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1979 Wake Forest

8–⁠4 (3–⁠2 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by John Mackovic.

Schedule and results

Wake Forest in 1979, game by game: won vs. App State 30–23; won at No. 12 Georgia 22–21; won vs. East Carolina 23–20; lost at No. 16 NC State 14–17; won at Virginia Tech 19–14; won at No. 14 North Carolina 24–19; won vs. Maryland 25–17; won vs. No. 13 Auburn 42–38; lost at Clemson 0–31; won vs. Duke 17–14; lost at South Carolina 14–35; lost vs. LSU 10–34+8−31Won 30–23 vs. App State+7App StateWon 22–21 at No. 12 Georgia+1No. 12 GeorgiaWon 23–20 vs. East Carolina+3East CarolinaLost 14–17 at No. 16 NC State-3No. 16 NC StateWon 19–14 at Virginia Tech+5Virginia TechWon 24–19 at No. 14 North Carolina+5No. 14 North CarolinaWon 25–17 vs. Maryland+8MarylandWon 42–38 vs. No. 13 Auburn+4No. 13 AuburnLost 0–31 at Clemson-31ClemsonWon 17–14 vs. Duke+3DukeLost 14–35 at South Carolina-21South CarolinaLost 10–34 vs. LSU-24LSU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 8vsApp StateW 30–⁠2343%
Sep 15at12GeorgiaW 22–⁠2120%
Sep 22vsEast CarolinaW 23–⁠2034%
Sep 29at16NC StateL 14–⁠1717%
Oct 6atVirginia TechW 19–⁠1432%
Oct 13at14North CarolinaW 24–⁠1921%
Oct 20vsMarylandW 25–⁠1742%
Oct 27vs13AuburnW 42–⁠3842%
Nov 3atClemsonL 0–⁠3125%
Nov 10vsDukeW 17–⁠1471%
Nov 17atSouth CarolinaL 14–⁠3534%
Dec 22Bowls & playoffvsLSUTangerine BowlL 10–⁠3436%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to LSU 34–⁠10 in the Tangerine Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; 4th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 44th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 119 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 8: 18
  2. Wk 9: 14
  3. Wk 10: 20
  4. Wk 11: 17

Walter Camp Coach of the YearJohn Mackovic, coach

Record
8–⁠4
Conference
3–⁠2 4th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 14
Points
240–⁠283
Coach
John Mackovic
Elo
1462 +105 this season
SP+ rating
11.3 No. 35 of 135; offense No. 29, defense No. 53
SRS
5.8 No. 49 of 140 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Syd Kitson, Mark Lancaster, James McDougald and James “Quick” Parker

Drafted in 1980

The 1980 draft
Rd 3Syd Kitson OGGreen Bay Packers

All-ACC

4 first team

First team

  • Wayne BaumgardnerSplit endsAP
  • Jay VenutoQBAP
  • James McDougaldRBAP
  • James “Quick” ParkerDLAP

From Wikipedia’s 1979 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1979 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
NC State5–⁠17–⁠4
Clemson4–⁠28–⁠4
Maryland4–⁠27–⁠4
Wake Forest3–⁠28–⁠4
North Carolina3–⁠38–⁠3–⁠115
Virginia1–⁠46–⁠5
Duke0–⁠62–⁠8–⁠1

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