Penn State beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for Joe Paterno's first title and was the consensus national champion across every major selector, including both the UPI and USA Today/CNN coaches' polls that ran side by side that season.
Beat Georgia 27-23 in the Sugar Bowl; consensus national champion named by AP, UPI, FWAA, NFF, and USA Today/CNN (a distinct poll from UPI's coaches' poll from 1982-1990, before the two merged in 1991).
Penn State’s 1982 scheduleThe school claims the title, but no major selector named them champion this season.
SMU’s 1982 scheduleNo national title game was played after the 1982 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.
