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1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season

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American college football season

This article is about the first Division I-AA (now FCS) season. For the first Division I-A (now FBS) season, see1978 NCAA Division I-A football season.

1978 NCAA Division I-AA season

Regular season
Number of teams	38^[1]
Duration	August 2–November 25^[2]
Playoff
Duration	December 9–December 16^[1]
Championship date	December 16, 1978
Championship site	Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, Texas
Champion	Florida A&M
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons
«1977 (Division I) 1979»

The1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season was the first season ofDivision I-AA college football. Division I-AA was created in January 1978 whenDivision I was subdivided intoDivision I-A and Division I-AA for football only.^[3] It was anticipated that 65 Division I football schools would transition to Division I-AA.^[4] Instead, just eight programs (seven teams from theSouthwestern Athletic Conference, which had just joined Division I a year before, plus independentNorthwestern State) voluntarily opted for Division I-AA for the 1978 season. They were joined by 35 schools that had reclassified from Division II.

The season began in August 1978 and concluded with theDivision I-AA Football Championship Game, played in thePioneer Bowl on December 16 atMemorial Stadium inWichita Falls, Texas. TheFlorida A&M Rattlers won the first I-AA championship, defeating theUMass Minutemen 35–28.^[5] Florida A&M of 1978 remains the onlyHBCU program to play in (and win) the I-AA/FCS national championship game.

Initial membership

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TheSouthwestern Athletic was the only conference competing in the1977 NCAA Division I football season to join Division I-AA in 1978.
Four conferences, theBig Sky,Mid-Eastern Athletic,Ohio Valley, andYankee, transitioned fromDivision II toDivision I, classifying their football programs in Division I-AA.
Of the eight programs moving to Division I-AA as independents, one came from Division I and seven came from Division II.

School	1977 Conference	1978 Conference
Alcorn State	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
Austin Peay	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Boise State	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Boston University	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
Bucknell	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Connecticut	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
Delaware State	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (I-AA)
Eastern Kentucky	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Florida A&M	SIAC (D-II)	I-AA Independent
Grambling State	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
Howard	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (I-AA)
Idaho ^	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Idaho State	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Jackson State	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
Lafayette	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Lehigh	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Maine	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
Middle Tennessee State	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Montana	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Montana State	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Morehead State	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Murray State	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
New Hampshire	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
Northeastern	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Nevada	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
North Carolina A&T	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (I-AA)
Northern Arizona	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Northwestern State	D-I Independent	I-AA Independent
Portland State	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Prairie View A&M	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
Rhode Island	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
South Carolina State	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (I-AA)
Southern	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
Tennessee Tech	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Texas Southern	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (I-AA)
UMass	Yankee (D-II)	Yankee (I-AA)
Weber State	Big Sky (D-II)	Big Sky (I-AA)
Western Kentucky	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)

^ Idaho was previously in Division I for football, but also a member of the Big Sky Conference (D-II for football only)

Conference standings

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1978 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Northern Arizona $	6	–	0	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
No. T–9 Montana State	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Montana	4	–	2	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Boise State	3	–	3	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Weber State	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Idaho	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Idaho State	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings fromNCAA Division I-AA AP Poll

1978 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 6 South Carolina State $	5	–	0	–	1	8	–	2	–	1
North Carolina A&T	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
Delaware State	3	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Morgan State	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	6	–	1
Howard	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Maryland Eastern Shore	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
North Carolina Central	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion The conference was a hybrid of NCAA Division I-AA and Division II programs. Morgan State, Maryland-Eastern Shore, and North Carolina Central were classified as NCAA Division II. All the other teams were Division I-AA.^[6]^[7]^[8] Rankings fromAssociated Press poll

1978 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. T–4 Western Kentucky $	7	–	0	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Eastern Kentucky	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Tennessee Tech	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Austin Peay	4	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Murray State	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Morehead State	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	6	–	1
Middle Tennessee	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings fromAssociated Press poll

1978 Southern Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Furman +	4	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Chattanooga +	4	–	1	–	0	7	–	3	–	1
Appalachian State	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Western Carolina	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
The Citadel	2	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
VMI	1	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Marshall	0	–	5	–	0	1	–	10	–	0
Davidson	0	–	0	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
East Tennessee State	0	–	0	–	0	4	–	7	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions The conference was a hybrid of NCAA Division I-A and I-AA teams. Davidson was classified as I-AA. All the other teams were classified as I-A. Davidson and East Tennessee State were ineligible for the conference title. VMI's games againstWilliam & Mary andRichmond and Chattanooga's game against Richmond were designated as conference games and counted in the SoCon standings.

