The 1978 Lehigh Engineers football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University as an independent during the 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season.
| 1978 Lehigh Engineers football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Independent |
| Ranking | |
| AP | No. 9 |
| Record | 8–3 |
| Head coach |
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| Captains |
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| Home stadium | Taylor Stadium |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 3 Florida A&M ^ | – | 12 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 1 Nevada ^ | – | 11 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 9 Lehigh | – | 8 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northeastern | – | 6 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bucknell | – | 5 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern State | – | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portland State | – | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lafayette | – | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In their third year under head coach John Whitehead, the Engineers compiled an 8–3 record.[1] Bill Bradley and Pete DeLuca were the team captains.[2]
Lehigh had won the NCAA Division II Football Championship in 1977, and in 1978 the Engineers moved up to the newly formed Division I-AA, later to be renamed the Football Championship Subdivision. Also moving up from Division II, and competing as I-AA independents, were in-state rivals Bucknell and Lafayette. The Engineers' 1978 schedule included opponents from Division I-A, Division I-AA, Division II and Division III.
Lehigh played its home games at Taylor Stadium on the university's main campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Rank | Site | Result | Attendance | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 9 | West Chester |
| W 23–20 | 11,900 | [3] | |||
| September 16 | at Slippery Rock | W 17–0 | [1] | |||||
| September 23 | Colgate | No. 1 |
| W 38–7 | 13,500 | [4] | ||
| September 29 | at Penn | No. 1 | L 13–21 | 14,158 | [5] | |||
| October 7 | Delaware | No. 6 |
| W 27–17 | 14,000 | [6] | ||
| October 14 | Davidson^ | No. 6 |
| W 27–21 | 9,000 | [7] | ||
| October 21 | at Virginia Military | No. 5 | W 14–10 | 8,400 | [8] | |||
| October 28 | Bucknell | No. 3 |
| L 6–13 | 11,000 | [9] | ||
| November 4 | C.W. Post | No. 8 |
| W 24–22 | 9,000 | [10] | ||
| November 11 | at Maine | No. 6 | L 18–21 | 3,000 | [11] | |||
| November 18 | at Lafayette | W 25–15 | 17,000 | [12] | ||||
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Rankings
| Week | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Final |
| AP | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | — | 9 |