The Atlantic Coast Conference football champions includes 11 distinct teams that have won the

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 ...

championship awarded by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since its creation in 1953. Sixteen teams have competed in the conference since that year. Four teams—

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

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 ...

, Syracuse, and

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

—have never won an ACC football championship, while two schools that are no longer a member of the league hold championships:

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

holds nine championships and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

holds one championship. Between 1953 and 2003, the championship was normally earned in round-robin regular-season play among all conference members, although in earlier years league teams did not typically play every possible ACC opponent. The league did not employ tiebreaking procedures, such as head-to-head results, to determine a single champion, and thus it was not unusual for a season to end with "co-champions." With a 2004 expansion of the league to include Miami and

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

, round-robin play became impossible due to an

NCAA 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 ...

limit on the number of games a team may play during the season and the unwillingness of the league to hold more than eight conference games per season per team. NCAA rules also forbade a championship game due to the league having only 11 members. A 2005 expansion that admitted

gave the ACC the required 12 members needed for divisional play and a championship game. The ACC Championship Game has been held annually since that year, featuring the regular-season winners of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions in a game to determine the conference champion. During the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons, the championship game was held at

Alltel Stadium TIAA Bank Field is an American football stadium located in Jacksonville, Florida, that primarily serves as the home facility of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) and the headquarters of the professional wrestling prom ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. In 2008 and 2009, the championship was held at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The s ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. From 2010 through 2015 the game was held at Bank of America Stadium in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. It returned to Florida in 2016 when it was held at

Camping World Stadium Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, but moved back to Charlotte in 2017 where the championship game is slated to remain through 2030.

Early era

The charter members of the ACC were Clemson,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The unive ...

, and Wake Forest. The seven ACC charter members had been aligned with the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

, but left due in part to the conference's ban on postseason play.Powell, Adam K. ''Border Wars: The First Fifty Years of Atlantic Coast Conference Football''. Scarecrow Press, 2004. "Introduction", Page xvi. The ACC officially came into existence on June 14, 1953.About the ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference, theACC.com. Accessed April 25, 2008. The 1953 NCAA University Division football season, the first under the new conference, saw Duke and Maryland crowned conference co-champions. Maryland later went on to be crowned national champions before losing the

1954 Orange Bowl The 1954 Orange Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game between the first-ranked 1953 Maryland Terrapins football team, Maryland Terrapins and the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners football, Oklahoma Sooners. It was the twentieth ed ...

.NCAA College Football Division 1A Past Champions
Accessed April 25, 2008. On December 4, 1953, conference officials convened in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

, and admitted the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

as the eighth member of the conference. Virginia was the first non-Southern Conference member to join the new conference, as Virginia had played football with no conference affiliation since 1936. The conference operated with eight members until June 30, 1971, when the University of South Carolina left to become an independent.Carolina history
University of South Carolina Athletics department, gamecocksonline.cstv.com. Accessed April 25, 2008. After South Carolina's departure, the ACC operated with seven members until April 3, 1978, when the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

was admitted. The

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

school had withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference in January 1964 and had operated as an independent before joining the ACC. Though the school joined the conference beginning with the 1979 season, it did not become eligible to win the ACC football championship until the 1983 season.Georgia Tech Football Year-By-Year
Georgia Tech Athletics Department, Ramblinwreck.cstv.com. Accessed April 26, 2008. Seven years after beginning full ACC play, Georgia Tech won its first ACC football championship en route to winning the 1990 NCAA Division I football championship.2006 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football media guide
(PDF) Georgia Tech Athletics Department, Ramblinwreck.cstv.com. Accessed April 26, 2008. Page 21. In the fall of 1982, Clemson University was put on probation by the NCAA for recruiting violations.Clemson University placed on NCAA probation
The NCAA, NCAA.org. November 22, 1982. Accessed April 26, 2008. The probation forbade the team from participating in any

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

s, reduced the scholarships available to the team, and rendered the team ineligible for ACC football championship competition. Though the team still played its full slate of games during the 1983 season and finished 9–1–1, Maryland, which finished with an 8–4 record, was awarded the ACC football championship. The ACC expanded to nine members on September 15, 1990, with the addition of

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

.Member Institutions
The Atlantic Coast Conference, theACC.com. Accessed April 26, 2008. Beginning with the 1992 football season—its first in the ACC—Florida State won or shared the ACC football championship nine consecutive times.
Nationalchamps.net. Accessed April 26, 2008. The conference expanded to 11 members on July 1, 2004, with the addition of the University of Miami and

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

. Miami and Virginia Tech began official ACC play with the 2004 season, but because the league was forbidden from hosting a championship game, the conference was forced to award a championship based on regular-season play (round-robin scheduling was no longer used beginning that season). Virginia Tech, which had the best conference record at the conclusion of the season, was awarded the ACC championship.

Championship game era

Following the admittance of Boston College into the conference beginning with the 2005–2006 season, the conference began to play an annual championship game to conclude the season. The new 12-team conference was divided into two divisions, and the champion of each division (the team with the best conference record in each division) was awarded an invitation to the conference championship game. The first championship game was held in Jacksonville, Florida, on December 3, 2005,Florida State pulls off VaTech upset, clinches BCS berth
The Associated Press, ESPN.com, December 4, 2005. Accessed December 17, 2007. with Florida State (champions of the Atlantic Division) defeating Virginia Tech (Coastal Division champions), 27–22. In 2006, Wake Forest faced off against Georgia Tech for the championship. In the lowest-scoring conference championship game in Division I history, Wake defeated Georgia Tech, 9–6. The 2007 game saw Virginia Tech return to the contest, this time facing off against Boston College. In their second ACC Championship Game, Tech defeated Boston College, 30–16.Hokies ride Glennon's arm, Taylor's legs to ACC crown
ESPN.com, December 1, 2007. Accessed December 10, 2007. The 2008 ACC Championship Game was held in

in Tampa, Florida, on December 6, 2008. Virginia Tech won by a score of 30–12, becoming the first ACC team to win consecutive ACC championship games.The Associated Press
"Virginia Tech takes down BC, headed to Orange Bowl again"
ESPN.com. December 6, 2008. Accessed December 6, 2008. Tampa also hosted the 2009 ACC Championship Game which was won by Georgia Tech over Clemson.ACC Announces Future Sites for Football Championship Game
The Atlantic Coast Conference, December 12, 2007. Accessed December 12, 2007. Poor attendance in both of the Florida locations caused a move to Charlotte, North Carolina's Bank of America Stadium where the game has been held yearly since 2010 with the exception of 2016 when it was held at

in Orlando. The game is to remain in Charlotte through 2030.ACC Championship Game to remain in Charlotte through 2030 season
/ref>

Champions by year

Championships by school

† Co-champions ‡ Georgia Tech was forced to vacate the 2009 ACC Championship in response to NCAA violations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlantic Coast Conference football champions Atlantic Coast Conference

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

Early era

Championship game era

Champions by year

Championships by school

See also

References