1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1978 NCAA Division I-AA season
1978 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Number of teams	43
Duration	August–November
Playoff
Duration	December 9–December 16
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»

The 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season was the first season of Division I-AA college football. Division I-AA was created in January 1978 when Division I was subdivided into Division I-A and Division I-AA for football only.^[1] It was anticipated that 65 Division I football schools would transition to Division I-AA.^[2] Instead, just eight programs (seven teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which had just joined Division I a year before, plus independent Northwestern 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 the Division I-AA Football Championship Game, played on December 16 at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Florida A&M Rattlers won the first I-AA championship, defeating the UMass Minutemen 35–28 in the Pioneer Bowl.^[3] Florida A&M of 1978 remains the only HBCU program to play in (and win) the I-AA/FCS national championship game.

Initial membership

The Southwestern Athletic was the only conference competing in the 1977 NCAA Division I football season to join Division I-AA in 1978.
Four conferences, the Big Sky, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Ohio Valley, and Yankee, transitioned from Division II to Division 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)
East Tennessee State	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (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)
Idano ^	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)
Maryland Eastern Shore	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (I-AA)
Middle Tennessee State	Ohio Valley (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)
Mississippi Valley State	SWAC (D-I)	SWAC (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)
Morgan State	MEAC (D-II)	MEAC (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)
North Carolina Central	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

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 from NCAA 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 Rankings from Associated 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
East Tennessee State	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Middle Tennessee	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from Associated Press poll

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 Rankings from Associated 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 from Associated Press poll

1978 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 3 Florida A&M ^		–		12	–	1	–	0
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 from Associated Press poll

Conference champions

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

NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket

The bracket consisted of three regional selections (West, East, and South) plus an at-large team.^[4] Florida A&M (FAMU) of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was the at-large selection.^[5] While the SIAC was a Division II conference, FAMU had successfully petitioned the NCAA for Division I classification (Division I-AA in football), which took effect on September 1, 1978.^[6]

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

References

^ "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. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
^ "1978 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
^ Climer, David (July 22, 1978). "I-AA Finals Set At Pioneer Bowl". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 20. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^ "FAMU Gains I-AA Playoffs". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. December 4, 1978. p. 19. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^ Cooper, Barry (August 31, 1978). "Florida A&M granted Division 1 status". Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee, Florida. p. 1B. Retrieved May 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[bswb-1] "Big schools win battle". St. Petersburg Independent. (Florida). Associated Press. January 13, 1978. p. 5C.

[spldecn-2] Underwood, John (January 23, 1978). "The NCAA splits its decision". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 22, 2023.

[3] "1978 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 29, 2013.

[4] Climer, David (July 22, 1978). "I-AA Finals Set At Pioneer Bowl". The Tennessean. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 20. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[5] "FAMU Gains I-AA Playoffs". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. December 4, 1978. p. 19. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[6] Cooper, Barry (August 31, 1978). "Florida A&M granted Division 1 status". Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee, Florida. p. 1B. Retrieved May 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

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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
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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
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NCAA College Division	1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
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