1977 NCAA Division II football season

1977 NCAA Division II football season
Regular season August – November 1977
Playoffs November 26 –
December 10, 1977
National Championship Pioneer Bowl
Memorial Stadium
Wichita Falls, TX
Champion Lehigh

The 1977 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began in August 1977 and concluded with the championship game on December 10 at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Lehigh Engineers defeated the Jacksonville State Gamecocks 33–0 in the Pioneer Bowl to win their first Division II national title.[1]

This was the last season prior to the creation of Division I-AA, now Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), which debuted in 1978.[2]

Conference changes and new programs

School1975 Conference1976 Conference
Tennessee–ChattanoogaD-II IndependentSouthern (I-A)

Conference standings

1977 Big Sky football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
#5 Boise State $ 6 0 0  9 2 0
#6 Northern Arizona ^ 5 1 0  9 3 0
Montana State 3 3 0  6 4 0
Weber State 2 4 0  4 6 0
Idaho State 2 4 0  3 8 0
Idaho 2 4 0  3 8 0
Montana 1 5 0  4 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ Division II playoff participant
  • Boise State concluded its regular season after the Div. II playoffs started; runner-up Northern Arizona was awarded playoff bid.
1977 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Cal Poly $ 2 0 0  6 4 0
Cal State Northridge 1 1 0  7 3 1
Cal Poly Pomona 0 2 0  2 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1977 Far Western Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
#3 UC Davis $^ 5 0 0  11 1 0
Chico State 3 1 1  6 2 1
Cal State Hayward 2 2 1  6 3 1
San Francisco State 2 3 0  5 5 0
Humboldt State 1 3 1  5 4 1
Sacramento State 0 4 1  0 10 1
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ Division II playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1977 MEAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
#4 South Carolina State $ 6 0 0  9 1 1
North Carolina A&T 5 1 0  7 4 0
Delaware State 4 2 0  7 4 0
Morgan State 3 3 0  4 6 1
Howard 2 4 0  5 5 0
Maryland Eastern Shore 1 5 0  3 8 0
North Carolina Central 0 6 0  1 10 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1977 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
SE Missouri State + 4 1 1  7 3 1
Missouri-Rolla + 4 1 1  7 3 1
NE Missouri State 4 2 0  8 3 0
SW Missouri State 3 2 1  6 3 1
NW Missouri State 2 3 1  5 5 1
Central Missouri State 2 4 0  3 7 0
Lincoln (MO) 0 6 0  1 10 0
  • + Conference co-champions
  • ^ Division II playoff participant
1977 Ohio Valley football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Austin Peay $ 6 1 0  8 3 0
Tennessee Tech 5 2 0  9 2 0
Eastern Kentucky 4 3 0  5 5 0
Murray State 4 3 0  6 5 0
Middle Tennessee State 3 4 0  3 8 0
Morehead State 2 4 1  2 6 2
East Tennessee State 2 5 0  3 8 0
Western Kentucky 1 5 1  1 8 1
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ Division II playoff participant
  • No Ohio Valley teams were selected for D-II playoffs
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1977 SWAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Grambling State $ 6 0 0  10 1 0
Jackson State 5 1 0  8 3 0
Texas Southern 3 2 1  6 4 1
Mississippi Valley State 2 4 0  5 5 0
Alcorn State 2 4 0  3 8 0
Southern 1 4 1  3 7 1
Prairie View A&M 1 5 0  3 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ Division II playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1977 Yankee Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
UMass $  5 0     8 3  
Rhode Island  4 1     6 5  
New Hampshire  3 2     8 2  
Boston University  1 4     3 7  
Maine  1 4     3 7  
Connecticut  1 4     1 10  
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Conference summaries

Conference Champions

Big Sky Conference – Boise State
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Winston-Salem State
Far Western Football Conference – UC Davis
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Grand Valley State
Gulf South Conference – Jacksonville State
Lone Star Conference – Abilene Christian and Texas A&I
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Missouri–Rolla and Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference – North Dakota State
Northern Intercollegiate Conference – Minnesota–Morris
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference – Clarion
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – Western State
South Atlantic Conference – Elon
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division II) – Florida A&M
Yankee Conference – Massachusetts

Postseason

1977 NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs
Teams 8
Finals Site
Champions
  • Lehigh
  • 1st title
  • 1st championship game
  • 3 tournaments
Runner-Up
Semifinalists
Winning Coach

The 1977 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the fifth single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of Division II college football. The championship game was held at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas for the second time.

Playoff bracket

First round
Campus sites

November 26
Semifinals
Campus sites
Knute Rockne Bowl
Grantland Rice Bowl
December 3
Championship
Pioneer Bowl
Memorial Stadium
Wichita Falls, TX
December 10
         
UC Davis* 34
Bethune–Cookman 16
UC Davis* 30
Lehigh 39
Lehigh 30
UMass* 23
Lehigh 33
Jacksonville State 0
North Dakota State* 20
Northern Michigan 6
North Dakota State 7
Jacksonville State* 31
Jacksonville State 35
Northern Arizona* 0

* Denotes host institution

See also

References

  1. "1977 NCAA Division II National Football Championship Bracket" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 13. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  2. "Big schools win battle". St. Petersburg Independent. (Florida). Associated Press. January 13, 1978. p. 5C.
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