1978 NCAA Division II football season#Postseason

{{Infobox NCAA Division II season

| year = 1978

| image =

| image_caption =

| regular_season = August – November 1978

| playoffs = December 1978

| nc_date = December 1978

| championship = Lobo Stadium
Longview, TX

| champion = Eastern Illinois

}}

The 1978 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 1978, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship in December 1978 at Lobo Stadium in Longview, Texas. The Eastern Illinois Panthers defeated the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens, 10–9, to win their first Division II national title.{{cite web|title=1978 NCAA Division II National Football Championship Bracket|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_champs_records/2012/d2/2012DIIfbchamp.pdf|work=NCAA|publisher=NCAA.org|access-date=January 2, 2014|pages=13}}

Conference realignment

=Conference changes=

Four conferences, the Big Sky Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, and Yankee Conference, transitioned from Division II to the newly-established Division I-AA level of college football. All of their members, alongside seven independents, departed at the same time, a total of 35 schools in all.
This was the first season for the Mid-Continent Conference, which was formed by six schools from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio.
This was the first season for the Heartland Collegiate Conference (HCC), which was formed by eight schools from Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Five of its members were formerly in the Indiana Collegiate Conference, which disbanded upon creation of the HCC.

=Membership changes=

School	1977 Conference	1978 Conference
class="wikitable sortable"
style="text-align:center;" \| Akron	D-II Independent	Mid-Continent
style="text-align:center;" \| Bucknell	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Cal State Los Angeles	D-II Independent	Dropped program
style="text-align:center;" \| Eastern Illinois	D-II Independent	Mid-Continent
style="text-align:center;" \| Lafayette	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Lehigh	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Nevada	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Northeastern	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Northern Colorado	GPAC (NAIA)	North Central
style="text-align:center;" \| Northern Iowa	North Central	Mid-Continent
style="text-align:center;" \| Northern Michigan	D-II Independent	Mid-Continent
style="text-align:center;" \| Portland State	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| UNLV	D-II Independent	I-A Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Western Illinois	D-II Independent	Mid-Continent
style="text-align:center;" \| Youngstown State	D-II Independent	Mid-Continent

Conference standings

cellpadding="5"

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Association of Mid-Continent Universities football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Far Western Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Gulf South Conference football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Heartland Collegiate Conference standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 North Central Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1978 NCAA Division II independents football records}}

Conference summaries

Conference	Champion
class="wikitable"
Association of Mid-Continent Universities	Youngstown State
California Collegiate Athletic Association	Cal Poly
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
Heartland Collegiate Conference	Indiana Central
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Southwest Missouri State
North Central Conference	South Dakota
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Florida A&M{{dagger}}

{{dagger}} While the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was a Division II conference, Florida A&M (FAMU) had successfully petitioned the NCAA for Division I classification (Division I-AA in football), which took effect on September 1, 1978.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31514902/florida_am_granted_divison_1_status/ |title=Florida A&M granted Division 1 status |first=Barry |last=Cooper |newspaper=Tallahassee Democrat |location=Tallahassee, Florida |page=1B |date=August 31, 1978 |access-date=May 13, 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} FAMU subsequently competed in the 1978 Division I-AA postseason, winning the Division I-AA championship.

Postseason

{{Infobox NCAA Football Tournament |

| Division=II

| Year=1978

| Image=

| ImageSize=

| Caption=

| Teams=8

| Stadium=Lobo Stadium

| Location=Longview, TX

| Champions=Eastern Illinois

| TitleCount=1st

| ChampGameCount = 1st

| ChampCount = 1

| RunnerUp=Delaware

| GameCount=2nd

| RunnerCount = 4

| Semifinal1=Winston-Salem State

| SemisCount = 1

| Semifinal2=Youngstown State

| SemisCount2 = 2

| Coach = Darrell Mudra

| CoachCount = 1st

| Attendance=

}}

The 1978 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the sixth single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football. The championship game was held at Lobo Stadium in Longview, Texas for the first time.

=Playoff bracket=

{{8TeamBracket-NoSeeds

| RD1=First round
Campus sites

| RD2=Semifinals
Campus sites

| RD3=Championship
Lobo Stadium
Longview, TX

| RD1-team1={{cfb link|year=1978|team=Winston–Salem State Rams|title=Winston–Salem State}}

| RD1-score1=17

| RD1-team2=Cal Poly

| RD1-score2= 10

| RD1-team3=Delaware

| RD1-score3=42

| RD1-team4=Jacksonville State

| RD1-score4=21

| RD1-team5={{cfb link|year=1978|team=Youngstown State Penguins|title=Youngstown State}}

| RD1-score5=21

| RD1-team6={{cfb link|year=1978|team=Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks|title=Nebraska–Omaha}}

| RD1-score6= 14

| RD1-team7=Eastern Illinois

| RD1-score7=35

| RD1-team8=UC Davis

| RD1-score8=31

| RD2-team1=Winston–Salem State

| RD2-score1=0

| RD2-team2=Delaware

| RD2-score2=41

| RD2-team3=Youngstown State

| RD2-score3=22

| RD2-team4=Eastern Illinois

| RD2-score4=26

| RD3-team1=Delaware

| RD3-score1=9

| RD3-team2=Eastern Illinois

| RD3-score2=10

}}