1982 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1982 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Duration	August–November
Playoff
Duration	November 27–December 18
Championship date	December 18, 1982
Championship site	Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, Texas
Champion	Eastern Kentucky
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons
«1981 1983»

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.

Conference changes and new programs

Before the 1982 season, a total of 41 1-A schools - including three conferences and all of their members - were shifted from Division I-A to Division I-AA:

• Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale
• Southern Conference — Appalachian State, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Furman, Marshall, The Citadel, VMI, and Western Carolina
• Southland Conference — Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, and Texas–Arlington
  • Southwestern Louisiana, who had been a member of the Southland during the 1981 season, remained in Division I-A as an Independent.

Most of the Missouri Valley Conference football schools were also reclassified. This began the few years where the MVC hosted both 1-A and 1-AA teams. Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, and West Texas State did not meet 1-A standards and were reclassified to 1-AA. New Mexico State, Tulsa, and Wichita State remained in 1-A.

School	1981 Conference	1982 Conference
Alabama State	D-II Independent	SWAC (I-AA)
Colgate	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent
Holy Cross	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent
Northeast Louisiana	I-A Independent	Southland
North Texas State	I-A Independent	1-AA Independent
Richmond	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent
Western Kentucky	Ohio Valley	I-AA Independent
William & Mary	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent

Independent Cincinnati and MAC schools Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Western Michigan were all reclassified as well.

The University of Cincinnati filed an injunction against the NCAA to postpone their demotion until after the 1982 season, and was successful in remaining in 1-A.

Of the ten schools in the MAC, initially only Central Michigan and Toledo maintained 1-A status. Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Miami, and Western Michigan all made appeals and the conference as a whole was granted the ability to remain at the 1-A level.

Conference standings

1982 Association of Mid-Continent Universities football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 5 Eastern Illinois +^ 2 – 0 – 1 11 – 1 – 1 Northern Iowa + 2 – 0 – 1 4 – 6 – 1 Southwest Missouri State 1 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Western Illinois 0 – 3 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 + – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1982 Big Sky Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 19 Montana $^ 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 6 – 0 No. 11 Idaho ^ 5 – 2 – 0 9 – 4 – 0 Montana State 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 No. 15 Boise State 4 – 3 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Nevada 3 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Northern Arizona 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Weber State 2 – 5 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Idaho State 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Poll	1982 Ivy League football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Harvard + 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Penn + 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Dartmouth + 5 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Princeton 3 – 4 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Yale 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Brown 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Cornell 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Columbia 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 + – Conference co-champions
1982 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 7 South Carolina State $^ 4 – 1 – 0 9 – 3 – 0 Florida A&M 4 – 1 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Bethune–Cookman 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Howard 2 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Delaware State 2 – 3 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 North Carolina A&T 0 – 5 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1982 Missouri Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Tulsa $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 1 – 0 Wichita State 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Southern Illinois 4 – 1 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Indiana State 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Drake 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 New Mexico State 1 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 West Texas State 1 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Illinois State 0 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 $ – Conference champion The conference was a hybrid of NCAA Division I-A and I-AA programs. New Mexico State, Tulsa, and Wichita State were I-A and the other teams were I-AA.	1982 Ohio Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 1 Eastern Kentucky $^ 7 – 0 – 0 13 – 0 – 0 Akron 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Middle Tennessee 4 – 3 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Youngstown State 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Morehead State 2 – 5 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Murray State 2 – 5 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Austin Peay 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Tennessee Tech 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1982 Southern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 6 Furman $^ 6 – 1 – 0 9 – 3 – 0 No. 17 Chattanooga 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Western Carolina 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 The Citadel 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Appalachian State 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 VMI 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 East Tennessee State 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 Marshall 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1982 Southland Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 2 Louisiana Tech $^ 5 – 0 – 0 10 – 3 – 0 No. 12 Northeast Louisiana 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Arkansas State 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 McNeese State 2 – 3 – 0 4 – 6 – 1 Lamar 1 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Texas–Arlington 1 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 North Texas State 0 – 0 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1982 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 8 Jackson State $^ 6 – 0 – 0 9 – 3 – 0 Southern 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 No. 10 Grambling State 4 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Alcorn State 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Mississippi Valley State 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Texas Southern 1 – 5 – 0 1 – 9 – 1 Prairie View A&M 0 – 6 – 0 1 – 10 – 0 Alabama State 0 – 0 – 0 2 – 6 – 1 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1982 Yankee Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Maine + 3 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Boston University +^ 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Connecticut + 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 UMass + 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Rhode Island 2 – 3 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 New Hampshire 1 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 + – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant	1982 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 3 Delaware ^   –   12 – 2 – 0 No. 4 Tennessee State ^   –   10 – 1 – 1 No. 13 Holy Cross   –   8 – 3 – 0 James Madison   –   8 – 3 – 0 No. 9 Colgate ^   –   8 – 4 – 0 No. 20 Lafayette   –   7 – 3 – 0 Nicholls State   –   7 – 4 – 0 No. 18 Northwestern State   –   6 – 5 – 0 Western Kentucky   –   5 – 5 – 0 Bucknell   –   4 – 6 – 0 Lehigh   –   4 – 6 – 0 Southeastern Louisiana   –   4 – 7 – 0 Northeastern   –   3 – 6 – 0 William & Mary   –   3 – 8 – 0 Richmond   –   0 – 10 – 0 ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee

Conference champions

See also: List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons

Conference champions
Big Sky Conference – Montana (tiebreaker over Idaho, Montana State) Ivy League – Dartmouth, Harvard, and Penn Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky Southern Conference – Furman Southland Conference – Louisiana Tech Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State Yankee Conference – Boston University, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts

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. Template:Round12-with play-offs * Next to team name denotes host institution