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1978 Colorado

6–⁠5 (2–⁠5 Big Eight), coached by Bill Mallory.

Schedule and results

Colorado in 1978, game by game: won vs. Oregon 24–7; won vs. Miami 17–7; won vs. San José State 22–7; won vs. Northwestern 55–7; won vs. Kansas 17–7; lost at Oklahoma State 20–24; lost vs. No. 5 Nebraska 14–52; won at No. 13 Missouri 28–27; lost vs. No. 1 Oklahoma 7–28; lost at Kansas State 10–20; lost vs. Iowa State 16–20+48−38Won 24–7 vs. Oregon+17OregonWon 17–7 vs. Miami+10MiamiWon 22–7 vs. San José State+15San José StateWon 55–7 vs. Northwestern+48NorthwesternWon 17–7 vs. Kansas+10KansasLost 20–24 at Oklahoma State-4Oklahoma StateLost 14–52 vs. No. 5 Nebraska-38No. 5 NebraskaWon 28–27 at No. 13 Missouri+1No. 13 MissouriLost 7–28 vs. No. 1 Oklahoma-21No. 1 OklahomaLost 10–20 at Kansas State-10Kansas StateLost 16–20 vs. Iowa State-4Iowa State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9vsOregonW 24–⁠781%
Sep 16vsMiamiW 17–⁠777%
Sep 23vsSan José StateW 22–⁠775%
Sep 30vsNorthwesternW 55–⁠788%
Oct 7vsKansasW 17–⁠782%
Oct 14atOklahoma StateL 20–⁠2471%
Oct 21vs5NebraskaL 14–⁠5242%
Oct 28at13MissouriW 28–⁠2737%
Nov 4vs1OklahomaL 7–⁠2832%
Nov 11atKansas StateL 10–⁠2073%
Nov 18vsIowa StateL 16–⁠2049%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Iowa State 20–⁠16; unranked in the final AP poll; 7th in the Big Eight.

In program history: The 81st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 125 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 3: 19
  2. Wk 4: 16
  3. Wk 5: 13
  4. Wk 6: 13

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1978.

Record
6–⁠5
Conference
2–⁠5 7th in Big Eight
AP final
Unranked peak No. 13
Points
230–⁠206
Coach
Bill Mallory
Elo
1508 −69 this season
SP+ rating
-0.4 No. 76 of 133; offense No. 82, defense No. 73
SRS
6.3 No. 44 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
George Belu
Defensive coordinator
Bob Reublin
Captains
Jeff Lee, James Mayberry, Matt Miller and Stuart Walker
Most valuable player
James Mayberry and Jeff Lee
Offense
I formation
Defense
5–⁠2

Drafted in 1979

The 1979 draft
Rd 3James Mayberry RBAtlanta Falcons
Rd 4Matt Miller OTCleveland Browns
Rd 6Ruben Vaughan DTSan Francisco 49ers

All-Big Eight

2 first team, 4 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1978 Big Eight standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Oklahoma6–⁠111–⁠13
Nebraska6–⁠19–⁠38
Iowa State4–⁠38–⁠4
Missouri4–⁠38–⁠415
Kansas State3–⁠44–⁠7
Oklahoma State3–⁠43–⁠8
Colorado2–⁠56–⁠5
Kansas0–⁠71–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.