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1996 Wake Forest

3–⁠8 (1–⁠7 Atlantic Coast Conference), coached by Jim Caldwell.

Schedule and results

Wake Forest in 1996, game by game: won vs. App State 19–13; won vs. No. 13 Northwestern 28–27; lost at Georgia Tech 10–30; lost vs. No. 20 Virginia 7–42; lost at Clemson 10–21; lost vs. No. 15 North Carolina 6–45; lost at Maryland 0–52; lost vs. Navy 18–47; lost vs. No. 3 Florida State 7–44; won vs. Duke 17–16; lost at NC State 22–37+7−52Won 19–13 vs. App State+6App StateWon 28–27 vs. No. 13 Northwestern+1No. 13 NorthwesternLost 10–30 at Georgia Tech-20Georgia TechLost 7–42 vs. No. 20 Virginia-35No. 20 VirginiaLost 10–21 at Clemson-11ClemsonLost 6–45 vs. No. 15 North Carolina-39No. 15 North CarolinaLost 0–52 at Maryland-52MarylandLost 18–47 vs. Navy-29NavyLost 7–44 vs. No. 3 Florida State-37No. 3 Florida StateWon 17–16 vs. Duke+1DukeLost 22–37 at NC State-15NC State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Aug 29vsApp StateW 19–⁠1365%
Sep 7vs13NorthwesternW 28–⁠2728%
Sep 14atGeorgia TechL 10–⁠3026%
Sep 21vs20VirginiaL 7–⁠4222%
Sep 28atClemsonL 10–⁠2124%
Oct 5vs15North CarolinaL 6–⁠4522%
Oct 19atMarylandL 0–⁠5230%
Oct 26vsNavyL 18–⁠4731%
Nov 9vs3Florida StateL 7–⁠445%
Nov 16vsDukeW 17–⁠1656%
Nov 23atNC StateL 22–⁠3726%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to NC State 37–⁠22; unranked in the final AP poll; 8th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In program history: The 111th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 119 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 1996.

Record
3–⁠8
Conference
1–⁠7 8th in Atlantic Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
144–⁠374
Coach
Jim Caldwell
Elo
1276 −83 this season
SP+ rating
-18.9 No. 100 of 111; offense No. 99, defense No. 88
SRS
−16.2 No. 96 of 111 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Jan Quarless
Defensive coordinator
Chris Allen
Captains
William Clark, Harold Gragg, Doug Marsigli and Tom Steutzer
Offense
Pro-style
Defense
4–⁠3

All-ACC

1 second team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1996 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1996 Atlantic Coast Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Florida State8–⁠011–⁠13
North Carolina6–⁠210–⁠210
Clemson6–⁠27–⁠5
Virginia5–⁠37–⁠5
Georgia Tech4–⁠45–⁠6
Maryland3–⁠55–⁠6
NC State3–⁠53–⁠8
Wake Forest1–⁠73–⁠8
Duke0–⁠80–⁠11

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