1977 NCAA Division I-A football season

1977 NCAA Division I football season
Total # of teams	145
Preseason AP #1	Oklahoma Sooners
Regular season	September 2 – November 26, 1977
Number of bowls	13
Bowl games	December 17, 1977 – January 2, 1978
Champions	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Heisman	Earl Campbell, Texas RB
← 1976 College football seasons 1978 →

1977 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#17 North Carolina $	5	–	0	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
#19 Clemson	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
NC State	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Maryland	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Duke	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Virginia	1	–	5	–	0			1	–	9	–	1
Wake Forest	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Big 8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#7 Oklahoma $	7	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Iowa State	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
#12 Nebraska	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Colorado	3	–	3	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
Missouri	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kansas	2	–	4	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Oklahoma State	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#9 Michigan +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
#11 Ohio State +	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Michigan State	6	–	1	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
Indiana	4	–	3	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Minnesota	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Purdue	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Iowa	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Illinois	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	1	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Ivy League football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Yale $		6	–	1					7	–	2
Brown		5	–	2					7	–	2
Harvard		4	–	3					4	–	5
Pennsylvania		4	–	3					5	–	4
Dartmouth		4	–	3					6	–	3
Princeton		3	–	4					3	–	6
Cornell		1	–	6					1	–	8
Columbia		1	–	6					2	–	7
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Mid-American Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Miami (OH) $	5	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
Ball State	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Central Michigan	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
Bowling Green	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
Eastern Michigan	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Kent State	5	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Western Michigan	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Northern Illinois	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Toledo	2	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Ohio	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
West Texas A&M $	4	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Wichita State	3	–	1	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
New Mexico State	3	–	2	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Tulsa	2	–	2	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Drake	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Southern Illinois	0	–	3	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Pacific Coast Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Fresno State $	4	–	0	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Pacific (CA)	3	–	1	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
San Jose State	2	–	2	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Long Beach State	1	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Cal State Fullerton	0	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1977 Pacific-8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
#10 Washington $		6	–	1					8	–	4
#15 Stanford		5	–	2					9	–	3
#13 USC		5	–	2					8	–	4
California		3	–	4					7	–	4
Washington State		3	–	4					6	–	5
Oregon		1	–	6					2	–	9
Oregon State		0	–	7					2	–	9
UCLA †		0	–	7					0	–	11
$ – Conference champion † – UCLA forfeited 7 wins (5 conference wins) due to ineligible players. Rankings from AP Poll

1977 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Alabama $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#6 Kentucky	6	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
LSU	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Georgia	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Mississippi State	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Tennessee	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Kentucky ineligible for SEC championship due to NCAA probation. Mississippi State later forfeited all 1977 wins due to NCAA violations. Rankings from AP Poll

The 1977 NCAA Division I football season was one in which the top five teams finished with 11–1 records. Notre Dame, which beat top-ranked and undefeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl, became the national champion.

The 1977 season was the last before NCAA's Division I was divided into I-A and I-AA. On the eve of a national playoff for the smaller programs that would be I-AA, the Sugar Bowl in 1977 became the fourth bowl game to sign a contract guaranteeing an appearance by a major conference champion. The result was that meetings between the media poll choices for the top two teams were less likely, unless those teams were in the Big Ten and Pac-8 (which met in the Rose Bowl), or one of the teams was not obligated to play in a particular bowl game.

Besides the Big Ten-Pac-8 matchup in the Rose Bowl, the Southwest champion played in the Cotton, the Big Eight titlist in the Orange, and the SEC champ in the Sugar. Top teams that had their choice of which bowl to play were either independent or in a conference outside of the five major powers (such as the ACC or WAC).

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for major college football teams, which became Division I-A in 1978. The NCAA Football Guide, however, did note an "unofficial national champion" based on the top ranked teams in the final "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). The AP poll consisted of the votes of as many as 64 writers, though not all voted in each poll, and the UPI poll was taken of a 42-member board of coaches.

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