1979 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1979 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 17–15 vs. Michigan
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 15
1979 record	8–3–1 (3–3 ACC)
Head coach	Dick Crum (2nd season)
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 50,000)
Seasons

1979 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
NC State †	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Clemson	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Maryland	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Wake Forest	3	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
#15 North Carolina	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Virginia	1	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Duke	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	1
† – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1979 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 8	1:00 p.m.	South Carolina*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	Raycom	W 28–0	49,500
September 22	1:00 p.m.	No. 13 Pittsburgh*		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	Raycom	W 17–7	50,550
September 29	2:00 p.m.	at Army*	No. 20	Michie Stadium West Point, NY	Raycom	W 41–3	32,157
October 6	1:00 p.m.	Cincinnati*	No. 18	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	Raycom	W 35–14	49,000
October 13	1:00 p.m.	Wake Forest	No. 14	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	ABC	L 19–24	50,720
October 20	4:00 p.m.	at No. 15 NC State	No. 19	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)	ABC	W 35–21	54,200
October 27	1:00 p.m.	East Carolina*	No. 15	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	Raycom	T 24–24	49,700
November 3	1:30 p.m.	at Maryland	No. 18	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	Raycom	L 14–17	35,618
November 10	1:00 p.m.	No. 18 Clemson		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	Raycom	L 10–19	50,100
November 17	1:30 p.m.	at Virginia	No. Raycom	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (Rivalry)	Raycom	W 13–7	31,472
November 24	1:30 p.m.	at Duke		Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Rivalry)	Raycom	W 37–16	39,800
December 28	9:00 p.m.	vs. No. 14 Michigan*		Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	ABC	W 17–15	70,407
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

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Roster

1979 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class C 51 Donnalley, RickRick Donnalley 5.0 !Jr QB 12 Kupec, MattMatt Kupec 7.0 !Sr RB 20 Lawrence, AmosAmos Lawrence 5.0 !Jr RB 25 Paschal, DougDoug Paschal 7.0 !Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 57 Curry, BuddyBuddy Curry 7.0 !Sr LB 98 Taylor, LawrenceLawrence Taylor 5.0 !Jr DT 76 Thompson, DonnellDonnell Thompson 5.0 !Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Dick Crum Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1979 team players in the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Buddy Curry	Linebacker	2	36	Atlanta Falcons
Doug Paschal	Running Back	5	121	Minnesota Vikings
Phil Farris	Wide Receiver	11	297	Denver Broncos

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