1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1978 NCAA Division I-AA season
Duration	August – November 1978
Playoff
Duration	December 9–16, 1978
Championship site	Pioneer Bowl Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, TX
Champion	Florida A&M Rattlers
Division I-AA football season
«1977 1979»

The 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 1978 and concluded with the championship game on December 16 at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. This was the first season of Division I-AA football.^[1]

The Florida A&M Rattlers won their first I-AA championship, defeating Massachusetts Minutemen 35–28 in the Pioneer Bowl.^[2]

As of 2015, Florida A&M of 1978 remains the only team from an HBCU to play in the I-AA/FCS national championship game.

Conference changes and new programs

School	1977 Conference	1978 Conference
Bucknell	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Lafayette	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Lehigh	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Nevada	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Northwestern State	D-I Independent	I-AA Independent
Portland State	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent

Conference standings

1978 Big Sky football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   #7 Northern Arizona $   6 – 0         8 – 2   #7 Montana State   4 – 2         8 – 2   Montana   4 – 2         5 – 6   Boise State   3 – 3         7 – 4   Weber State   2 – 4         4 – 7   Idaho   2 – 4         2 – 9   Idaho State   0 – 6         2 – 9   $ – Conference champion No Big Sky teams were selected for I-AA playoffs. Rankings from NCAA Poll	Template:1978 MEAC football standings	Template:1978 Ohio Valley football standings
Template:1978 SWAC football standings	1978 Yankee Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T #4 UMass $^ 5 – 0 – 0     9 – 4 – 0 #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 ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA I-AA Poll	1978 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   Nevada ^   0 – 0         11 – 1   Lehigh   0 – 0         8 – 3   Northwestern State   0 – 0         5 – 6   Portland State   0 – 0         5 – 6   Bucknell   0 – 0         5 – 5   Lafayette   0 – 0         4 – 7   $ – Conference champion ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant

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

	Semifinals Campus Sites December 9					Championship Game Pioneer Bowl Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, TX December 17
	Florida A&M		15
	Jackson State*		10
						Florida A&M		35
						UMass		28
	UMass		44
	Nevada-Reno*		21

* Denotes host institution

References

1. "Big schools win battle". St. Petersburg Independent. (Florida). Associated Press. January 13, 1978. p. 5C.
2. "1978 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 20, 2013.