First ever AP Divion 1-AA Poll

[Justafan]

https://www.instagram.com/lightoncolleg ... ri0_IRKwA/

[RichH]

Nice trip down Memory Lane.

[Sundayamqb]

I wonder how many teams were in I-AA that year ...

[Justafan]

There were 43 teams that year. 8 moved down from Div 1 and 35 moved up from Div 2.

Hare are all the details if you are interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_NCAA ... all_season

Interestingly, Boston University was part of that group

[Sundayamqb]

There were 43 teams that year. 8 moved down from Div 1 and 35 moved up from Div 2.

Hare are all the details if you are interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_NCAA ... all_season

Interestingly, Boston University was part of that group

That IS a trip down memory lane!

[ramiroflores]

There were 43 teams that year. 8 moved down from Div 1 and 35 moved up from Div 2.

Hare are all the details if you are interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_NCAA ... all_season

Interestingly, Boston University was part of that group

Then that's great

[Eastonpa]

Interesting that there was no Colgate or Delaware joining with the formation of 1-AA in 1978 . . .

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Interesting that there was no Colgate or Delaware joining with the formation of 1-AA in 1978 . . .

Colgate remained 1-A until 1981.

Isn't there validity to the "well known" belief Delaware stayed D2 so Tubby would have an easier path to a national title since most of the heavy hitters moved to 1-AA in 1978?

The Hens lost the 1974 and 1978 D2 Title Games before finally getting over the hump in 1979 by beating Youngstown State. UD's only 1-AA Title Game appearance under Tubby was a 17-14 loss to Eastern Kentucky in 1982. The Hens really had no significant challengers in the Northeast from the early 80s through the late 90s outside of Villanova and UMass at times. Tubby/UD operated in a similar capacity to Paterno/PSU imo. To be fair, the PL neutered all their programs during that time span; the playoff ban was devastating for Holy Cross. Despite their regional dominance (both perceived and real), in the 1980s and 90s the Hens missed the playoffs numerous years and when they did make the field of 16 they were often sent packing early on. Quite frankly, in today's world, Tubby would likely have started to feel significant heat by the early to mid 90s.

IMO, Andy Talley was the better coach.

[News]

Interesting that there was no Colgate or Delaware joining with the formation of 1-AA in 1978 . . .

Colgate remained 1-A until 1981.

Isn't there validity to the "well known" belief Delaware stayed D2 so Tubby would have an easier path to a national title since most of the heavy hitters moved to 1-AA in 1978?

The Hens lost the 1974 and 1978 D2 Title Games before finally getting over the hump in 1979 by beating Youngstown State. UD's only 1-AA Title Game appearance under Tubby was a 17-14 loss to Eastern Kentucky in 1982. The Hens really had no significant challengers in the Northeast from the early 80s through the late 90s outside of Villanova and UMass at times. Tubby/UD operated in a similar capacity to Paterno/PSU imo. To be fair, the PL neutered all their programs during that time span; the playoff ban was devastating for Holy Cross. Despite their regional dominance (both perceived and real), in the 1980s and 90s the Hens missed the playoffs numerous years and when they did make the field of 16 they were often sent packing early on. Quite frankly, in today's world, Tubby would likely have started to feel significant heat by the early to mid 90s.

Since I've been researching in this space for a while now, what I can say about Delaware and Tubby didn't make the jump in 1978 from Division II to Division I in football even though their decision was incredibly risky at the time.

In 1978 schools who were D-I in basketball but D-II in football had the choice to go I-AA. Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell (and Northeastern, among others) made the choice to go from Division II in football to Division I for an important reason - they wanted to be Division I in all sports to preserve their overall Division I status. All of these schools were DIvision I in basketball (Lehigh, Lafayette and Bucknell were in the ECC) - and so was Delaware. By making the choice for Tubby to have an easier path to a national championship (a plausible reason as any) they put their entire athletic department at risk of forced reclassification to D-II.

Tubby made the semifinals in 2000 and his teams were consistently in the upper half of the Yankee/A-10/CAA for years, let's not pooh-pooh that. He's like one of the Top Ten coaches in college football history in terms of wins for a reason. Don't get me wrong - watching Lehigh beating Tubby in 1999 in Delware Stadium was a treasured memory, and his disrespect of Lehigh made me hate his guts at times - but he was a great coach.

[Richb-3]

In 1979 there was some controversy that Lehigh made the playoffs at 9-2 over Boston U at 8-1-1. Lehigh Beat Bucknell (by 1) that year. Boston tied them with about 1 minute left, but decided to settle for the tie by not doing an off sides kick.