1982 NCAA Division I-AA football season explained
The 1982 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-AA level, began in August 1982 and concluded with the 1982 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 18, 1982, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Eastern Kentucky Colonels won their second I-AA championship, defeating the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens in the Pioneer Bowl, 17−14.[1] [2] [3]
Conference changes and new programs
Upon the expiration of the four-year limit for compliance with Division I-A football criteria (set in January 1978), 41 NCAA Division I-A teams were reclassified from Division I-A to Division I-AA:[4]
- Ivy League — all eight members. Yale met the requirements to stay in I-A, but voluntarily chose to downgrade to I-AA to remain with the rest of the Ivy League.
- Southern Conference — all eight members
- Southland Conference — five members. McNeese State and Southwestern Louisiana met the requirements to remain in I-A; McNeese State voluntarily chose to downgrade to I-AA to remain with the rest of the Southland, while Southwestern Louisiana remained in Division I-A as an Independent.
- Missouri Valley Conference — five members, with New Mexico State, Tulsa, and Wichita State remaining in I-A but also remaining in the conference. This was the onset of a four-year period in which the MVC functioned as a hybrid I-A/I-AA conference.
- Mid-American Conference — eight members, with only Central Michigan and Toledo maintaining I-A status. Several of the demoted schools appealed the demotion, with the result that all eight MAC members reclassified to I-AA for 1982 were returned to I-A as of 1983.[5]
- Independent Cincinnati was reclassified to I-AA along with the MAC schools but filed an injunction against the NCAA to postpone their demotion until after the 1982 season, and was successful in remaining in I-A.[6]
The successful appeals of Cincinnati (effective 1982) and the MAC schools (effective 1983) meant that 40 Division I-A members joined I-AA in 1982, of which 32 remained in 1983.
Conference champions
See also: List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons.
Postseason
The playoffs expanded from eight to twelve teams this season; four years later, in 1986, the field was expanded to sixteen teams.
NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket
The top four teams were seeded, and received first-round byes.[7]
* Next to team name denotes host institution[8]
Notes and References
- Web site: 1982 NCAA Division I Football Championship . NCAA.org . December 29, 2013 . 14.
- News: Breaks seal Colonels' win . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . December 19, 1982 . 10F .
- News: E. Kentucky 17, Delaware 14 . Beaver County Times . (Pennsylvania) . December 19, 1982 . C14 .
- Web site: The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts on August 28, 1982 · 32.
- Web site: The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on August 27, 1982 · Page 19.
- Web site: The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on September 24, 1982 · Page 23.
- News: Blue Hens Get Berth; Earn Opening Bye . . . . 10 . November 22, 1982 . February 6, 2019 . newspapers.com.
- News: Playoffs, NCAA Div. I-AA . . 4D . November 27, 1982 . February 9, 2019 . newspapers.com.
