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1978 Kentucky

4–⁠6–⁠1 (2–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Fran Curci.

Schedule and results

Kentucky in 1978, game by game: tied at South Carolina 14–14; won vs. Baylor 25–21; lost at No. 15 Maryland 3–20; lost vs. No. 5 Penn State 0–30; won at Ole Miss 24–17; lost vs. No. 16 LSU 0–21; lost vs. No. 16 Georgia 16–17; won at Virginia Tech 28–0; won vs. Vanderbilt 53–2; lost vs. Florida 16–18; lost at Tennessee 14–29+51−30Tied 14–14 at South Carolina0South CarolinaWon 25–21 vs. Baylor+4BaylorLost 3–20 at No. 15 Maryland-17No. 15 MarylandLost 0–30 vs. No. 5 Penn State-30No. 5 Penn StateWon 24–17 at Ole Miss+7Ole MissLost 0–21 vs. No. 16 LSU-21No. 16 LSULost 16–17 vs. No. 16 Georgia-1No. 16 GeorgiaWon 28–0 at Virginia Tech+28Virginia TechWon 53–2 vs. Vanderbilt+51VanderbiltLost 16–18 vs. Florida-2FloridaLost 14–29 at Tennessee-15Tennessee
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16atSouth CarolinaT 14–⁠1465%
Sep 23vsBaylorW 25–⁠2177%
Sep 30at15MarylandL 3–⁠2047%
Oct 7vs5Penn StateL 0–⁠3044%
Oct 14atOle MissW 24–⁠1760%
Oct 21vs16LSUL 0–⁠2163%
Oct 28vs16GeorgiaL 16–⁠1757%
Nov 4atVirginia TechW 28–⁠062%
Nov 11vsVanderbiltW 53–⁠289%
Nov 18vsFloridaL 16–⁠1867%
Nov 25atTennesseeL 14–⁠2956%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Tennessee 29–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 7th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 27th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 123 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 15
  2. Wk 2: 17

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1978.

Record
4–⁠6–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠4 tied for 7th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 15
Points
193–⁠189
Coach
Fran Curci
Elo
1558 −100 this season
SP+ rating
6.0 No. 56 of 133; offense No. 83, defense No. 32
SRS
6.4 No. 43 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Perry Moss
Defensive coordinator
Charlie Bailey

Drafted in 1979

The 1979 draft
Rd 3James Ramey DECleveland Browns
Rd 4Jim Kovach LBNew Orleans Saints
Rd 5Kelly Kirchbaum LBNew York Jets
Rd 7Bob Winkel DTMinnesota Vikings

All-SEC

3 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Dan FowlerOGUPI-1
  • Richard JaffeMGAP-2; UPI-1
  • Jim KovachLBAP-1; UPI-1

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1978 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Alabama6–⁠011–⁠11
Georgia5–⁠0–⁠19–⁠2–⁠116
Auburn3–⁠2–⁠16–⁠4–⁠1
LSU3–⁠38–⁠4
Tennessee3–⁠35–⁠5–⁠1
Florida3–⁠34–⁠7
Mississippi State2–⁠46–⁠5
Ole Miss2–⁠45–⁠6
Kentucky2–⁠44–⁠6–⁠1
Vanderbilt0–⁠62–⁠9

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