl Campbell won the 1977 Heisman Trophy, but he and his Texas Longhorns had been denied the national championship by Joe Montana and Notre Dame, who routed them 38-10 in the Cotton Bowl and jumped from #5 to #1. Campbell ran for 116 yards on 29 carries, but the Longhorns turned the ball over six times, and the Irish had two 100-yard rushers (Jerome Heavens and Vagas Ferguson). 

- Speaking of Campbell, we were in the midst of an 11-year run during which running backs won 11 straight Heisman trophies (1973-83). Oklahoma's Billy Sims won the award in 1978. 

- 1978 was the first season for 1-A and 1-AA in football. In the 30 years since, you'd have figured there'd already be a playoff in I-A, right?

- On a related note, Roy Kramer had finished up an 11-season tenure at Central Michigan, where he went 83-32-2 and won a Division II national title in 1974, and was beginning his tenure as athletic director at Vanderbilt. In 1990, he'd step into the role he's most associated with as SEC commish, and would be the brains behind the BCS years later. No, Tommy Tuberville, I do not have his home address. 

- Joe Paterno was going to fall short of the national title that season, as #2 Alabama beat #1 Penn State 14-7 in Sugar Bowl. Bear Bryant's Tide were the AP champs, with 11-1 USC winning the UPI title. 

- Arizona and Arizona State were just moving from the WAC to the Pac-10 for the 1978 season. Arizona State would hand USC its only loss that season, which would ultimately cost them a unanimous national title.

- The Holiday Bowl and short-lived Garden State Bowl were set to start in 1978, taking the total of bowl games to 15. The Garden State Bowl would last only from 1978-81, and might be better known for being Rutgers' last bowl game until the 2005 Insight Bowl, which would coincidentally come against Arizona St., whom they had played in the 1978 Garden State Bowl. The Sun Devils won both times (34-18 in 1978, 45-40 in 2005).

- Bobby Bowden was entering his third season at Florida State, having gone 10-2 in 1977, winning the Tangerine Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and finishing #10 in the AP poll. The Seminoles would go 8-3 in 1978 and miss out on the postseason. 

- Low Holtz had just come off of his first season at Arkansas, finishing at 11-1 overall, and #3 in the pools after knocking #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The Razorbacks went 9-2-1 in 1978 and tied UCLA 10-10 in the Fiesta Bowl. 

- Woody Hayes was months away from punching Clemson's Charlie Bauman near the end of the Gator Bowl and ending his 28-year tenure at Ohio State. Hayes ended his coaching career with a record of 238-72-10, and was 205-61-10 from 1951-78 with the Buckeyes, winning five national titles and 13 conference titles in that span. 

Want to see the punch? Here you go. 

- Ryan Perrilloux's new team, Jacksonville St., was the D-II runner-up to Lehigh in 1977, losing 33-0 in the title game.

Who knows? Maybe Big Brown winning the Triple Crown is the key to getting a college football playoff. So, playoff lovers, you best hope he wins.