1978 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

American college football season

1978 Iowa Hawkeyes football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	2–9 (2–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bob Commings (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Larry Coyer (4th season)
MVP	Brad Reid
Captain	Jon Lazar, Tom Rusk, Tim Gutshall, Dave Becker
Home stadium	Kinnick Stadium
Seasons← 1977 1979 →

1978 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	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

The 1978 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1978 Big Ten Conference football season. This was Bob Commings' fifth and final season as the head coach of the Hawkeyes.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 16	Northwestern	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 20–3	56,840
September 23	No. 20 Iowa State*	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	L 0–31	60,075
September 30	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	L 3–23	46,851
October 7	Utah*	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 9–13	51,170
October 14	at Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN (rivalry)	L 20–22	51,381
October 21	at Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 7–31	87,326
October 28	No. 17 Purdue	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 7–34	57,640
November 4	No. 8 Michigan	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 0–34	49,120
November 11	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 14–34	33,167
November 18	Wisconsin	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	W 38–24	44,444
November 25	at No. 14 Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 7–42	57,007
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Northwestern

Northwestern at Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Wildcats	7	7	6	0	20
Hawkeyes	0	3	0	0	3

Date: September 16
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa
Game attendance: 56,840

Scoring summary

1		IOWA	Brad Reid 55-yard pass from Rod Morton (Schilling kick)	Iowa 7–0

2	4:44	IOWA	Todd Simonsen 4-yard fumble return (Schilling kick)	Iowa 14–0

2		NW	Nick Mirkopulos	Iowa 14–3

3	2:15	IOWA	Brad Reid 5-yard run (kick failed)	Iowa 20–3

Iowa State

At Arizona

Utah

At Minnesota

At Ohio State

Purdue

Purdue at Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 17 Boilermakers	10	7	0	17	34
Hawkeyes	0	0	7	0	7

Date: October 28
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa
Game attendance: 57,460

Scoring summary

1	PUR	Sovereen 39-yard field goal	Purdue 3–0

1	PUR	Pope 11-yard run (Sovereen kick)	Purdue 10–0

2	PUR	Young 25-yard pass from Herrmann (Sovereen kick)	Purdue 17–0

3	IOWA	Reid 57-yard run (Schilling kick)	Purdue 17–7

4	PUR	Burrell 11-yard pass from Herrmann (Sovereen kick)	Purdue 24–7

4	PUR	Sovereen 27-yard field goal	Purdue 27–7

4	PUR	Eubank 3-yard pass from Herrmann (Sovereen kick)	Purdue 34–7

Michigan

At Indiana

Wisconsin

At Michigan State

Roster

1978 Iowa Hawkeyes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB		Bobby Commings Jr.	So
QB	`12`	Pete Gales	Fr
C	`54`	Jay Hilgenberg	So
FB	`44`	Jon Lazar	Sr
RB		Rod Morton	Jr
RB	`18`	Dennis Mosley	Jr
WR	`87`	Brad Reid	Jr
QB	`16`	Phil Suess	So
TE		Jim Swift	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB		Dave Becker	Sr
DL	`97`	Doug Benschoter	Sr
LB		Tim Gutshall	Sr
LB	`47`	Tom Rusk	Sr
DE	`45`	Steve Vazquez	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Scott Schilling	So

Head coach

Bob Commings

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Del Miller – Offensive assistant
Tom Hayes – Defensive backs
Dan McCarney – Graduate assistant

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Team players in the 1979 NFL draft

Main article: 1979 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Tom Rusk	LB	9	227	New York Giants

References

"Tricky Hawkeyes rip Northwestern". The Pantagraph. September 17, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Sub quarterback sinks Hawkeyes". The Rock Island Argus. September 24, 1978. Retrieved October 20, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Arizona tramples Hawks". The Des Moines Register. October 1, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Lightly regarded Ute QB stings Iowa". The Sioux City Journal. October 8, 1978. Retrieved October 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Gophers beat Iowa, 22–20". The Pantagraph. October 15, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Hayes dots I: Bucks club Iowa". Springfield News-Sun. October 22, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Purdue shows Iowa why it leads Big 10". Argus-Leader. October 29, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
Curt Sylvester (November 5, 1978). "U-M puts the squeeze on Iowa, 34–0: Rick Leach passes for 191 yards, 2 touchdowns". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1E, 6E – via Newspapers.com.
"Even Iowa's rushing defense fizzles 34–14". The Gazette. November 12, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Iowa stuns Wisconsin". The Sioux City Journal. November 19, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Spartans' offense destroys Hawkeyes". The Daily Nonpareil. November 26, 1978. Retrieved October 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"1978 Iowa Hawkeyes Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
"Iowa tops Northwestern, 20-3" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. September 18, 1978. p. 10. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
"Cyclones stun Hawkeyes" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. September 25, 1978. p. 10. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
"Hawkeyes'second half explosion falls short, 22-20" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. October 16, 1978. p. 10. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
"Iowa rolls past Badgers, 38-24" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. November 20, 1978. p. 7. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
"Michigan State explodes against Iowa in finale" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. November 27, 1978. p. 10. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
"The ax falls for 'fighter' Commings" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. November 28, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
"Hayden Fry named head coach" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. December 11, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
"1979 NFL Draft". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 14, 2018.

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