ACC Championship Game

The Dr. Pepper ACC Championship Game is an American college football game held on the first Saturday in December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. The game pits the champion of the Coastal Division against the champion of the Atlantic Division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season. During the regular season, each division plays a round-robin schedule against the other teams in the division, and the teams with the highest divisional records at the end of the season are selected for the championship game. The game's corporate sponsor is Dr Pepper, and the conference has a deal with ABC for rights to the television broadcast.

History

Prior to the 2004 college football season, the Atlantic Coast Conference determined its champion via round-robin play during the course of the regular season and there was no conference championship game. In 2004, the Atlantic Coast conference added two teams—Virginia Tech and Miami—expanding the league to 11 teams. At the time, college football teams were limited by the NCAA to 11 regular-season games, three or four of which typically featured teams outside the home team's conference in any given year. Following the 2004 season the league added a 12th team—Boston College—and became eligible to hold a championship game at the conclusion of the 2005 season.

The conference was divided into two divisions of six teams each. The team with the best conference record in each division is selected to participate in the championship game. In the inaugural championship game, which took place at the end of the 2005 college football season, the Florida State Seminoles defeated Virginia Tech 27–22 at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. In the 2006 game, two other teams faced off as Georgia Tech played Wake Forest. Wake defeated Georgia Tech, 6–9. For the 2007 game, Jacksonville was awarded a one-year extension as host, and the game remained in Jacksonville. Virginia Tech returned to the ACC Championship game and faced off against Boston College. Tech won the game, 30–16. As of 2007, five of the twelve ACC teams have played in the championship, and a different team has won the game in each of the first three years.

Following the game, the Gator Bowl Committee—organizers of the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville—announced they would not seek another contract extension due to falling attendance. With Jacksonville's withdrawal from future site selection, the ACC selected Tampa, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina as future sites of the game. The 2008 and 2009 games are scheduled to be held in Tampa, while the 2010 and 2011 games will be held in Charlotte. The 2008 ACC Championship Game will be held on December 6, 2008. In 2008, the Coastal Division champion will be the designated "home" team. "Home" teams are 1–2 in ACC Championship Games.

Conference expansion

In 1990, the eight-team Atlantic Coast Conference added Florida State to the league, creating a new nine-team ACC.¹ Though Florida State was the only school added to the conference, some league officials discussed offering one or more other schools—Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, South Carolina, Florida State, Miami, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers, or Virginia Tech—an offer to join the league.² For various reasons, however, no other team was extended an offer. Throughout the 1990s, the Atlantic Coast Conference remained at nine members.

The nearby Southeastern Conference (SEC), which also encompasses college football teams in the American South, also expanded in 1990. Instead of adding one team, as did the ACC, the then 10-team SEC added two—the University of Arkansas³ and the University of South Carolina.⁴ The expansion made the SEC the first college football conference eligible to hold a conference championship game under NCAA rules, and the first game was held in 1992.⁵ Throughout the 1990s, the SEC enjoyed growing television ratings, revenue, and success on the football field. By 2003, the league was earning over $100 million dollars annually, with the proceeds split among the member schools.⁶

The SEC's earnings and success on the football field proved attractive to Atlantic Coast Conference representatives,⁷ who began publicly pursuing the possibility of expansion anew in 2003. On May 13, 2003, representatives voted in favor of extending invitations to three schools. The only certain school was the University of Miami, while the other two spots were still being debated.⁸ Initially, the league favored admitting Miami, Syracuse University, and Boston College.⁹ After a month of debate, however, the ACC elected to extend formal invitations to Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech, which joined after initially being overlooked.¹⁰

Miami and Virginia Tech began official ACC play with the 2004 college football season.¹¹ After the league settled a lawsuit resulting from the departure of the three former Big East Conference teams,¹² Boston College began ACC play in the 2005 season.¹³ With the league officially at 12 teams, it became eligible to hold a conference championship football game.

Site selection

Even before the announcement proclaiming the ACC's expansion to 12 teams, several cities and sports organizations were preparing bids to host the ACC Championship Game. To a host city, the prospect of tens of thousands of visitors could provide a multi-million-dollar economic boost to the city and region while requiring few, if any, additional facilities. One early contender was the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Even before Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College were chosen as the ACC's picks to expand, Carolinas Stadium Corporation, owners and operators of Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium (as it was then known) lobbied heavily for Charlotte's selection.¹⁴ Other early options included Orlando, Florida, Tampa, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷

Shortly after site negotiations began in the spring of 2004, the ACC announced that it had signed a new, seven-year television contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation and ESPN.¹⁸ As part of the deal, the ACC would earn over $40 million in revenue a year in exchange for the networks' exclusive right to televise the ACC Championship Game and several so-called "big-name" games. The revenue would be divided among all 12 member schools.¹⁹

In July 2004, the ACC began deliberations about which offer to select.²⁰ After several months of negotiations and discussions, the ACC made its decision. On August 19, 2004, the league announced that Jacksonville, Florida would host the game in 2005 and 2006. The league would then have the option to select Jacksonville for an additional one- or two-year contract. League officials said Charlotte, North Carolina was the first runner-up in the competition to host the game.²¹

Team selection

Following the absorption of Virginia Tech and Miami into the ACC, questions arose about how an 11-team league could fairly select participants in the conference championship game.²⁴ A divisional structure involving two six-team divisions competing for one spot championship-game slot each would not be possible. In addition, the conference could not continue to determine a champion via round-robin play as there were now eleven teams and only seven or eight conference games available. Even the NCAA's addition of a 12th game to the regular season did little to relieve the conference's problem.²⁵ Prior to the 2004 college football season, the ACC requested a waiver to the NCAA's rule requiring conferences to have 12 teams to host a conference championship game. Before the season began, however, the NCAA rejected the ACC's application,²⁶ and the league was forced to use a semi-round-robin format to select a champion during the 2004-2005 season. After the season, the introduction of Boston College as the league's 12th team solved the problem of dividing the league into divisions.

