1976 Stanford Cardinals football team
The 1976 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-8 Conference during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Jack Christiansen, the Cardinals were 6–5 overall (5–2 in Pac-8, third) and played home games on campus at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California
| 1976 Stanford Cardinals football | |
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| Conference | Pacific-8 Conference |
| Record | 6–5 (5–2 Pac-8) |
| Head coach |
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| Home stadium | Stanford Stadium (Capacity: 85,500) |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 2 USC $ | 7 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 11 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 15 UCLA | 6 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 2 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stanford | 5 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington State | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 8 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oregon | 1 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oregon State | 1 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 10 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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After a disappointing season that started at 1–4, Christiansen was fired the day before the last game of the season, the Big Game at Cal; he coached that final game, which Stanford rallied to win in the final two minutes.
With two seasons remaining on a five-year contract (at $27,500 annually), Christiansen did not have a losing season at Stanford, was 30–22–3 (.573) overall, and 22–12–1 (.643) in conference. The Cardinals had five Pac-8 wins in each of his last four seasons, finishing no lower than third.
Bill Walsh, the offensive coordinator of the NFL's San Diego Chargers, was hired as head coach in December, and led Stanford for the next two seasons, both ending with bowl wins.