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1978 North Carolina

5–⁠6 (3–⁠3 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Dick Crum.

Schedule and results

North Carolina in 1978, game by game: won vs. East Carolina 14–10; lost vs. No. 18 Maryland 20–21; lost at No. 9 Pittsburgh 16–20; lost vs. Miami (OH) 3–7; won at Wake Forest 34–29; lost vs. NC State 7–34; won at South Carolina 24–22; lost at Richmond 18–27; lost at No. 15 Clemson 9–13; won vs. Virginia 38–20; won vs. Duke 16–15+18−27Won 14–10 vs. East Carolina+4East CarolinaLost 20–21 vs. No. 18 Maryland-1No. 18 MarylandLost 16–20 at No. 9 Pittsburgh-4No. 9 PittsburghLost 3–7 vs. Miami (OH)-4Miami (OH)Won 34–29 at Wake Forest+5Wake ForestLost 7–34 vs. NC State-27NC StateWon 24–22 at South Carolina+2South CarolinaLost 18–27 at Richmond-9RichmondLost 9–13 at No. 15 Clemson-4No. 15 ClemsonWon 38–20 vs. Virginia+18VirginiaWon 16–15 vs. Duke+1Duke
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 16vsEast CarolinaW 14–⁠1063%
Sep 23vs18MarylandL 20–⁠2155%
Sep 30at9PittsburghL 16–⁠2029%
Oct 7vsMiami (OH)L 3–⁠765%
Oct 14atWake ForestW 34–⁠2973%
Oct 21vsNC StateL 7–⁠3456%
Oct 28atSouth CarolinaW 24–⁠2244%
Nov 4atRichmondL 18–⁠2767%
Nov 11at15ClemsonL 9–⁠1324%
Nov 18vsVirginiaW 38–⁠2082%
Nov 25vsDukeW 16–⁠1570%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Duke 16–⁠15; unranked in the final AP poll; 4th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 65th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 127 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 19

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
5–⁠6
Conference
3–⁠3 4th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 19
Points
199–⁠218
Coach
Dick Crum
Elo
1523 −70 this season
SP+ rating
7.7 No. 48 of 133; offense No. 64, defense No. 39
SRS
1.7 No. 63 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Bernie Menapace, Bunn Rhames and Mike Salzano

Drafted in 1979

The 1979 draft
Rd 5Bob Hukill OGDallas Cowboys
Rd 6Dave Simmons LBGreen Bay Packers
Rd 6Mike Salzano OGDallas Cowboys

All-ACC

3 first team

First 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 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Clemson6–⁠011–⁠16
Maryland5–⁠19–⁠320
NC State4–⁠29–⁠318
North Carolina3–⁠35–⁠6
Duke2–⁠44–⁠7
Wake Forest1–⁠51–⁠10
Virginia0–⁠62–⁠9

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