1978 Wisconsin
5–4–2 (3–4–2 Big Ten), coached by Dave McClain. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest winBeat Minnesota 48–10Nov 25
By 38 points, its widest win.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 16 | vs Richmond | W 7–6 | 65% |
| Sep 23 | at Northwestern | W 28–7 | 58% |
| Sep 30 | vs Oregon | W 22–19 | 76% |
| Oct 7 | vs Indiana | W 34–7 | 60% |
| Oct 14 | at Illinois | T 20–20 | 59% |
| Oct 21 | vs 9Michigan | L 0–42 | 35% |
| Oct 28 | at Michigan State | L 2–55 | 29% |
| Nov 4 | vs Ohio State | L 14–49 | 35% |
| Nov 11 | vs 12Purdue | T 24–24 | 36% |
| Nov 18 | at Iowa | L 24–38 | 57% |
| Nov 25 | vs Minnesota | W 48–10 | 48% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Beat Minnesota 48–10; unranked in the final AP poll; 6th in the Big Ten.
In program history: The 110th-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.
Led the nationIra Matthews: punt return average (16.9)
- Record
- 5–4–2
- Conference
- 3–4–2 6th in Big Ten
- AP final
- Unranked
- Points
- 223–277
- Coach
- Dave McClain
- Elo
- 1450 −2 this season
- SP+ rating
- -7.4 No. 93 of 133; offense No. 77, defense No. 110
- SRS
- 0.0 No. 66 of 138 in Division I-A
- Recruiting class
- —
- Defensive coordinator
- Jim Hilles
- Captains
- David Charles, Dave Crossen and Dan Relich
- Most valuable player
- Mike Kalasmiki
- Offense
- Triple option
- Defense
- 3–4
Drafted in 1979
The 1979 draft| Rd 2 | Lawrence Johnson DB | Cleveland Browns |
| Rd 6 | Ira Matthews RB | Oakland Raiders |
All-Big Ten
1 first team, 2 second teamFirst team
David CharlesFlankers/split ends
Second team
- Dan RelichDLAP-2
- Lawrence JohnsonDBUPI-2
From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
1978 Big Ten standings
Conference page| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 7–1 | 10–2 | 5 |
| Michigan State | 7–1 | 8–3 | 12 |
| Purdue | 6–1–1 | 9–2–1 | 13 |
| Ohio State | 6–2 | 7–4–1 | |
| Minnesota | 4–4 | 5–6 | |
| Wisconsin | 3–4–2 | 5–4–2 | |
| Indiana | 3–5 | 4–7 | |
| Iowa | 2–6 | 2–9 | |
| Illinois | 0–6–2 | 1–8–2 | |
| Northwestern | 0–8–1 | 0–10–1 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.