1978 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 1978 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1978 Big Ten Conference football season. In their seventh and final year under head coach Cal Stoll, the Golden Gophers compiled a 7–5 record but were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 267 to 210.[1]

1978 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1978 record	5–6 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cal Stoll (7th season)
MVP	Marion Barber Jr.
Captain	Stan Systma
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

1978 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Michigan +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Michigan State +	7	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
No. 13 Purdue	6	–	1	–	1			9	–	2	–	1
Ohio State	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
Minnesota	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	2			5	–	4	–	2
Indiana	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Iowa	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Illinois	0	–	6	–	2			1	–	8	–	2
Northwestern	0	–	8	–	1			0	–	10	–	1
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Tailback Marion Barber Jr. received the team's Most Valuable Player award. Barber Jr., kicker Paul Rogind, defensive back Keith Brown and defensive end Stan Sytsma were named All-Big Ten first team. Nose guard Doug Friberg and defensive tackle Jim Ronan were named All-Big Ten second team. Sytsma was named Academic All-Big Ten.[2]

Total attendance for the season was 238,072, which averaged to 39,678. The season high for attendance was against Ohio State.[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 16	Toledo*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 38–12	31,223
September 23	No. 16 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	L 10–27	55,200
September 30	at No. 18 UCLA*	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles	L 3–17	40,369
October 7	Oregon State*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	L 14–17	35,083
October 14	Iowa	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis (rivalry)	W 22–20	51,381
October 21	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 38–14	16,452
October 28	at No. 8 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, Michigan (Little Brown Jug)	L 10–42	105,308
November 4	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 32–31	39,797
November 11	at No. 17 Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, Michigan	L 9–33	72,122
November 18	Illinois	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 24–6	25,388
November 25	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, Wisconsin (rivalry)	L 10–48	61,000
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

1. "1978 Minnesota Golden Gophers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
2. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), pp. 179–182
3. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), p. 160