American college football season
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 standings
Conference champions
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]
References
- ^ "1982 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
- ^ "Breaks seal Colonels' win". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 19, 1982. p. 10F.
- ^ "E. Kentucky 17, Delaware 14". Beaver County Times. (Pennsylvania). December 19, 1982. p. C14.
- ^ "The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts on August 28, 1982 · 32".
- ^ "The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on August 27, 1982 · Page 19".
- ^ "The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio on September 24, 1982 · Page 23".
- ^ "Blue Hens Get Berth; Earn Opening Bye". The Daily Times. Salisbury, Maryland. AP. November 22, 1982. p. 10. Retrieved February 6, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Playoffs, NCAA Div. I-AA". Detroit Free Press. November 27, 1982. p. 4D. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