On October 18, 2004, the ACC unveiled its new league seal and division structure. Each six-team division plays a round-robin schedule within the division and three conference games against teams from the opposing division. The two teams with the best conference records in each division (one from both the Atlantic Division and one from the Coastal Division) earn a bid to the championship game.²⁷ In the event of a tie within a division, divisional records and head-to-head matchups are considered. It is possible for a second-place divisional team to have a higher overall record than that of the champion of the opposing division and be denied a bid for the championship game.²⁸

Divisions

Results

2005

The inaugural ACC Championship Game kicked off in Jacksonville, Florida at 8:11 p.m. on December 3, 2005.²⁹ The game was televised on ABC in the United States, and earned a Nielson rating of 5.1, higher than that of either the Big 12 Championship Game or the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.³⁰ The game pitted the Virginia Tech Hokies, champions of the Coastal Division,³¹ against the Florida State Seminoles, champions of the Atlantic Division.³²

The game was marked by defense and penalties throughout.³³ In the first half, both teams battled to a 3–3 tie. Florida State scored first, with a field goal in the early first quarter, but Virginia Tech fought back, equalizing the score before the end of the quarter.³⁴ Both teams were held scoreless in the second quarter.³⁵ In the third quarter, Florida State took a 27–3 lead, courtesy of a series of successful offensive drives by Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford.³⁶ Virginia Tech fought back in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to 27–22, but time ran out before the Hokies could attempt a go-ahead drive. Florida State won the inaugural ACC Championship game, 27–22.³⁷

2006

The 2006 ACC Championship Game featured Wake Forest, which had not won an ACC championship since 1970, and Georgia Tech, which had won the ACC championships in 1990 and 1998 along with a national championship in 1990. At the beginning of the season, neither team was predicted to participate in the championship game—Wake Forest was picked to finish last in the Atlantic Division, while Georgia Tech was picked to finish third in the Coastal Division.³⁸ Wake Forest, buoyed by the play of ACC rookie of the year Riley Skinner, upset expectations by winning 10 games—the most in school history.³⁹ Georgia Tech, meanwhile, went 5-1 to start its season and defeated No. 11 Virginia Tech to overcome its only challenger for the Coastal Division title.⁴⁰

The game, which kicked off on December 2, 2006, was marked by poor weather.⁴¹ Defense dominated from the beginning, as Georgia Tech took a 3–0 lead in the first quarter.⁴² Wake Forest evened the score before halftime, however, and the two teams headed into the second half tied at 3–3.⁴³ After a scoreless third quarter,⁴⁴ Georgia Tech took a 6–3 lead early in the fourth quarter. After Tech quarterback Reggie Ball threw a critical interception, Wake Forest was able to tie the game, then take a 9–6 lead. With time running out, Wake's defense denied Georgia Tech a game-winning score, and Wake Forest clinched the win.⁴⁵ All the scoring in the game came via five field goals, and Wake Forest's kicker, Sam Swank, was named the game's most valuable player.⁴⁶

2007

The 2007 ACC Championship Game saw the Virginia Tech Hokies return to the contest for the second time in three years. On the other side of the field was Boston College, which finished the season with a 10–2 overall record. The game kicked off at 1:10 p.m.EST in Jacksonville, Florida.⁴⁷ The game was broadcast on ABC and netted a television rating of 4.1, placing it behind the SEC Championship Game and the Big 12 Championship Game, which earned ratings of 5.9 and 6.6, respectively.⁴⁸ In the first half, the two teams battled to a 16–16 tie.⁴⁹ Boston College took a 7–0 lead in the first quarter⁵⁰ and a 10–0 lead early in the second, but Virginia Tech earned a rare defensive two-point conversion following a second Boston College touchdown and tacked on two touchdowns of its own to tie the game before halftime.⁴⁹

In the second half, the two teams ratcheted up their defensive play. Neither team scored in the third quarter, and the tie continued well into the fourth quarter. With 6:30 remaining in the game, Virginia Tech took its first lead of the game on a 24-yard pass from quarterback Sean Glennon. With time running out, Boston College was forced into a hurry-up offense. Eagles quarterback Matt Ryan threw an interception, however, and Tech defender Xavier Adibi returned the pass for a touchdown. The score gave Virginia Tech a 30–16 lead and the victory.⁵¹

2008

The 2008 ACC Championship Game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on December 6, 2008.

Overall results

Winners are listed in bold. Rankings are from the Coaches Poll released prior to the game.

Results by team

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