CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1978 season

Alabama finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Bear Bryant, after it beat Penn State 14–⁠7 in the Sugar Bowl. USC also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Alabama 14, No. 1 Penn State 7 (Jan 1, 1979). Two Division I-A teams finished unbeaten. 39 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Billy Sims, RB, Oklahoma, who also won the Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Billy Sims 827 points, Chuck Fusina 750
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Billy Sims RB, Oklahoma82715115270
Chuck Fusina QB, Penn State7501638983
Rick Leach QB, Michigan435895852
Charles White RB, USC354367498
Charles Alexander RB, LSU282425154
Steve Fuller QB, Clemson8219613
Ted Brown TB, NC State8251929
Eddie Lee Ivery RB, Georgia Tech81111910
Jack Thompson QB, Washington State72131111
Jerry Robinson LB, UCLA70121112

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
2USCPac-10
3OklahomaBig Eight
4Penn StateIndependent
5MichiganBig Ten
6ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
7Notre DameIndependent
8NebraskaBig Eight
9TexasSouthwest Conference
10HoustonSouthwest Conference
11ArkansasSouthwest Conference
12Michigan StateBig Ten
13PurdueBig Ten
14UCLAPac-10
15MissouriBig Eight
16GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
17StanfordPac-10
18NC StateAtlantic Coast Conference
19Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
20MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 14, 1978Arizona State 20, 2USC 7
Nov 18, 1978Missouri 35, 2Nebraska 31
Sep 9, 1978Missouri 3, 5Notre Dame 0
Oct 14, 1978Michigan State 24, 5Michigan 15
Nov 25, 1978Texas Tech 22, 5Houston 21
Sep 23, 1978Kansas 28, 8UCLA 24
Oct 14, 1978Notre Dame 26, 9Pittsburgh 17
Nov 11, 1978Oregon State 15, 9UCLA 13
Nov 25, 1978Baylor 38, 9Texas 14
Sep 30, 1978Houston 27, 10Florida State 21
Oct 14, 1978Georgia 24, 11LSU 17
Dec 31, 1978Stanford 25, 11Georgia 22

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1978, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13FinalHouston: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 9, Final No. 1010 HoustonTexas: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 14, Wk 14 No. 14, Final No. 99 TexasNebraska: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 6, Final No. 88 NebraskaNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 15, Wk 3 No. 14, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 No. 19, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Final No. 77 Notre DameClemson: Wk 1 No. 18, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 20, Wk 9 No. 16, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 7, Final No. 66 ClemsonMichigan: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 5, Final No. 55 MichiganPenn State: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Final No. 44 Penn StateOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Final No. 33 OklahomaUSC: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Final No. 22 USCAlabama: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Final No. 11 Alabama
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Houstonunranked → No. 10
  2. Michigan Stateunranked → No. 12
  3. Purdueunranked → No. 13
  4. ClemsonNo. 18 → No. 6
  5. Missouriunranked → No. 15

Fell

  1. Ohio StateNo. 7 → unranked
  2. WashingtonNo. 11 → unranked
  3. LSUNo. 13 → unranked
  4. PittsburghNo. 14 → unranked
  5. KentuckyNo. 15 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsMike Ford (SMU)3,007 yds
Passing touchdownsSteve Dils (Stanford)22 TD
Passer ratingPaul McDonald (USC)152.8
Rushing yardsCharles White (USC)1,859 yds
Rushing touchdownsBilly Sims (Oklahoma)20 TD
Yards per carryKenny King (Oklahoma)7.9
ReceptionsRick Beasley (App State)74 catches
Receiving yardsRick Beasley (App State)1,205 yds
Yards per catchMark Nichols (San José State)26.7
PointsBilly Sims (Oklahoma)120 pts
Points per gameBilly Sims (Oklahoma)10.9
Total offenseMike Ford (SMU)2,957 yds
Total offense per gameMike Ford (SMU)268.8
Punt return averageIra Matthews (Wisconsin)16.9
Kickoff return averageDrew Hill (Georgia Tech)30.0

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Clemson
Big Eight
Nebraska and Oklahoma (shared)
Big Ten
Michigan and Michigan State (shared)
Ivy League
Dartmouth
Mid-American Conference
Ball State
Missouri Valley Conference
New Mexico State
Pac-10
USC
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Utah State and San José State (shared)
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Southern Conference
Chattanooga and Furman (shared)
Southland Conference
Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech (shared)
Southwest Conference
Houston
Western Athletic Conference
BYU

Division I-AA

Big Sky Conference
Northern Arizona
Mid-Continent Conference
Youngstown State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State
Ohio Valley Conference
Western Kentucky
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling
Yankee Conference
Massachusetts

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly
Far Western Conference
UC Davis
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Missouri State
North Central Conference
South Dakota
South Atlantic Conference
Elon
Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Tarleton State

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

24 playersAll 7 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1978 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1978 All-America teams page.

The 1978 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 16, 1978Arizona State 34, Rutgers 18Garden State Bowl
Dec 16, 1978East Carolina 35, Louisiana Tech 13Independence Bowl
Dec 20, 1978Texas A&M 28, 19Iowa State 12Hall of Fame Classic
Dec 22, 1978Navy 23, BYU 16Holiday Bowl
Dec 23, 197818Missouri 20, LSU 15Liberty Bowl
Dec 23, 1978NC State 30, 16Pittsburgh 17Tangerine Bowl
Dec 23, 197814Texas 42, 13Maryland 0Sun Bowl
Dec 25, 197817Purdue 41, Georgia Tech 21Peach Bowl
Dec 25, 197815UCLA 10, 8Arkansas 10Fiesta Bowl
Dec 29, 19787Clemson 17, 20Ohio State 15Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 1978Stanford 25, 11Georgia 22Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 1, 19792Alabama 14, 1Penn State 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 197910Notre Dame 35, 9Houston 34Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19794Oklahoma 31, 6Nebraska 24Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19793USC 17, 5Michigan 10Rose Bowl