The 1978 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Big Eight Conference during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Bill Mallory, the Buffaloes were 6–5 overall and 2–5 in the Big 8. Colorado won its first five games, all at home, but then lost five of six and Mallory was fired on November 21 by athletic director Eddie Crowder, the previous head coach. Mallory was succeeded by Chuck Fairbanks, the head coach of the New England Patriots in the NFL and formerly at conference foe Oklahoma.