The 1976 NAIA Division I football season was the 21st 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 seventh season of play of the NAIA's top division for football. The season was played from August to November 1976 and culminated in the 1976 NAIA Division I Champion Bowl, played on December 11, 1976 at

Javelina Stadium Javelina Stadium is a stadium in Kingsville, Texas. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M University–Kingsville is a Public university, public research university ...

on the campus of

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi and Harlingen, Kingsville is the principal city of the Kingsville Micr ...

Texas A&I Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

defeated

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

in the Champion Bowl, 26–0, to win their fifth, and third consecutive, NAIA national title.

Conference realignment

Conference changes

* This was the first season of play for the

Central States Intercollegiate Conference The Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC) was an American intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1976 to 1989. It was known to be one of the toughest NAIA c ...

. The conference, whose eight members were located in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, was formed by two independent teams and six former members of the Great Plains Athletic and

Nebraska College The University of Nebraska College of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Nebraska system. It was founded in 1888 and became part of University of Nebraska in 1891. According to Nebraska's official 2017 ABA-required d ...

conferences. * This was the final season of play for the

Nebraska College Conference The Nebraska College Conference (NCC), known as the Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference from 1916 to 1926 and later as the Nebraska College Athletic Conference (NCAC), was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1916 to 1976. The l ...

. The NCC, which had also been previously known as the Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference and Nebraska College Athletic Conference, had previously sponsored football since 1916.

Conference realignment

Conference changes

Membership changes

Conference standings

Postseason

See also

References