September
The pre-season ranking of the top 5 were 1. Alabama, 2. Arkansas, 3. Penn State, 4. Oklahoma, and 5. Notre Dame.
On September 2, Alabama avenged its only loss from the prior season when they topped #10 Nebraska, 20-3. #2 Arkansas would not start its season for another two weeks. #3 Penn State struggled in beating Temple 10-7 and dropped to 5th, #4 Oklahoma was idle, as was #5 Notre Dame. 1. Alabama, 2. Arkansas, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Notre Dame, 5. Penn State
On September 9, #1 Alabama and #2 Arkansas were not scheduled, while #3 Oklahoma opened its season with a 35-29 win at Stanford. #4 Notre Dame was stunned at Missouri, 3-0, while #5 Penn State beat Rutgers, 26-10. #6 Michigan, who had yet to begin their season, replaced Notre Dame in the top 5. 1. Alabama, 2. Arkansas, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Michigan, 5. Penn State.
September 16 saw #1 Alabama win at #11 Missouri, 38-20 while #2 Arkansas opened its season with a 48-17 win over Vanderbilt. #3 Oklahoma walloped West Virginia 52-10, and #4 Michigan started its campaign with a 31-0 shutout of Illinois. #5 Penn State blanked #6 Ohio State 19-0 and would regain the #3 ranking, tying Oklahoma in the voting. 1. Alabama, 2. Arkansas, 3. Penn State, 3. Oklahoma, 5. Michigan.
On September 23, #1 Alabama lost in Birmingham to #7 USC, 24-14. #2 Arkansas struggled in beating Oklahoma State 19-7, #3 Penn State struggled with SMU but won 26-21, #3 Oklahoma would vault to the top spot on the strength of their 66-7 win over Rice, and #5 Michigan won at #14 Notre Dame, 28-14. The new poll was 1. Oklahoma, 2. Arkansas, 3. USC, 4. Michigan, 5. Penn State.
On September 30, new #1 Oklahoma beat #14 Missouri 45-23, #2 Arkansas was unimpressive in a 21-13 win over Tulsa, #3 USC thumped Michigan State 30-9, #4 Michigan beat Duke 52-0, and #5 Penn State crushed TCU 58-0. 1. Oklahoma, 2. USC, 3. Michigan, 4. Arkansas, 5. Penn State.
Read more about this topic: 1978 NCAA Division I-A Football Season
Famous quotes containing the word september:
“This seems a long while ago, and yet it happened since Milton wrote his Paradise Lost. But its antiquity is not the less great for that, for we do not regulate our historical time by the English standard, nor did the English by the Roman, nor the Roman by the Greek.... From this September afternoon, and from between these now cultivated shores, those times seemed more remote than the dark ages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“April is in my mistress’ face,
And July in her eyes hath place,
Within her bosom is September,
But in her heart a cold December.”
—Unknown. Subject #4: July Subject #5: September Subject #6: December. All Seasons in One. . .
Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse, The. E. K. Chambers, comp. (1932)
“Thus was my first year’s life in the woods completed; and the second year was similar to it. I finally left Walden September 6th, 1847.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)