1988 NAIA Division I football season

American college football season

1988 NAIA Division I football season
Regular season	August–November 1988
Postseason	November 26–December 17, 1988
National Championship	Burke–Tarr Stadium Jefferson City, TN
Champions	Carson–Newman (4)
← 1987 NAIA Division I football season 1989 →

The 1988 NAIA Division I football season was the 33rd season of college football sponsored by the NAIA, was the 19th season of play of the NAIA's top division for football.

The season was played from August to November 1988 and culminated in the 1988 NAIA Champion Bowl playoffs and the 1988 NAIA Champion Bowl, played this year on December 17, 1988 at Burke–Tarr Stadium in Jefferson City, Tennessee, on the campus of Carson–Newman College.

Carson–Newman defeated Adams State in the Champion Bowl, 56–21, to win their fourth NAIA national title. It was the Eagles' third straight appearance in the Champion Bowl, going 1–1 in the previous two.

Conference standings

1988 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Central Arkansas $^	6	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
No. 7 Arkansas–Monticello ^	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 17 Arkansas Tech	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Henderson State	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Ouachita Baptist	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Harding	1	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Southern Arkansas	1	–	5	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

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

1988 Central States Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 Pittsburg State $^	7	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 11 Emporia State ^	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Washburn ^	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
No. 24 Kearney State	4	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Fort Hays State	3	–	4	–	0	3	–	6	–	1
Missouri Western	2	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Missouri Southern	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Wayne State (NE)	0	–	7	–	0	0	–	11	–	0

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

1988 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 5 Hillsdale $^	5	–	0	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 19 Northern Michigan	4	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Grand Valley State	3	–	2	–	0	0	–	7	–	4
No. 25 Saginaw Valley State	2	–	3	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Ferris State	1	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Wayne State (MI)	0	–	5	–	0	2	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division II Football Committee poll for Northern Michigan and NAIA Division I poll for Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State

1988 Lone Star Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 Texas A&I $^	6	–	1	–	0	10	–	3	–	0
No. 15 East Texas State	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Angelo State	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Cameron	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	3	–	1
Central State (OK)	4	–	3	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Abilene Christian	3	–	4	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
West Texas State	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Eastern New Mexico	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division II playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division II Football Committee poll for Texas A&I and East Texas State and NAIA Division I poll for Cameron

1988 Northern Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 12 Moorhead State $^	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Northern State ^	5	–	1	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Minnesota Duluth	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Minnesota Morris	3	–	3	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Southwest State (MN)	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Winona State	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Bemidji State	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

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

1988 Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 SE Oklahoma State $^	4	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
No. 21 SW Oklahoma State	2	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
East Central	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Northeastern State	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
NW Oklahoma State	0	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0

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

1988 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 Mesa State $^	5	–	0	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Adams State ^	3	–	1	–	1	10	–	3	–	1
No. 23 Western New Mexico	2	–	2	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Western State (CO)	2	–	3	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Colorado Mines	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Fort Lewis	0	–	5	–	0	1	–	8	–	0

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

1988 South Atlantic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 Carson–Newman +^	5	–	2	–	0	12	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Catawba +^	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
No. 20 Lenoir–Rhyne +	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
No. 22 Elon	4	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Mars Hill	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Gardner–Webb	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	1
Newberry	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Presbyterian	1	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

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

1988 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 10 Fairmont State +^	5	–	0	–	2	7	–	2	–	2
No. 19 Shepherd +	6	–	1	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
No. 9 Concord ^	5	–	1	–	1	7	–	2	–	1
West Virginia State	3	–	3	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
West Liberty State	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Glenville State	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Salem	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
West Virginia Tech	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	8	–	0

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

1988 NAIA Division I independents football records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 6 Central State (OH) ^		–		11	–	2	–	0
West Virginia Wesleyan		–		6	–	4	–	0
Arkansas–Pine Bluff		–		4	–	6	–	1
Langston		–		2	–	7	–	0
Guilford		–		2	–	8	–	0

^ – NAIA Division I playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Division I poll

Conference champions

Conference	Champion	Record
Arkansas Intercollegiate	Central Arkansas	6–0
NIC	Moorhead State (MN)	6–0
Oklahoma	Southeastern Oklahoma State	4–0
RMAC	Mesa State	5–0
South Atlantic	Carson–Newman Catawba	5–2
WVIAC	Fairmont State	5–0–2

Rankings

Final NAIA Division I poll rankings:

Rank	Team (first place votes)	Record (thru Nov. 19)	Points
1	Central Arkansas (15)	10–0	375
2	Pittsburg State	9–0	350
3	Mesa State	8–1	343
4	Southeastern Oklahoma State	9–0	324
5	Hillsdale	9–1	313
6	Central State (OH)	9–1	306
7	Arkansas–Monticello	9–1	287
8	Carson–Newman	8–2	259
9	Concord	7–1–1	248
10	Fairmont State	7–1–2	238
11	Emporia State	8–2	218
12	Moorhead State	8–2	206
13	Catawba	8–3	200
14	Washburn	7–3	179
15	Northern State	8–3	162
16	Adams State	7–2–1	153
17	Arkansas Tech	6–4	126
18	Cameron	5–3–1	122
19	Shepherd	6–4	98
20	Lenoir–Rhyne	6–5	93
21	Southwestern Oklahoma State	6–4	84
22	Elon	6–5	55
23	Western New Mexico	7–2–1	79
24	Kearney State	4–4–1	43
25	Saginaw Valley State	4–5	15

Postseason

First Round November 26, 1988 Campus sites			Quarterfinals December 3, 1988 Campus sites			Semifinals December 10, 1988 Campus sites			1988 Champion Bowl December 17, 1988 Jefferson City, TN

	Washburn	13

	Arkansas–Monticello*	20
				Arkansas–Monticello	7

				Pittsburg State*	23
	Northern State	14

	Pittsburg State*	38
							Pittsburg State	10

							Adams State*	13
	Adams State	14

	Emporia State*	10
				Adams State	38

				SE Oklahoma State*	7
	Central Arkansas	14

	SE Oklahoma State* (OT)	21
										Adams State	21

										Carson–Newman*	56
	Mesa State	16

	Moorhead State*	26
				Moorhead State	6

				Carson–Newman*	42
	Concord	29

	Carson–Newman*	62
							Carson–Newman	13

							Central State (OH)*	0
	Catawba	10

	Central State (OH)*	24
				Central State (OH)	14

				Hillsdale*	7
	Fairmont State	7

	Hillsdale*	24

References

"NAIA Championship History" (PDF). NAIA. pp. 4–11. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
"1988 Division I NAIA Football Playoffs". JonFMorse.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
"NAIA Division I Poll". La Crosse Tribune. La Crosse, Wisconsin. Associated Press. November 21, 1988. p. 14. Retrieved May 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com .

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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