1978 Florida State Seminoles football team

The 1978 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University as an independent during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles compiled a record of 8–3. Florida State played home games at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

1978 Florida State Seminoles football
Conference	Independent
Record	8–3
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	George Haffner (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jack Stanton (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium
Seasons ← 1977 1979 →

1978 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Penn State		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
North Texas State		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Navy		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 7 Notre Dame		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Florida State		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Tennessee State		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Temple		–		–				7	–	3	–	1
Pittsburgh		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Louisville		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
UNLV		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				6	–	4	–	1
Georgia Tech		–		–				7	–	5	–	0
Hawaii		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
William & Mary		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Villanova		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Army		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Memphis State		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Tulane		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Air Force		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Colgate		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Richmond		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Illinois State		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
West Virginia		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Boston College		–		–				0	–	11	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 9	at Syracuse	No. 17	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY		W 28–0	24,272	[1]
September 16	Oklahoma State	No. 16	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 38–20	40,338	[2]
September 23	at Miami (FL)	No. 13	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–21	25,002	[3]
September 30	Houston	No. 10	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		L 21–27	41,142	[4]
October 7	Cincinnati	No. 18	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 26–21	39,599	[5]
October 14	at Mississippi State	No. 15	Scott Field Starkville, MS		L 27–55	36,000	[6]
October 21	at No. 16 Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		L 3–7	55,104	[7]
October 28	at Southern Miss		M. M. Roberts Stadium Hattiesburg, MS		W 38–16	23,248	[8]
November 11	Virginia Tech		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 24–14	38,654	[9]
November 18	Navy		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 38–6	45,795	[10]
November 25	Florida		Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)		W 38–21	48,432	[11]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[12]

Personnel

1978 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OL Lee Adams OL Brent Brock RB Gator Cherry TE Sam Childers WR Jackie Flowers OL Greg Futch OL Mike Good OL Nate Henderson RB Homes Johnson QB Jimmy Jordan TE Bill Keck RB Keith Kennedy TE Grady King OL Ken Lanier RB Mark Lyles RB Sam Platt RB Greg Ramsey WR Milton Raysor RB Ernie Sims WR Lawrence Strainge WR Kurt Unglaub RB Wade Wallace OL Gil Wesley RB Michael Whiting WR Phil Williams QB Wally Woodham	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB Monk Bonasorte DB Bobby Butler DL Walter Carter DL Jarvis Coursey LB David Hanks DB Ozzie Harrell DB Gary Henry LB Reggie Herring DB Keith Jones DL Willie Jones DB Mike Kincaid DL Mark Macek DL Jeremy Mindin LB Paul Piurowski DL Ed Richardson DL Arthur Scott DL Ron Simmons DB Mike Smith DL Scott Warren	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Bill Capece K Dave Cappelen P Rohn Stark	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches Kent Schoolfield (Wide receivers) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

At Syracuse

Oklahoma State

At Miami (FL)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida St	0	14	7	10	31
Miami (FL)	7	7	0	7	21

#13 Florida State Seminoles (2–0) at Miami (FL) Hurricanes (0–1)

at Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

• Date: September 23, 1978
• Game weather: Cloudy, 83 °F (28 °C)
• Game attendance: 25,003
• Box Score

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Florida St	Passing	Jimmy Jordan	8/12, 83 Yds, TD, INT
	Rushing	Homes Johnson	23 Rush, 90 Yds
	Receiving	Mark Lyles	5 Rec, 58 Yds, TD
Miami (FL)	Passing	Mark Richt	5/11, 74 Yds, TD, 3 INT
	Rushing	Ottis Anderson	15 Rush, 137 Yds, TD
	Receiving	Mark Cooper	3 Rec, 48 Yds

