The 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference football season was the 56th season that the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) participated in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA)

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. As a

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS) conference, the ACC's constituent members competed within the framework of the NCAA Division I

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS). The media widely recognized the 2008 season as one of the most chaotic in the conference's history. At season's end, the ACC fielded an NCAA-record of ten bowl eligible teams from its twelve conference members.

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

secured its second consecutive conference championship when it won the

2008 ACC Championship Game The 2008 ACC Championship Game was a college football game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Boston College Eagles. The game, sponsored by Dr Pepper, was the final regular-season contest of the 2008 college football season for the Atlan ...

against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. Likewise, it was the second consecutive season that Boston College finished as the conference runner-up. Virginia Tech went on to represent the conference in its BCS game, the

2008 Orange Bowl The 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Kansas Jayhawks on January 3, 2008, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spread bettors favored Virginia Tech by three po ...

, and, with a victory over

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, ended the ACC's eight-year BCS game slump.

Statistical leaders

Noteworthy games

*East Carolina 27, Virginia Tech 22: Virginia Tech is defeated in its season-opener against

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

's ECU, which defeats a ranked opponent for a second consecutive game. East Carolina clinched the game after

returning In retail, a product return is the process of a customer taking previously purchased merchandise back to the retailer, and in turn receiving a refund in the original form of payment, exchange for another item (identical or different), or a sto ...

a blocked punt for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

, and beat Virginia Tech at its own game of

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

-oriented " Beamer Ball." *Wake Forest 30, Mississippi 28: With three seconds remaining, Wake Forest placekicker

Sam Swank Sam Swank (born October 5, 1985) is a former American football placekicker. After playing college football for Wake Forest, he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He was also a member of the Cincinnati B ...

makes a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

to clinch the victory. The win was Wake Forest's 400th in school history. *Middle Tennessee 24, Maryland 14: The

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...

records it first-ever victory over an ACC team. It was just their fourth win against a BCS conference opponent, with the previous three all being against Vanderbilt. *Boston College 34, Central Florida 7: In the first quarter, Boston College quarterback

Chris Crane Christopher T. Crane (born April 18, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Milwaukee Iron of the Arena Football League. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college f ...

was booed off the field by the home crowd and replaced by back-up

Dominique Davis Dominique Dion Davis (born July 17, 1989) is an American professional gridiron football quarterback for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Davis played co ...

. Crane, however, returns on the next series and leads Boston College to a rout over UCF. *Duke 31, Virginia 3: With its first conference win since 2004, Duke ended a 25-game losing streak in ACC play. After a stalemate, 3–3, at halftime, Virginia quarterback Marc Verica threw four interceptions in the second half. *Boston College 38, N.C. State 31: With 23 seconds remaining, Boston College quarterback

scored on a 13-yard quarterback keeper for the go-ahead. *Florida State 39, Colorado 21:

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

coached Florida State to defeat Colorado in his 500th game as a head coach. *Boston College 38, N.C. State 31: With 22.8 seconds remaining, Boston College quarterback Chris Crane scores the go-ahead on a

quarterback keeper A quarterback keeper or keeper in American football is a designed play in which the quarterback does not pass or hand off the ball to another player and instead rushes forward with it in an effort to gain yardage. The play typically is run in ins ...

. *Florida State 41, Miami 39: A total 80 combined points were the most points ever scored in the state rivalry. *Boston College 28, Virginia Tech 23: Boston College, the only ACC team to have beaten Virginia Tech on the road since the Hokies joined the conference, did it a second time. *Maryland 27, N.C. State 24: With six seconds remaining, Maryland placekicker Obi Egekeze makes a field goal to clinch the victory. *Clemson 27, Boston College 21: Clemson's

C. J. Spiller Clifford "C. J." Spiller Jr. (born August 5, 1987) is an American football coach and former running back who is currently the running backs coach at Clemson University. He previously served as a graduate intern at Clemson in 2020. Spiller play ...

caught six receptions, a school record for a running back.

