1979 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1979 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Duration August – November 1979
Playoff
Duration December 8–15, 1979
Championship date December 15, 1979
Championship site Orlando Stadium, Orlando, Florida
Champion Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Division I-AA football season

The 1979 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level, began in August 1979, and concluded with the National Championship Game of the NCAA Division I Football Championship on December 15, 1979, at Orlando Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

The Eastern Kentucky Colonels won their first I-AA championship, defeating the Lehigh Engineers by a final score of 30−7.[1]

Conference changes and new programs

School1978 Conference1979 Conference
Bethune–CookmanSIAC (II)MEAC (I-AA)
East Tennessee StateOhio Valley (I-AA)Southern (I-A)
Florida A&MSIAC (II)MEAC (I-AA)
Morgan StateMEAC (I-AA)D-II Independent
NevadaI-AA IndependentBig Sky
North Carolina CentralMEAC (I-AA)CIAA (D-II)

Conference standings

1979 Big Sky football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Boise State 7 –0 –0  10 –1 –0
#9 Montana State $ 6 –1 –0  6 –4 –0
#5 Nevada ^ 5 –2 –0  8 –4 –0
Northern Arizona 3 –4 –0  7 –4 –0
Weber State 3 –4 –0  3 –8 –0
Idaho 2 –5 –0  4 –7 –0
Montana 2 –5 –0  3 –7 –0
Idaho State 0 –7 –0  0 –11 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant
  • Boise State was ineligible for title or I-AA playoffs; Montana State was conference champion and Nevada-Reno was selected for I-AA playoffs.
1979 MEAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Morgan State $ 5 –0 –0  9 –2 –0
South Carolina State 4 –1 –0  8 –3 –0
North Carolina A&T 2 –2 –1  4 –6 –1
Howard 2 –3 –0  5 –6 –0
Delaware State 1 –4 –1  4 –5 –1
North Carolina Central 1 –4 –0  2 –8 –1
Maryland Eastern Shore 0 –0 –0  3 –7 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
  • Maryland Eastern Shore games did not count as conference games in 1979
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1979 Ohio Valley football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
#2 Murray State $^ 6 –0 –0  9 –2 –1
#3 Eastern Kentucky ^ 5 –1 –0  11 –2 –0
Morehead State 3 –2 –1  5 –4 –1
Western Kentucky 3 –3 –0  5 –5 –0
Austin Peay 2 –4 –0  7 –4 –0
Middle Tennessee 1 –5 –0  1 –9 –0
Tennessee Tech 0 –5 –1  1 –8 –2
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1979 SWAC football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
#1 Grambling State +  5 –1     8 –3  
#6 Alcorn State +  5 –1     8 –2  
#8 Jackson State  4 –2     8 –3  
#11 Southern  4 –2     7 –4  
Mississippi Valley State  2 –4     4 –5  
Texas Southern  1 –5     3 –8  
Prairie View A&M  0 –6     0 –11  
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll
1979 Yankee Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
UMass + 4 –1 –0  6 –4 –0
#7 Boston University + 4 –1 –0  8 –1 –1
Connecticut 3 –1 –1  3 –6 –2
New Hampshire 2 –2 –1  5 –4 –2
Maine 1 –4 –0  1 –9 –1
Rhode Island 0 –5 –0  2 –9 –0
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from NCAA I-AA Poll
1979 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
#4 Lehigh ^ 0 –0 –0  10 –3 –0
Portland State 0 –0 –0  6 –5 –0
Lafayette 0 –0 –0  5 –3 –2
Bucknell 0 –0 –0  4 –4 –2
Northwestern State 0 –0 –0  3 –6 –0
Northeastern 0 –0 –0  3 –7 –0
  • ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from Associated Press poll

Conference champions

Conference champions

Big Sky Conference – Montana State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Morgan State
Ohio Valley Conference – Murray State
Southwestern Athletic Conference – Alcorn State and Grambling State
Yankee Conference – Boston University and Massachusetts

Postseason

NCAA Division I-AA Playoff bracket

Semifinals
December 8
Campus Sites 		Championship Game
December 15
Orlando Stadium
Orlando, Florida
      
Lehigh 28
Murray State* 9
Lehigh 7
Eastern Kentucky 30
Nevada-Reno 30
Eastern Kentucky* (2OT) 33

* Denotes host institution

References

  1. ↑ "1979 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
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