1978 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Grambling State $	5	–	0	–	1	9	–	1	–	1
No. 2 Jackson State ^	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
Mississippi Valley State	3	–	2	–	1	6	–	3	–	1
Alcorn State	2	–	3	–	1	5	–	4	–	1
Southern	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Texas Southern	1	–	4	–	1	3	–	7	–	1
Prairie View A&M	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant The conference was a hybrid of NCAA Division I-AA and II programs. Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View were classified as NCAA Division II for the 1978 season.^[9]^[10] All the other teams were Division I-AA. Rankings fromAssociated Press poll

1978 Yankee Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. T–4 UMass $^	5	–	0	–	0	9	–	4	–	0
No. 7 Rhode Island	3	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Connecticut	3	–	2	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Boston University	2	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
New Hampshire	1	–	3	–	1	6	–	4	–	1
Maine	0	–	4	–	1	3	–	7	–	1

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings fromAssociated Press poll

1978 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
v t e	Conf.			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 1 Nevada ^		–		11	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Lehigh		–		8	–	3	–	0
Northeastern		–		6	–	5	–	0
Bucknell		–		5	–	5	–	0
Northwestern State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Portland State		–		5	–	6	–	0
Lafayette		–		4	–	7	–	0

^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings fromAssociated Press poll

Conference champions

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Conference champions
Big Sky Conference –Northern Arizona Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference –South Carolina State Ohio Valley Conference –Western Kentucky Southwestern Athletic Conference –Grambling State Yankee Conference –UMass

Postseason

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NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket

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Thebracket consisted of three regional selections (West, East, and South) plus anat-large team.^[11]Florida A&M (FAMU) of theSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was the at-large selection.^[12] While the SIAC was aDivision II conference, FAMU had successfully petitioned the NCAA forDivision I classification (Division I-AA in football), which took effect on September 1, 1978.^[13]

Semifinals December 9 Campus sites			National Championship Game December 17 Pioneer Bowl Memorial Stadium–Wichita Falls, TX

AtLg	Florida A&M	15

South	Jackson State*	10
			AtLg	Florida A&M	35

			East	UMass	28
East	UMass	44

West	Nevada*	21

*Denotes host institution

Notes

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1.^ TheGold Bowl was a postseason game that was separate from the playoffs and took place on December 2.^[14]

References

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^"Standings for the 1978 FCS Season". RetrievedFebruary 25, 2025.
^"1978 (Admin)". RetrievedFebruary 24, 2025.
^"Big schools win battle".St. Petersburg Independent. Florida. Associated Press. January 13, 1978. p. 5C.
^Underwood, John (January 23, 1978)."The NCAA splits its decision".Sports Illustrated. RetrievedAugust 22, 2023.
^"1978 NCAA Division I Football Championship"(PDF).NCAA.org. p. 14. RetrievedDecember 29, 2013.
^"Ncaa 1978".
^"Ncaa 1978".
^"Ncaa 1978".
^"NCAA Statistics". RetrievedJanuary 15, 2025.
^"NCAA Statistics". RetrievedJanuary 15, 2025.
^Climer, David (July 22, 1978)."I-AA Finals Set At Pioneer Bowl".The Tennessean.Nashville, Tennessee. p. 20. RetrievedFebruary 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^"FAMU Gains I-AA Playoffs".Fort Lauderdale News.Fort Lauderdale, Florida. December 4, 1978. p. 19. RetrievedFebruary 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^Cooper, Barry (August 31, 1978)."Florida A&M granted Division 1 status".Tallahassee Democrat.Tallahassee, Florida. p. 1B. RetrievedMay 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^"1978 (Admin)". RetrievedFebruary 24, 2025.

v t e NCAA football seasons
Pre-NCAA	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
NCAA pre-divisional	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961
NCAA University Division	1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
NCAA Division I	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
NCAA College Division	1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025