*** Welcome to piglix ***

1978 Big Ten Conference football season

1978 Big Ten Conference football season
Sport American football
Number of teams 10
Top draft pick Tom Cousineau
Co-champions Michigan, Michigan State
Runners-up Purdue
Season MVP Rick Leach
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →
1978 Big Ten football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#5 Michigan + 7 1 0     10 2 0
#12 Michigan State + 7 1 0     8 3 0
#13 Purdue 6 1 1     9 2 1
Ohio State 6 2 0     7 4 1
Minnesota 4 4 0     5 6 0
Wisconsin 3 4 2     5 4 2
Indiana 3 5 0     4 7 0
Iowa 2 6 0     2 9 0
Illinois 0 6 2     1 8 2
Northwestern 0 8 1     0 10 1
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Big Ten Conference football season was the 83rd season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season.

The 1978 Michigan Wolverines football team, under head coach Bo Schembechler, compiled a 10–2 record, tied for the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring defense (8.8 points allowed per game), lost to national champion USC in the Rose Bowl, and was ranked No. 5 in the final AP and UPI polls. Quarterback Rick Leach won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the most valuable player in the Big Ten, finished third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy, and was selected as a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association.

The 1978 Michigan State Spartans football team, under head coach Darryl Rogers, compiled an 8–3, tied with Michigan for the conference championship, led the conference in scoring offense (37.4 points per game), and was ranked No. 12 in the final AP Poll. Ed Smith led the conference with 2,226 passing yards and Kirk Gibson led the conference with 806 receiving yards. Gibson was selected as a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, Newspaper Enterprise Association, and The Sporting News. Tight end Mark Brammer was selected as a first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.


...
Wikipedia

...