1982 NCAA Division I-AA football season
The 1982 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 1982 and concluded with the 1982 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 18, 1982, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Eastern Kentucky Colonels won their second I-AA championship, defeating the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens in the Pioneer Bowl, 17−14.
Conference changes and new programs
Before the 1982 season, a total of 41 1-A schools - including three conferences and all of their members - were shifted from Division I-A to Division I-AA:- Ivy League — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale
- Southern Conference — Appalachian State, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Furman, Marshall, The Citadel, VMI, and Western Carolina
- Southland Conference — Arkansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, and Texas–Arlington
- * Southwestern Louisiana, who had been a member of the Southland during the 1981 season, remained in Division I-A as an Independent.
| School | 1981 Conference | 1982 Conference |
| Alabama State | D-II Independent | SWAC |
| Colgate | I-A Independent | I-AA Independent |
| Holy Cross | I-A Independent | I-AA Independent |
| Northeast Louisiana | I-A Independent | Southland |
| North Texas State | I-A Independent | 1-AA Independent |
| Richmond | I-A Independent | I-AA Independent |
| Western Kentucky | Ohio Valley | I-AA Independent |
| William & Mary | I-A Independent | I-AA Independent |
Independent Cincinnati and MAC schools Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Western Michigan were all reclassified as well.
The University of Cincinnati filed an injunction against the NCAA to postpone their demotion until after the 1982 season, and was successful in remaining in 1-A.
Of the ten schools in the MAC, initially only Central Michigan and Toledo maintained 1-A status. Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Miami, and Western Michigan all made appeals and the conference as a whole was granted the ability to remain at the 1-A level.
Conference standings
Conference champions
| Conference champions |
Big Sky Conference – Montana Ivy League – Dartmouth, Harvard, and Penn Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky Southern Conference – Furman Southland Conference – Louisiana Tech Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State Yankee Conference – Boston University, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts |