1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1978 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Number of teams43
DurationAugust–November
Playoff
DurationDecember 9–December 16
Championship dateDecember 16, 1978
Championship siteMemorial Stadium
Wichita Falls, Texas
ChampionFlorida A&M
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons

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.

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