The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and NCAA Football

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States, with its headquarters located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded on May 8, 1953, the ACC has a rich history and a strong presence in the landscape of college athletics. The conference's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I, with the ACC football teams participating in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The ACC sponsors competition in twenty-eight sports, and its member institutions are highly regarded nationally.

Historical Overview of the ACC

The ACC was founded by seven universities in the South Atlantic states. These seven universities became charter members of the ACC: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. The University of Virginia joined in early December 1953, bringing the membership to eight. The departure of the University of South Carolina in 1971 reduced membership to seven. Georgia Tech joined in 1979 for non-football sports and 1983 for football, bringing the membership back to eight. Florida State's arrival in 1991 for non-football sports and 1992 for football increased the membership to nine. Since 2000, with the widespread reorganization of the NCAA, ten additional schools have joined, and one original member (Maryland) has left, bringing the current membership to 18 schools.

The departure of these seven universities was partially due to the Southern Conference's ban on post-season football play that had been initiated in 1951. Clemson and Maryland had both defied the Southern Conference's bowl rule following the 1951 season and were banned from playing other conference teams in the 1952 season. After drafting a set of bylaws for the creation of a new league, the seven withdrew from the Southern Conference at the spring meeting on the morning of May 8, 1953, at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Membership and Geographic Footprint

The ACC has 18 member institutions from 12 states. These 12 states within the ACC's geographical footprint are California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The geographic domain of the conference is predominantly within the Southern and Northeastern United States along the US Atlantic coast, but recent conference realignment has brought it to California and Texas.

The ACC is unique among power conferences in that it has a high proportion of private universities as members; eight of its 18 members are fully private institutions (not counting state-related Pittsburgh).

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In 1971, the University of South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent, later joining the Metro Conference in 1983 and moving to its current home, the Southeastern Conference, in 1991.

Expansion and Realignment

The ACC added three members from the Big East Conference during the 2005 conference realignment. Initially, the conference targeted Boston College, Miami, and Syracuse. The expansion was controversial, as Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia (and, initially, Virginia Tech) filed lawsuits against the ACC, Miami, and Boston College for allegedly conspiring to weaken the Big East Conference. Then-Virginia governor Mark Warner, who feared Virginia Tech being left behind in a weakened Big East, pressured the administration of the University of Virginia to lobby on behalf of their in-state foe. Eventually Virginia Tech replaced Syracuse in the expansion lineup and ACC expansion was agreed upon.

On September 12, 2012, Notre Dame agreed to join the ACC in all conference sports except football and men's ice hockey (as the ACC does not sponsor men's ice hockey; of all other ACC universities, only Boston College sponsors men's ice hockey) as the conference's first member in the Midwestern United States.

On September 1, 2023, the conference voted to expand and add three new members: California, SMU, and Stanford.

Academic Collaboration

The members of the ACC participate in the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium (ACCAC), a consortium that provides a vehicle for inter-institutional academic and administrative collaboration between member universities. The ACCAC supports periodic meetings among faculty, administration, and staff who pursue similar interests and responsibilities at the member universities either by face-to-face conferences, video conferences, or telephone conferences.

Sports Sponsorship

The Atlantic Coast Conference sponsors championship competition in thirteen men's and fifteen women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. The most recently added sports are women's gymnastics and fencing. Since all current ACC members (including non-football member Notre Dame) field FBS football teams, they are subject to the NCAA requirement that FBS schools field at least 16 teams in NCAA-recognized varsity sports.

Miami participates in diving only.

Football in the ACC

The ACC is considered to be one of the Power Four conferences, all of which receive automatic placement of their football champions into one of the six major bowl games. Seven of its members claim football national championships in their history, with two having won the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series (BCS) during its existence between 1998 and 2014 and one having won under the current College Football Playoff (CFP) system.

In 2005, the ACC began divisional play in football. At the time, the ACC was the only NCAA Division I conference whose divisions were not divided geographically (e.g., north-south, East/West), but rather into Atlantic and Coastal. The two division leaders then competed in the ACC Championship Game to determine the conference championship, which guarantees a berth in a New Year's Six bowl game. The inaugural Championship Game was played on December 3, 2005, in Jacksonville, Florida, at the venue then known as Alltel Stadium, in which Florida State defeated Virginia Tech to capture its 12th championship since it joined the league in 1992.

Scheduling Format

On June 28, 2022, the ACC approved a new football schedule format, set to take effect in the 2023 season. Under this format, the conference will remove divisions, and instead play a 3-5-5 format, where each team plays 3 designated rivals every year along with two separate 5-team rotations that flip every other year, such that every team will have at least one home game and one away game against every other team in a four-year cycle (the standard length of a college player's career).

