1978 Arizona State Sun Devils football
Garden State Bowl champion
Garden State Bowl, W 34–18 vs. Rutgers
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 19
Record9–3 (4–3 Pac-10)
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorLarry Kentera (8th season)
Home stadiumSun Devil Stadium
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →
1978 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 USC $ 6 – 1 – 0 12 – 1 – 0
No. 14 UCLA 6 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 1
Washington 6 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0
Arizona State 4 – 3 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
No. 17 Stanford 4 – 3 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
California 3 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Arizona 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Oregon 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
Oregon State 2 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 1
Washington State 1 – 7 – 0 3 – 7 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Arizona State Sun Devils football team was an American football team that represented Arizona State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their 21st season under head coach Frank Kush, the Sun Devils compiled a 9–3 record (4–3 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in a tie for fourth place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 347 to 236.[1][2]

The team's statistical leaders included Mark Malone with 1,305 passing yards and 705 rushing yards and Chris DeFrance with 617 receiving yards.[3]

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendance
September 9Pacific (CA)*
W 42–7
September 16BYU*
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, AZ
W 24–1770,311
September 23at Washington State
L 26–5133,507
September 30UTEP*
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, AZ
W 27–069,497
October 7Northwestern*
W 56–14
October 14No. 2 USC
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, AZ
W 20–770,138
October 28WashingtonNo. 12
L 7–4154,866
November 4California
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, AZ
W 35–21
November 11Stanford
  • Sun Devil Stadium
  • Tempe, AZ
L 14–2151,000
November 18at Oregon State
W 44–2223,500
November 25Arizona
W 18–1758,090
December 16vs. Rutgers*
W 34–1833,402
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[4]

Personnel

1978 Arizona State Sun Devils football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
  Chris DeFrance
QB Mark Malone
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DE Al Harris (C)
DE 95 Bob Kohrs Jr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Season summary

USC

1 234Total
USC 0 007 7
• Arizona St 0 3143 20
  • Date: October 14
  • Location: Sun Devil Stadium
  • Game attendance: 71,138
Scoring summary
Q2ASUHicks 40 yard field goalASU 3–0
Q3ASUMalone 1 yard run (Hicks kick)ASU 10–0
Q3ASUMistler 16 yard pass from Malone (Hicks kick)ASU 17–0
Q4ASUHicks 28 yard field goalASU 20–0
Q4USCGarcia 31 yard pass from McDonald (Jordan kick)ASU 20–7

[5]

Arizona

Mark Malone threw a pair of touchdown passes and Bill Zivic's 45-yard field goal attempt missed wide left in the final seconds to secure the Sun Devil victory.[6]

Garden State Bowl

Garden State Bowl: Arizona State Sun Devils vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Period 1 2 34Total
Arizona St 0 7 141334
Rutgers 10 0 0818

at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

Game information

MVP: John Mistler

References

  1. ^ "1978 Arizona State Sun Devils Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  2. ^ "2016 ASU Football Media Guide". Arizona State University. 2016. p. 123. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  3. ^ "1978 Arizona State Sun Devils Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  4. ^ College Football @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017
  5. ^ "Devils' first Pacific-10 win shocks USC." Eugene Register-Guard. 1978 Oct 15. Retrieved 2017-Oct-09.
  6. ^ 10 Memorable Sun Devil Performances in the Territorial Cup Rivalry. Retrieved 2018-Dec-25.

External links


Arizona State Sun Devils football
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