[2] Instead, just eight programs (seven teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which had just joined Division I a year before, plus independent Northwestern State) voluntarily opted for Division I-AA for the 1978 season.

The season began in August 1978 and concluded with the Division I-AA Football Championship Game, played on December 16 at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The Florida A&M Rattlers won the first I-AA championship, defeating the UMass Minutemen 35–28 in the Pioneer Bowl.

[3] Florida A&M of 1978 remains the only HBCU program to play in (and win) the I-AA/FCS national championship game.

[9] Florida A&M (FAMU) of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was the at-large selection.