November
On November 4, Oklahoma beat Colorado 28-7, #2 Penn State stymied #5 Maryland 27-3, #3 Alabama topped Mississippi State 35-14, and #4 Nebraksa beat Kansas 63-21. USC returned to the top 5 after a 13-7 win at Stanford.
November 11 saw #1 Oklahoma lose to #4 Nebraska 17-14 in the game that decided the Big Eight title. #2 Penn State climed the top spot with a 19-10 win over N.C. State. #3 Alabama rolled along with a 31-10 win at #10 LSU. #5 USC beat #19 Washington 28-10. The new poll was 1. Penn State 2. Nebraska 3. Alabama 4. Oklahoma 5. USC.
On November 18, #1 Penn State was idle while #2 Nebraska was knocked off at home by Missouri 35-31 and fell to 7th. #3 Alabama was also idle, and #4 Oklahoma won its final game over Oklahoma State 62-7. In the showdown to decide the Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl berth, #5 USC stopped #14 UCLA by a score of 17-10. Houston, who had beaten #6 Texas the week before to clinch the SWC title and Cotton Bowl berth, moved up to #5. New poll: 1. Penn State 2. Alabama 3. USC 4. Oklahoma 5. Houston
On November 24, #1 Penn State wrapped up its undefeated regular season with a 17-10 over #15 rival Pittsburgh. #2 Alabama had one more week off before its game with rival Auburn. #3 USC needed a controversial call (an apparent fumble was ruled an incomplete pass thus keeping the final drive alive) and last second field goal to beat #8 Notre Dame 27-25. #5 Houston was upset by Texas Tech 22-21. #6 Michigan clinched the Rose Bowl berth with a 14-3 win over rival Ohio State.
Read more about this topic: 1978 NCAA Division I-A Football Season
Famous quotes containing the word november:
“It was always November there.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“If God had an agent, the world wouldn’t be built yet. It’d only be about Thursday.”
—Jerry Reynolds, Sacramento Kings’ player personnel director. Quoted in Newsweek (New York, November 25, 1991)