1979 NC State Wolfpack football team

1979 NC State Wolfpack football
ACC champion
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	7–4 (5–1 ACC)
Head coach	Bo Rein (4th season)
Home stadium	Carter–Finley Stadium
Seasons ←  1978 1980  →

1979 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

v t e	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
No. 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 NC State Wolfpack football team represented the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was Bo Rein. NC State has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since the league's inception in 1953. The Wolfpack played its home games in 1979 at Carter–Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, which has been NC State football's home stadium since 1966. NC State won the 1979 ACC Championship with a record of 5–1 in conference play. At season's end the Wolfpack did not play in a bowl game, having declined an invitation to play in the Garden State Bowl. As of 2022, the 1979 NC State team is the last bowl-eligible Power Five conference champion to not play in a bowl game.

Rein accepted the head coaching position at LSU on November 30, 1979. He never coached a game in Baton Rouge, perishing January 10, 1980 when the private aircraft he was traveling in flew well off course and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8		East Carolina *		Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)		W 34–20	53,400	[1]
September 15		Virginia	No. 19	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC		W 31–27	45,800
September 22		at West Virginia *	No. 19	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		W 38–14	26,298
September 29		Wake Forest	No. 16	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)		W 17–14	44,800
October 6		at Auburn *	No. 14	Jordan-Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		L 31–44	51,146	[2]
October 13		Maryland	No. 17	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC		W 7–0
October 20	4:00 p.m.	No. 19 North Carolina	No. 15	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)	ABC	L 21–35	54,200
October 27		at Clemson		Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry)		W 16–13	61,412	[3]
November 3		at South Carolina *		Williams–Brice Stadium Columbia, SC		L 28–30	56,409
November 10		Penn State *		Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC		L 7–9	51,200
November 17		at Duke		Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (rivalry)		W 28–7	24,100
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Roster

1979 NC State Wolfpack football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 80 Lin Dawson So OT 76 Chris Dieterich Sr C 51 Jim Ritcher Sr QB 11 Scott Smith Sr QB 12 Darnell Johnson Fr RB 28 Billy Ray Vickers Sr RB 46 Dwight Sullivan Jr RB 36 Chuckie Canady So RB 21 Wayne McClean So RB 39 Andre Marks Fr RB 44 Rickey Adams Sr RB Chris Brown Fr WR 25 Lee Jukes Jr WR 22 Mike Quick So WR 6 Curtis Rein So WR 4 Eddie Jackson Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Bo Rein Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "Wolfpack comeback topples ECU". The News and Observer. September 9, 1979. Retrieved March 4, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Auburn rolls by Wolfpack". The News and Observer. October 7, 1979. Retrieved October 30, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Clemson Football Media Guide - 1980". Clemson University. 1980. p. 2. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
4. "1979 North Carolina State Wolfpack Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved October 9, 2017.