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American football coach, currently serving as the head coach at Clemson University. Swinney took over midway through the 2008 season, following the resignation of Tommy Bowden. S ...

recorded his first win as Clemson head coach. *Virginia 24, Georgia Tech 17: After an abysmal 1–3 start to the season, Virginia beat Georgia Tech to temporarily assume first-place in the Coastal Division. *Georgia Tech 31, Florida State 28: With 45 seconds remaining, Georgia Tech safety Cooper Taylor forced a Florida State fumble in the endzone to prevent an almost certain winning touchdown. *Wake Forest 33, Duke 30: Wake Forest's back-up placekicker, Shane Popham, filled in for Sam Swank and kicked a field goal in overtime for the win. *Florida State 41, Clemson 27: Florida State attained bowl eligibility for the 27th consecutive season on Bobby Bowden's 79th birthday. *Boston College 17, Notre Dame 0: Boston College recorded the first shut-out on either side of the 18-game series against Notre Dame. *Clemson 31, Duke 7: Clemson receiver Aaron Kelly caught ten passes and surpassed the all-time ACC record for career receptions with 217. *Maryland 17, North Carolina 15: With 1:42 remaining, a Maryland field goal edged 16th-ranked North Carolina for the Terrapins' fourth win over a ranked opponent in 2008. Only Oklahoma and Florida, the two teams in the BCS Championship Game, exceeded the feat. *N.C. State 41, North Carolina 10: By routing 21st-ranked North Carolina, N.C. State completes its run of the table on the Tobacco Road with wins over all four other FBS teams in the state. *Boston College 24, Wake Forest 21: Boston College back-up quarterback Dominique Davis replaced an injured Chris Crane in the second quarter. With 1:12 remaining in the game, Davis scored a touchdown and kept Boston College in contention for a spot in the conference title game. *Virginia Tech 17, Virginia 14: A fourth quarter field goal allowed Virginia Tech to edge Virginia in the Commonwealth Cup. The win ensured the Hokies a berth in the

ACC Championship Game The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2022, the game pit the champion of ...

. *Clemson 31, South Carolina 14: Clemson secured its tenth win in the last twelve games of the intrastate rivalry. *Georgia Tech 45, Georgia 42: Having trailed by 16 points at halftime, Georgia Tech outrushed Georgia 201 yards to one in the second half. It was Georgia Tech's first win in the

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is an American college football rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The two Southern universities are located in the U.S. state of Georgia and are separated by . They have been heat ...

rivalry since 1999. *Boston College 28, Maryland 21: Holder Billy Flutie, nephew of

Doug Flutie Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CF ...

, executed a pass during a fake field-goal attempt which proved to be the margin of victory in the game that clinched Boston College's trip to the

. *N.C. State 38, Miami 28: Quarterback

Russell Wilson Russell Carrington Wilson (born November 29, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played his first 10 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson is widely regarded ...

led N.C State from a 2–6 season start to bowl eligibility with its win over Miami. *Florida 45, Florida State 15: Florida of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

extends its winning streak to five in the rivalry.

Awards

National awards

Dick Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

(linebacker): Aaron Curry, Wake Forest *

Lou Groza Award The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the top college football placekicker in the United States by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award is named after former Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns player Lou Groza. It has be ...

(placekicker):

Graham Gano Graham Clark Gano (born April 9, 1987) is an American football placekicker for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State and was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free ag ...

, Florida State

Conference awards

Awards selected by ACSMA (Atlantic Coast sports media association) *Coach of the Year: Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech *Player of the Year:

Jonathan Dwyer Jonathan Avery Dwyer (born July 26, 1989) is a former American football running back . He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Arizona Cardinals. He played college footba ...

, Georgia Tech *Offensive Player of the Year: Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech *Defensive Player of the Year:

Mark Herzlich Mark Herzlich Jr. (born September 1, 1987) is a former American football linebacker and current sports commentator. He was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2011 and played all seven seasons of his professional career w ...

, Boston College *Rookie of the Year:

, N.C. State *

Jim Tatum Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James (given name), James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy (given name), Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * Jim (comics), ...

Award (outstanding senior): Darryl Richard, Georgia Tech *

Brian Piccolo Louis Brian Piccolo (October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was an American professional football player, a halfback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) for four years. He died at age 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma, an a ...

Award (overcoming adversity): Robert Quinn, North Carolina *Jacobs Blocking Award (outstanding blocker):

Eugene Monroe Eugene Christopher Monroe (born April 18, 1987) is a former American football offensive tackle who played seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Selected eighth overall in the 2009 NFL draft, he spent the early years of his pro ca ...

, Virginia

Honors

All-conference teams

Postseason awards are selected by the Atlantic Coast sports media association by votes

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Source:

ACC players in the NFL Draft

In the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, 32 former ACC players were selected. The ACC was second only to the Southeastern Conference (SEC), which had 37 former players selected. The Big 12 and Big Ten each had 28 and the Big East had 27 former players selected. Of the ACC schools, Maryland and North Carolina tied for most former players selected at five. Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, and Virginia each had four former players selected.ACC Again Scores Big At 2009 NFL Draft
, Atlantic Coast Conference, April 26, 2009.

References

External links

2009-05-21), Atlantic Coast Conference, retrieved March 11, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Season