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1987 Virginia

8–⁠4 (5–⁠2 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by George Welsh.

Schedule and results

Virginia in 1987, game by game: lost at No. 20 Georgia 22–30; lost at Maryland 19–21; won vs. Virginia Tech 14–13; won vs. Duke 42–17; won vs. VMI 30–0; lost at No. 8 Clemson 21–38; lost at South Carolina 10–58; won vs. Wake Forest 35–21; won at Georgia Tech 23–14; won vs. North Carolina 20–17; won at NC State 34–31; won vs. BYU 22–16+30−48Lost 22–30 at No. 20 Georgia-8No. 20 GeorgiaLost 19–21 at Maryland-2MarylandWon 14–13 vs. Virginia Tech+1Virginia TechWon 42–17 vs. Duke+25DukeWon 30–0 vs. VMI+30VMILost 21–38 at No. 8 Clemson-17No. 8 ClemsonLost 10–58 at South Carolina-48South CarolinaWon 35–21 vs. Wake Forest+14Wake ForestWon 23–14 at Georgia Tech+9Georgia TechWon 20–17 vs. North Carolina+3North CarolinaWon 34–31 at NC State+3NC StateWon 22–16 vs. BYU+6BYU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5at20GeorgiaL 22–⁠3023%
Sep 12atMarylandL 19–⁠2127%
Sep 19vsVirginia TechW 14–⁠1341%
Sep 26vsDukeW 42–⁠1751%
Oct 3vsVMIW 30–⁠080%
Oct 10at8ClemsonL 21–⁠3821%
Oct 17atSouth CarolinaL 10–⁠5834%
Oct 24vsWake ForestW 35–⁠2146%
Nov 7atGeorgia TechW 23–⁠1446%
Nov 14vsNorth CarolinaW 20–⁠1747%
Nov 21atNC StateW 34–⁠3151%
Dec 22Bowls & playoffvsBYUAll-American BowlW 22–⁠1635%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat BYU 22–⁠16 in the All-American Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 41st-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 1987.

Record
8–⁠4
Conference
5–⁠2 2nd in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
292–⁠276
Coach
George Welsh
Elo
1544 +112 this season
SP+ rating
4.0 No. 46 of 101; offense No. 40, defense No. 58
SRS
5.2 No. 33 of 104 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Gary Tranquill
Defensive coordinator
Frank Spaziani
Captains
Sean Scott and Scott Secules

Drafted in 1988

The 1988 draft
Rd 6Scott Secules QBDallas Cowboys

All-ACC

5 first team

First team

From Wikipedia’s 1987 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1987 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Clemson6–⁠110–⁠212
Virginia5–⁠28–⁠4
Wake Forest4–⁠37–⁠4
NC State4–⁠34–⁠7
Maryland3–⁠34–⁠7
North Carolina3–⁠45–⁠6
Duke2–⁠55–⁠6
Georgia Tech0–⁠62–⁠9

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