1978 NCAA Division I-A football season

Common card · No. 487038

The 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first season of Division I-A college football. Division I-A was created in January 1978 when Division I was subdivided into Division I-A and I-AA for football only. It was anticipated that 65 Division I football schools would transition to Division I-AA. 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, where they joined 35 schools that had reclassified from Division II. One school, UNLV, moved from Division II to I-A, bringing the total number of I-A institutions to 138 for the 1978 season. The Division I-A season came down to a rare top-two post-season meeting as No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Alabama met in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year's Day. The game is most remembered for Alabama's goal line stand with four minutes left in the game; on fourth down...

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