1976 NAIA Division I football season

American college football season

1976 NAIA Division I football season
Regular season	August–November 1976
Postseason	December 4–11, 1976
National Championship	Javelina Stadium Kingsville, TX
Champions	Texas A&I (5)
← 1975 NAIA Division I football season 1977 →

The 1976 NAIA Division I football season was the 21st season of college football sponsored by the NAIA, was the seventh season of play of the NAIA's top division for football.

The season was played from August to November 1976 and culminated in the 1976 NAIA Division I Champion Bowl, played on December 11, 1976 at Javelina Stadium on the campus of Texas A&I University in Kingsville, Texas. Texas A&I defeated Central Arkansas in the Champion Bowl, 26–0, to win their fifth, and third consecutive, NAIA national title.

Conference realignment

Conference changes

This was the first season of play for the Central States Intercollegiate Conference. The conference, whose eight members were located in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, was formed by two independent teams and six former members of the Great Plains Athletic and Nebraska College conferences.
This was the final season of play for the Nebraska College Conference. The NCC, which had also been previously known as the Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference and Nebraska College Athletic Conference, had previously sponsored football since 1916.

Membership changes

Team	1975 conference	1976 conference
Emporia State	Great Plains	Central States
Fort Hays State	Great Plains	Central States
Kearney State	Nebraska College	Central States
Missouri Southern	Independent	Central States
Missouri Western	Independent	Central States
Northern Colorado	Great Plains (NAIA Division I)	Independent (NCAA Division II)
Nebraska–Omaha	Great Plains (NAIA Division I)	Independent (NCAA Division II)
Pittsburg State	Great Plains	Central States
Southern Colorado	Great Plains	Rocky Mountain
Washburn	Great Plains	Central States

Conference standings

1976 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 Central Arkansas +^	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
Harding +	5	–	1	–	0	7	–	5	–	0
No. 8 Henderson State	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Southern Arkansas	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Ouachita Baptist	2	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Arkansas–Monticello	1	–	5	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Arkansas Tech	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Central States Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Fort Hays State $	5	–	1	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
No. 8 Kearney State	4	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
No. 12 Missouri Southern	4	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Washburn	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Missouri Western	1	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Pittsburg State	1	–	4	–	0	3	–	5	–	1
Emporia State	0	–	6	–	0	0	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Evergreen Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 9 Oregon College $	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
Western Washington	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Eastern Washington	3	–	2	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Central Washington	3	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Southern Oregon	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Eastern Oregon	1	–	4	–	1	1	–	7	–	1
Oregon Tech	1	–	5	–	0	2	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Lone Star Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Texas A&I $^	7	–	0	–	0	13	–	0	–	0
No. 6 Abilene Christian	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
East Texas State	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	3	–	1
Southwest Texas State	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Angelo State	3	–	3	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Sam Houston State	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	5	–	1
Howard Payne	1	–	5	–	1	1	–	8	–	1
Stephen F. Austin	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Nebraska College Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Kearney State $	3	–	0	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
Chadron State	1	–	2	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Peru State	1	–	2	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Wayne State (NE)	1	–	2	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Northern Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 10 Minnesota Morris $	7	–	0	–	0	8	–	1	–	1
Michigan Tech	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Minnesota Duluth	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
St. Cloud State	4	–	3	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Bemidji State	3	–	4	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Moorhead State	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Winona State	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0
Southwest State (MN)	0	–	7	–	0	0	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion St. Cloud State forfeited a conference win over Minnesota Duluth and three non-conference wins; NCAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, and St. Cloud State records do not reflect the forfeits in the team's overall record. Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 17 SE Oklahoma State $	4	–	0	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
No. 20 Northeastern State	3	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	1
East Central	1	–	2	–	1	6	–	3	–	2
NW Oklahoma State	1	–	2	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
SW Oklahoma State	0	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 Western State (CO) $^	9	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
No. 14 Fort Lewis	7	–	2	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Southern Colorado	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	1
Southern Utah	4	–	5	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Colorado Mines	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Mesa	3	–	5	–	0	4	–	5	–	1
Westminster (UT)	3	–	5	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Western New Mexico	3	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Adams State	3	–	6	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
New Mexico Highlands	1	–	7	–	0	1	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 South Atlantic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 Elon $^	7	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
Catawba	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Newberry	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Mars Hill	3	–	3	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Gardner–Webb	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Carson–Newman	3	–	4	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Presbyterian	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Lenoir Rhyne	0	–	6	–	1	0	–	10	–	1

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Northern Division
No. 5 Shepherd xy	4	–	0	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 11 Salem	3	–	1	–	0	8	–	1	–	1
West Liberty State	2	–	2	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Fairmont State	1	–	3	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
West Virginia Wesleyan	0	–	4	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Southern Division
No. T–19 Concord xy$	4	–	0	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
West Virginia State	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	4	–	1
Bluefield State	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
West Virginia Tech	1	–	3	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Glenville State	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Championship: Concord 21, Shepherd 7
$ – Conference champion Conference standings based on power ratings Rankings from NAIA Division I poll for Salem and Shepherd and NAIA Division II poll for Concord

1976 Wisconsin State University Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 15 Wisconsin–Oshkosh +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Wisconsin–Platteville +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Wisconsin–River Falls +	6	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin–La Crosse	5	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin–Stevens Point	5	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin–Eau Claire	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Wisconsin–Stout	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin–Whitewater	2	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Wisconsin–Superior	0	–	8	–	0	0	–	10	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

1976 NAIA Division I independents football records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 18 Eastern New Mexico		–		7	–	3	–	1
Liberty Baptist		–		5	–	4	–	1
Langston		–		4	–	4	–	1
Guilford		–		4	–	6	–	0
Cameron		–		4	–	7	–	0
Wofford		–		4	–	7	–	0
Kentucky State		–		3	–	7	–	1

Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

Postseason

Semifinals December 4, 1976		1976 NAIA Champion Bowl December 11, 1976 Kingsville, TX

Central Arkansas	10

Elon*	7
		Central Arkansas	0

		Texas A&I*	26
Western State (CO)	14

Texas A&I*	56

References

"NAIA Championship History" (PDF). NAIA. pp. 4–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
"1975 Division I NAIA Football Playoffs". JonFMorse.com. Retrieved November 21, 2015.

NAIA football

Seasons

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970–1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Division I	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Division II	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Women's flag	2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Championships

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970–1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Division I	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Division II	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Records & statistics

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