With the 2024 arrival of California, SMU, and Stanford, the ACC adopted a new scheduling model effective that season and running through the 2030 season. A total of 16 matchups will be protected, with 11 retained from the 2023 model, two (Miami-Virginia Tech and NC State-Wake Forest) restored from the former divisional format, and the three new members filling the remaining three slots. All teams will play each other at least twice in the cycle (once home, once away). Additionally, this allows for each team to schedule four non-conference games.

Since the 2014 season, one of the four non-conference games is against Notre Dame every two to three years, as Notre Dame plays against five ACC opponents in non-conference games each season. ACC members are also required to play at least one non-conference game each season against a team in the "Power 5" conferences since 2017. Games against Notre Dame also meet the requirement.

Prior to the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2013, teams played two rotating cross-division games (for a total of three cross-division games), with a total of eight conference games.

For the 2020 season, changes were made to the football schedule model due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of divisions was suspended, with conference games being scheduled on a regional basis. The top two teams by winning percentage against conference opponents advanced to the ACC Championship Game. All teams played 10 conference games and were permitted to play one non-conference game of their choice as long as the game was played in-state.

Bowl Game Affiliations

Within the College Football Playoff, the Orange Bowl serves as the home of the ACC champion against Notre Dame or another team from the SEC or Big Ten. Beginning in 2014, Notre Dame is eligible for selection as the ACC's representative to any of its contracted bowl games. The ACC's bowl selection will no longer be bound by the rigidity of a "one-win rule" but will have a general list of criteria to emphasize regionality and quality matchups on the field.

A one-win rule does apply to Notre Dame's participation in the ACC Bowl structure. Notre Dame is now eligible for ACC Bowl selection beginning with the ReliaQuest Bowl (previously named the Outback Bowl) and continuing through the league's bowl selections. However, Notre Dame must be within one win of the ACC available team which has the best overall record, in order to be chosen. In other words, if an ACC team were 9-3, a 7-5 Notre Dame team could not be chosen in its place. Notre Dame would have to be 8-4 to be chosen over a 9-3 league team.

If the ACC Champion is not in one of the semifinal games it will appear in the Orange Bowl or, if the Orange Bowl is a semifinal site, either the Peach Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl.

National Championships

Although the NCAA does not determine an official national champion for Division I FBS football, several ACC members claim national championships awarded by various "major selectors" of national championships as recognized in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records. Since 1936 and 1950 respectively, these include what are now the most pervasive and influential selectors, the Associated Press poll and Coaches Poll. In addition, from 1998 to 2013 the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) used a mathematical formula to match the top two teams at the end of the season. The winner of the BCS was contractually awarded the Coaches' Poll national championship and its AFCA National Championship Trophy as well as the MacArthur Trophy from the National Football Foundation. In addition, non-football member Notre Dame claims 11 national titles. Many sources, however, credit the Fighting Irish with 13.

Rivalries

The members of the ACC have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. Case and McGuire literally invented a rivalry.

Looking Ahead: The 2025 Season

The 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference football season, part of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season, was the 73rd season of college football play for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The 2025 ACC Kickoff was held from July 22 through 24 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina. Coverage of the three day event was televised by the ACC Network. The schedule was released on January 27, 2025. The season will begin on August 29, 2025, but Stanford opened one week early in Week 0.

Preseason Media Poll

Clemson was picked as the preseason favorite in the 2025 ACC Football Media Poll.

Preseason All-ACC Team

Clemson led the 2025 All-ACC Preseason Football Team; Klubnik was named Preseason Player of the Year.

Preseason All-America Teams

Several ACC players were named to preseason All-America teams by various organizations, including the Associated Press, Athlon Sports, Walter Camp Football Foundation, ESPN, CBS Sports, The Sporting News, and USA Today.

Award Watch Lists

ACC players were well-represented on the preseason watch lists for various national awards, including the Lott IMPACT Trophy, Dodd Trophy, Maxwell Award, Davey O'Brien Award, Doak Walker Award, Biletnikoff Award, John Mackey Award, Rimington Trophy, Butkus Award, Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Outland Trophy, Lou Groza Award, Ray Guy Award, Paul Hornung Award, Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, Jet Award, Patrick Mannelly Award, Bednarik Award, Lombardi Award, Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award, Manning Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.

Coaching Changes

There were several coaching changes in the ACC prior to the 2025 season:

North Carolina fired Mack Brown and hired Bill Belichick.
Wake Forest's Dave Clawson resigned, and Jake Dickert was hired as coach.
Stanford fired Troy Taylor, and Frank Reich was announced as Interim Head Coach for 2025 season.

Week 1 ACC Football Players of the Week## Week 2 ACC Football Players of the Week## Week 3 ACC Football Players of the Week

Consensus All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. Players are chosen against other players playing at their position only. To be selected a consensus All-American, players must be chosen to the first team on at least half of the five official selectors as recognized by the NCAA. Second- and third-team honors are used to break ties. Players named first-team by all five selectors are deemed unanimous All-Americans.

Future

The 2026 NFL draft will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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