1978 Texas Longhorns football team

1978 Texas Longhorns football
Sun Bowl champion
Sun Bowl, W 42–0 vs. Maryland
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 9
Record	9–3 (6–2 SWC)
Head coach	Fred Akers (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Leon Manley (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Leon Fuller (2nd season)
Home stadium	Texas Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  1977 1979  →

1978 Southwest Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Houston $	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 11 Arkansas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
No. 9 Texas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Texas Tech	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Baylor	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Rice	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
TCU	0	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Longhorns finished the regular season with an 8-3 record and defeated Maryland in the Sun Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 16	7:30 p.m.	at Rice	No. 7	Rice Stadium Houston, TX (rivalry)		W 34–0	62,000	[1]
September 23	7:00 p.m.	Wyoming *	No. 6	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 17–3	60,000	[2]
September 30	7:30 p.m.	at Texas Tech	No. 6	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)		W 24–7	54,012	[3]
October 7	11:50 a.m.	vs. No. 1 Oklahoma *	No. 6	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)	ABC	L 10–31	72,032	[4]
October 14	7:00 p.m.	North Texas State *	No. 12	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 26–16	63,000	[5]
October 21	11:50 a.m.	No. 3 Arkansas	No. 8	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	ABC	W 28–21	78,000	[6]
October 28	2:00 p.m.	SMU	No. 7	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 22–3	65,289	[7]
November 11	2:15 p.m.	No. 8 Houston	No. 6	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		L 7–10	83,053	[8]
November 18	2:00 p.m.	at TCU	No. 9	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)		W 41–0	20,014	[9]
November 25	2:00 p.m.	at Baylor	No. 9	Baylor Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–38	31,500	[10]
December 1	8:00 p.m.	Texas A&M	No. 14	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	ABC	W 22–7	78,413	[11]
December 23	12:30 p.m.	vs. No. 13 Maryland *	No. 14	Sun Bowl El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	W 42–0	33,122	[12]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[13]

Game summaries

North Texas State

North Texas State at Texas

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Mean Green	7	2	7	0	16
•No. 12 Longhorns	0	16	7	3	26

• Date: October 14
• Location: Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas
• Game start: 7:01 pm CDT
• Elapsed time: 2:33
• Game attendance: 63,000
• Game weather: 71 °F (22 °C), Clear, Wind N 5 mph (8.0 km/h)

Scoring summary

1	6:13	UNT	Murray 38-yard pass from Case (Hamm kick)	UNT 7–0
2	13:32	UNT	Safety (Erxleben fumbled out of end zone)	UNT 9–0
2	1:48	TEX	Jam Jones 1-yard run (Erxleben kick)	UNT 9–7
2	1:06	TEX	Safety (Snap out of end zone)	Tied 9–9
2	0:17	TEX	Lam Jones 41-yard pass from McEachern (Erxleben kick)	Texas 16–9
3	8:31	TEX	Studdard 13-yard pass from McEachern (Erxleben kick)	Texas 23–9
3	3:10	UNT	Jackson 2-yard run (Hamm kick)	Texas 23–16
4	2:37	TEX	Erxleben 47-yard field goal	Texas 26–16

See also: 1978 North Texas State Mean Green football team

Roster

1978 Texas Longhorns football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 6 Randy McEachern Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 53 Bill Acker Jr DB   Glenn Blackwood Sr DT 99 Steve McMichael Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 15 Russell Erxleben Sr	Head coach Fred Akers Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1978 team players in the NFL

The following players were selected in the 1979 NFL draft football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Russell Erxleben	Kicker/Punter	1	11	New Orleans Saints
Glenn Blackwood	Defensive back	8	215	Miami Dolphins

^[14]

References

1. "Horns still powerful". The Orange Leader. September 17, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
2. Kirk Bohls (September 24, 1978). "'Horns sputter past Wyoming 17-3". Austin American-Statesman. p. D1 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Texas pins Texas Tech, 24–7". Statesman Journal. October 1, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Oklahoma tramples Longhorns, 31–10". The Patriot-News. October 8, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
5. "Longhorns gore NTSU". The Kilgore News Herald. October 15, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
6. "McEachern passes Texas past Arkansas". Argus-Leader. October 22, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Fierce Longhorn defense throttles SMU". The Marshall News Messenger. October 29, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Houston catapults into SWC lead". The Kilgore News Herald. November 12, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
9. "8th-ranked Texas tops TCU, 41–0". The Billings Gazette. November 19, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
10. "Struggling Bears stun Longhorns". The Daily Oklahoman. November 26, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Texas defense stifles A&M". Austin American-Statesman. December 2, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Jones boys and wind carry Texas past Maryland 42–0". The Sacramento Bee. December 24, 1978. Retrieved January 27, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
13. "1978 Texas Longhorns Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
14. "1979 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com . Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.