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP FSU UM 1 9:27 1 80 0:15 Miami (FL) Ottis Anderson 80-yard touchdown run, Danny Miller kick good 0 7 2 12:57 Florida St Blocked punt returned 48 yards for touchdown by Mark Macek, Dave Cappelen kick good 7 7 2 9:25 2 52 0:19 Miami (FL) James Joiner 48-yard touchdown run, Danny Miller kick good 7 14 2 2:49 13 76 6:36 Florida St Jackie Flowers 4-yard touchdown reception from Jimmy Jordan, Dave Cappelen kick good 14 14 3 8:15 7 41 3:44 Florida St Wally Woodham 1-yard touchdown run, Dave Cappelen kick good 21 14 4 6:58 4 -3 0:52 Florida St 26-yard field goal by Dave Cappelen 24 14 4 4:27 5 65 2:31 Miami (FL) E.J. Baker 27-yard touchdown reception from Mark Richt, Danny Miller kick good 24 21 4 1:14 4 31 0:42 Florida St Mark Lyles 22-yard touchdown reception from Wally Woodham, Dave Cappelen kick good 31 21 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 31 21

Houston

Cincinnati

At Mississippi State

At Pittsburgh

At Southern Mississippi

Virginia Tech

Navy

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Navy	3	3	0	0	6
Florida St	0	7	17	14	38

Navy Midshipmen (7–2) at Florida State Seminoles (6–3)

at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida

• Date: November 18, 1978
• Game time: 12:50 p.m. EDT
• Game weather: Partly cloudy, 76 °F (24 °C)
• Game attendance: 45,795
• Referee: W.T. Miller
• TV: ABC
• Box Score

• ABC Players of the Game: Jimmy Jordan & Sam Platt (off), Ron Simmons (def) 10 tackles, FR, FF

External videos
Game broadcast (part 1)
Game broadcast (part 2)
Game broadcast (part 3)
Game broadcast (part 4)

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Navy	Passing	Bob Leszczynski	10/20, 188 Yds, INT
	Rushing	Kevin Tolbert	5 Rush, 27 Yds
	Receiving	Sandy Jones	2 Rec, 51 Yds
Florida St	Passing	Jimmy Jordan	15/27, 280 Yds, 4 TD
	Rushing	Greg Ramsey	5 Rush, 51 Yds, TD
	Receiving	Sam Platt	6 Rec, 145 Yds, 3 TD

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP NAVY FSU 1 0:48 4 35 Navy 43-yard field goal by Bob Tata 3 0 2 4:10 3 60 Florida St Greg Ramsey 12-yard touchdown run, Dave Cappelen kick good 3 7 2 2:28 6 77 Navy 46-yard field goal by Bob Tata 6 7 3 11:58 4 28 Florida St 38-yard field goal by Dave Cappelen 6 10 3 9:38 3 11 Florida St Sam Platt 4-yard touchdown reception from Jimmy Jordan, Dave Cappelen kick good 6 17 3 6:55 4 56 Florida St Sam Platt 36-yard touchdown reception from Jimmy Jordan, Dave Cappelen kick good 6 24 4 13:50 5 90 Florida St Sam Platt 51-yard touchdown reception from Jimmy Jordan, Dave Cappelen kick good 6 31 4 9:00 7 53 Florida St Grady King 23-yard touchdown reception from Jimmy Jordan, Dave Cappelen kick good 6 38 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 6 38

Florida

References

1. "Seminoles smother Syracuse, 28–0". The Pensacola News-Journal. September 10, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Seminoles bury Cowboys, 38–20". Fort Lauderdale News. September 17, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Florida St. rolls over Miami, 31–21". Staten Island Advance. September 24, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Houston strikes early, upends Florida State". The Sunday Oregonian. October 1, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Florida State comes from behind for 26–21 win over Cincinnati". The Marion Star. October 8, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Ill wins, defense doom Florida State". The Palm Beach Post-Times. October 15, 1978. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Jacobs' jaunt jolts Seminoles for Pitt". Daily Press. October 22, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Woodham's passing hurls Seminoles past surprised Southern Miss., 38–16". The Miami Herald. October 29, 1978. Retrieved March 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Seminoles rally past VPI, 24–14". The Miami Herald. November 12, 1978. Retrieved December 15, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "FSU rolls but Navy bowls". The Orlando Sentinel Star. November 19, 1978. Retrieved October 22, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Gators muff Dickey's sendoff". St. Petersburg Times. December 3, 1978. Retrieved October 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "1978 Florida State Seminoles Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 22, 2024.