1978 NCAA Division II football season

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1978 NCAA Division II football season
Regular seasonAugust – November 1978
PlayoffsDecember 1978
National ChampionshipLobo Stadium
Longview, TX
ChampionEastern Illinois

The 1978 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began in August 1978, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship in December 1978 at Lobo Stadium in Longview, Texas. The Eastern Illinois Panthers defeated the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens, 10–9, to win their first Division II national title.[1]

Conference realignment[]

Conference changes[]

  • Five conferences, the Big Sky Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Yankee Conference, transitioned from Division II to the newly-established Division I-AA level of college football. All of their members, alongside eight independents, departed at the same time.
  • This was the first season for the Mid-Continent Conference, which was formed by six teams from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio.
  • This was the first season for the Heartland Collegiate Conference, which was formed by eight teams from Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. All of the Indiana-based members were formerly part of the Indiana Collegiate Conference, which dropped football after the prior season.

Membership changes[]

School 1977 Conference 1978 Conference
Akron D-II Independent Mid-Continent
Bucknell D-II Independent I-AA Independent
Cal State Los Angeles D-II Independent Dropped program
Eastern Illinois D-II Independent Mid-Continent
Florida A&M SIAC (Division II) I-AA Independent
Lafayette D-II Independent I-AA Independent
Lehigh D-II Independent I-AA Independent
Nevada D-II Independent I-AA Independent
Northeastern D-II Independent I-AA Independent
Northern Colorado GPAC (NAIA) North Central
Northern Iowa North Central Mid-Continent
Northern Michigan D-II Independent Mid-Continent
Portland State D-II Independent I-AA Independent
UNLV D-II Independent I-A Independent
Western Illinois D-II Independent Mid-Continent
Youngstown State D-II Independent Mid-Continent

Conference standings[]

1978 Association of Mid-Continent Universities football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Youngstown State $^ 5 – 0 – 0 10 – 2 – 0
Akron 4 – 1 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Eastern Illinois ^ 3 – 2 – 0 12 – 2 – 0
Northern Michigan 1 – 3 – 1 5 – 4 – 1
Western Illinois 1 – 3 – 1 3 – 6 – 1
Northern Iowa 0 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
1978 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 8 Cal Poly $^ 2 – 0 – 0 7 – 3 – 0
Cal Poly Pomona 1 – 1 – 0 3 – 7 – 0
Cal State Northridge 0 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1978 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 1 Winston-Salem State $^ 8 – 0 – 0 11 – 1 – 0
Virginia Union 5 – 2 – 1 7 – 4 – 1
Fayetteville State 5 – 2 – 1 6 – 4 – 1
Norfolk State 5 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
Virginia State 5 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Elizabeth City State 4 – 3 – 1 5 – 4 – 1
Livingstone 4 – 3 – 1 5 – 4 – 1
Hampton 4 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Johnson C. Smith 1 – 7 – 0 1 – 10 – 0
Saint Paul's (VA) 1 – 7 – 0 1 – 10 – 0
Shaw 0 – 8 – 0 0 – 11 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division II AP Poll
1978 Far Western Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 UC Davis $^ 5 – 0 – 0 8 – 3 – 0
Cal State Hayward 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
Humboldt State 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Chico State 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
Sacramento State 1 – 4 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
San Francisco State 0 – 5 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1978 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Grand Valley State $^ 5 – 0 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
Wayne State (MI) 4 – 1 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Northwood 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Saginaw Valley State 1 – 3 – 1 4 – 5 – 1
Ferris State 1 – 3 – 1 3 – 5 – 2
Hillsdale 1 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant
1978 Gulf South Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 7 Jacksonville State $ 6 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0
Southeastern Louisiana 5 – 1 – 1 7 – 3 – 1
Troy State 5 – 2 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
Nicholls State 5 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
North Alabama 4 – 2 – 1 7 – 2 – 1
Mississippi College 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
Delta State 2 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0
Livingston 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0
Tennessee–Martin 0 – 7 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1978 Heartland Collegiate Conference standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Indiana Central $ 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Valparaiso 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Saint Joseph's (IN) 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 1
Butler 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
Evansville 2 – 3 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
Franklin (IN) 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
Georgetown (KY) * 1 – 1 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Ashland * 1 – 0 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • * – ineligible for conference title
1978 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
SW Missouri State $ 6 – 0 – 0 8 – 3 – 0
NE Missouri State 5 – 1 – 0 6 – 4 – 1
Missouri-Rolla 4 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0
SE Missouri State 2 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Lincoln (MO) 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
Central Missouri State 2 – 4 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
NW Missouri State 0 – 6 – 0 0 – 11 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
1978 North Central Conference football standings
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
South Dakota * $ 5 – 0 – 1 7 – 4 – 0
No. 6 Nebraska–Omaha * ^ 4 – 1 – 1 8 – 3 – 0
North Dakota State 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
North Dakota 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
South Dakota State 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Augustana (SD) 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Morningside 0 – 6 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
  • * – Nebraska–Omaha and South Dakota split two head-to-head games, which counted as a tie for each team in the conference standings.
Rankings from AP Poll
1978 NCAA Division II independents football records
  • v
  • t
 Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 9 American International   –   6 – 2 – 1
No. 3 Delaware ^   –   10 – 4 – 0
Santa Clara   –   5 – 6 – 0
Arkansas–Pine Bluff   –   4 – 6 – 0
Northern Colorado   –   4 – 6 – 0
Central Connecticut   –   3 – 7 – 0
Central State (OH)   –   2 – 9 – 0
  • ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll

Conference summaries[]

See also: List of NCAA Division II football seasons
Conference Champion
Association of Mid-Continent Universities Youngstown State
California Collegiate Athletic Association Cal Poly
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Winston-Salem State
Far Western Football Conference UC Davis
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Grand Valley State
Gulf South Conference Jacksonville State
Heartland Collegiate Conference Indiana Central
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Southwest Missouri State
North Central Conference South Dakota
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Florida A&Mdagger

dagger While the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was a Division II conference, Florida A&M (FAMU) had successfully petitioned the NCAA for Division I classification (Division I-AA in football), which took effect on September 1, 1978.[2] FAMU subsequently competed in the 1978 Division I-AA postseason, winning the Division I-AA championship.

Postseason[]

1978 NCAA Division II Football Championship
Teams8
Finals Site
  • Lobo Stadium
  • Longview, TX
Champion
  • Eastern Illinois
  • (1st title, 1st title game)
Runner-up
Semifinalists
  • Winston-Salem State
  • Youngstown State
Winning coach
  • Darrell Mudra
  • 1st championship

The 1978 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the sixth single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football. The championship game was held at Lobo Stadium in Longview, Texas for the first time.

Playoff bracket[]

First round
Campus sites 		Semifinals
Campus sites 		Championship
Lobo Stadium
Longview, TX
         
Winston–Salem State 17
Cal Poly 10
Winston–Salem State 0
Delaware 41
Delaware 42
Jacksonville State 21
Delaware 9
Eastern Illinois 10
Youngstown State 21
Nebraska–Omaha 14
Youngstown State 22
Eastern Illinois 26
Eastern Illinois 35
UC Davis 31

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "1978 NCAA Division II National Football Championship Bracket" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 13. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  2. ^ 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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