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1977 Duke

5–⁠6 (2–⁠4 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Mike McGee.

Schedule and results

Duke in 1977, game by game: lost vs. East Carolina 16–17; lost at No. 1 Michigan 9–21; won at Virginia 31–7; won vs. Navy 28–16; won at South Carolina 25–21; lost vs. Clemson 11–17; lost at Maryland 13–31; won at Georgia Tech 25–24; won at Wake Forest 38–14; lost vs. NC State 32–37; lost vs. No. 18 North Carolina 3–16+24−18Lost 16–17 vs. East Carolina-1East CarolinaLost 9–21 at No. 1 Michigan-12No. 1 MichiganWon 31–7 at Virginia+24VirginiaWon 28–16 vs. Navy+12NavyWon 25–21 at South Carolina+4South CarolinaLost 11–17 vs. Clemson-6ClemsonLost 13–31 at Maryland-18MarylandWon 25–24 at Georgia Tech+1Georgia TechWon 38–14 at Wake Forest+24Wake ForestLost 32–37 vs. NC State-5NC StateLost 3–16 vs. No. 18 North Carolina-13No. 18 North Carolina
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 10vsEast CarolinaL 16–⁠1744%
Sep 17at1MichiganL 9–⁠2119%
Sep 24atVirginiaW 31–⁠767%
Oct 1vsNavyW 28–⁠1657%
Oct 8atSouth CarolinaW 25–⁠2136%
Oct 15vsClemsonL 11–⁠1762%
Oct 22atMarylandL 13–⁠3130%
Oct 29atGeorgia TechW 25–⁠2434%
Nov 5atWake ForestW 38–⁠1463%
Nov 12vsNC StateL 32–⁠3761%
Nov 19vs18North CarolinaL 3–⁠1641%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to North Carolina 16–⁠3; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 55th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 108 on file).

Record
5–⁠6
Conference
2–⁠4 5th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
231–⁠221
Coach
Mike McGee
Elo
1496 −5 this season
SP+ rating
10.5 No. 40 of 140; offense No. 39, defense No. 47
SRS
9.5 No. 35 of 145 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
John Gutekunst
Captains
Frank DeStefano and Jeff Green
Most valuable player
Mike Dunn

Drafted in 1978

The 1978 draft
Rd 3Lyman Smith DTMiami Dolphins

All-ACC

1 first team

First team

  • John PattersonOTAP-1

From Wikipedia’s 1977 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1977 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
North Carolina5–⁠0–⁠18–⁠3–⁠117
Clemson4–⁠1–⁠18–⁠3–⁠119
Maryland4–⁠28–⁠4
NC State4–⁠28–⁠4
Duke2–⁠45–⁠6
Virginia1–⁠51–⁠9–⁠1
Wake Forest0–⁠61–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.