Season Notes for 1978 NAU Lumberjacks Football

1. •NAU's only outright Big Sky Championship
   

2. •Undefeated in conference play
   

3. •Newly revamped Division 1AA selection committee fails to include NAU in post season playoffs
   

4. •Coach Joe Salem resigns following the season to accept an offer to be the head coach at his alma mater the University of Minnesota
   

5. •Linebacker Jerry Lumpkin is named first team All American after the season anchoring a defense that also included future All American's DE Ed Judie (1979) and DT Dan Anders (1980)
   

6. •Safety Harold Smith named first team All Big Sky for the third consecutive season
   

7. •Defensive back Ray Smith saves the undefeated conference season with less than a minute remaining in the home field finale vs Boise St. stopping Cedric Minter at the Lumberjack one yard line on a failed two point conversion to preserve an epic 31-30 victory
   

8. •Tailback Allan Clark emerges to run for over 1300 yards on the season leading the Lumberjacks offense. After the season he is drafted by the NFL's New England Patriots and enjoys a solid career as a reserve running back and a stellar contributor on special teams
   

9. •DE Ed Judie would miss the first month of the season with a foot injury. He would come back and contribute to the team enroute to All American honors in 1979. Later he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers and would earn a Super Bowl ring as a reserve linebacker and special teams contributor. In his absence DE Gregg Gerken filled in. Gerken still holds the NAU single season record for most tackles in a season (182) in 1980
   

10. •Starting offensive RG Rick Renzi would go on to a careeer that included multiple terms as a US congressman representing his home state of Arizona
    

11. •Tailback Allan Clark in addition to being named first team All Big Sky is also named an Academic All American
    

12. •A record five NAU players (all from the State of Arizona) are named first team All Big Sky defensive team : LB Jerry Lumpkin (Phoenix), DE/LB Ed Hightower (Prescott), MG Neil Higgenson (Winslow), CB/PR Ray Smith (Flagstaff) and FS Harold Smith (Florence)
    

13. •Three other members of the defense would eventually be named first team All Big Sky in 1979 with DE/LB Ed Judie, LB John Schachtner and SS Chuck Willig earning that distinction. DT Dan Anders would get a first team All Big Sky honor in 1980
    

14. •Other significant contributors to the 1978 defensive effort for NAU was defensive end Gregg Gerken (still the single season tackle record holder with 182 in 1980) DT Jim Anders (a two sport letterman in football and wrestling) who was lost for the season in the Idaho State game and stellar three year starters: cornerback Joe Walker (the Big Sky's leading punt returner) and last but not least hard nosed inside linebacker Phil Cancik who still sits in the top five in NAU history for total career tackles.
    

15. •A glaring omission from the All Big Sky first team selections was no offensive linemen from NAU were named. This group had forged a solid reputation paving the way for TB Allan Clark's 1300 plus yard season. Many in this group also played a role in FB Carl Golden's path to first team All Big Sky honors in 1976 and 1977 as well as for dynamic reserve TB Willard Reeves breakout 1979 season when he earned first team All Big Sky honors.
    

16. •Four games into the season third string QB Steve Loomas jumps the NAU quarterback depth chart and replaces starter Bill Holst and second stringer Robbin Jones at the helm of the offense
    

17. •1978 was also the final full year of the long tenure (1958-1979) of school President Dr. J. Lawrence Walkup. In his honor the NAU Skydome, home of the Lumberjacks, was renamed the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome the crown jewel in his dynamic vision to forge NAU into a nationally recognized university.