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1978 Virginia

2–⁠9 (0–⁠6 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Dick Bestwick.

Schedule and results

Virginia in 1978, game by game: lost at Wake Forest 0–14; lost vs. Navy 0–32; won at Army 21–17; lost vs. VMI 9–17; lost at Duke 13–20; lost vs. Clemson 14–30; won vs. Virginia Tech 17–7; lost at West Virginia 17–20; lost vs. No. 13 Maryland 7–17; lost at North Carolina 20–38; lost vs. NC State 21–24+10−32Lost 0–14 at Wake Forest-14Wake ForestLost 0–32 vs. Navy-32NavyWon 21–17 at Army+4ArmyLost 9–17 vs. VMI-8VMILost 13–20 at Duke-7DukeLost 14–30 vs. Clemson-16ClemsonWon 17–7 vs. Virginia Tech+10Virginia TechLost 17–20 at West Virginia-3West VirginiaLost 7–17 vs. No. 13 Maryland-10No. 13 MarylandLost 20–38 at North Carolina-18North CarolinaLost 21–24 vs. NC State-3NC State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9atWake ForestL 0–⁠1436%
Sep 16vsNavyL 0–⁠3235%
Sep 23atArmyW 21–⁠1720%
Sep 30vsVMIL 9–⁠1740%
Oct 7atDukeL 13–⁠2017%
Oct 14vsClemsonL 14–⁠3021%
Oct 21vsVirginia TechW 17–⁠731%
Nov 4atWest VirginiaL 17–⁠2034%
Nov 11vs13MarylandL 7–⁠1713%
Nov 18atNorth CarolinaL 20–⁠3818%
Nov 25vsNC StateL 21–⁠2419%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to NC State 24–⁠21; unranked in the final AP poll; 7th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The tied 129th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

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
2–⁠9
Conference
0–⁠6 7th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
139–⁠236
Coach
Dick Bestwick
Elo
1290 −41 this season
SP+ rating
-16.4 No. 122 of 133; offense No. 131, defense No. 89
SRS
−8.6 No. 103 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Brian Burke
Captains
Edward Smith and Derrick Glasper

All-ACC

1 first team

First team

  • Russ HendersonPAP

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.