The 1978 NAIA Division I football season was the 23rd season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

sponsored by the NAIA, was the ninth season of play of the NAIA's top division for football. The season was played from August to November 1978 and culminated in the 1978

NAIA Division I Football National Championship The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associa ...

. Known this year as the Palm Bowl, the title game was played on December 16, 1978 at

McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium McAllen Stadium is a high school football stadium in McAllen, Texas, United States. It has been used for college and high school football and soccer games and track and field meets. The stadium contains a full track and full-color video scoreboard. ...

McAllen, Texas McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

Angelo State Angelo State University is a public university in San Angelo, Texas. It was founded in 1928 as San Angelo College. It gained university status and awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and graduate degrees in 1969, the same year it too ...

defeated Elon in the Palm Bowl, 24–14, to win their first NAIA national title.

Conference changes

* This is the final season that the NAIA officially recognizes a football champion from two conferences, the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers C ...

and the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

. The SWAC has since become an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

conference while the PSAC competes at the Division II level; both continue to sponsor football.

Conference changes

Conference standings

Conference champions

Postseason

See also

References