2014 Atlantic Coast Conference football season

2014 ACC football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport	Football
Duration	August 2014 to January 2015
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Atlantic champions	Florida State
Coastal champions	Georgia Tech
ACC Championship Game
Champions	Florida State
Runners-up	Georgia Tech
ACC Championship Game MVP	Dalvin Cook

2014 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Atlantic Division
#5 Florida State x$^		8	–	0					13	–	1
#15 Clemson		6	–	2					10	–	3
#24 Louisville		5	–	3					9	–	4
Boston College		4	–	4					7	–	6
NC State		3	–	5					8	–	5
Syracuse		1	–	7					3	–	9
Wake Forest		1	–	7					3	–	9
Coastal Division
#8 Georgia Tech x		6	–	2					11	–	3
Duke		5	–	3					9	–	4
North Carolina		4	–	4					6	–	7
Pittsburgh		4	–	4					6	–	7
Miami		3	–	5					6	–	7
Virginia Tech		3	–	5					7	–	6
Virginia		3	–	5					5	–	7
Championship: Florida State 37, Georgia Tech 35
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions As of January 1, 2015; Rankings from AP Poll

The 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference football season was the 62nd season of college football play for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was played from August 2014 to January 2015.^[1] 2014 was first season of play in the ACC for former American Athletic Conference member Louisville, which replaced ACC charter member Maryland after their move to the Big Ten Conference. Although the Notre Dame football program is not a member of the ACC, it has an agreement to play five ACC schools per season in football starting in 2014. This is in return for access to the non-College Football Playoff ACC bowl line-up.^[2][3] The Irish are not eligible for the ACC Championship Game.^[4]

The Atlantic Coast Conference consisted of 14 members in two divisions. The Atlantic Division consisted of Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina State, Syracuse, and Wake Forest. The Coastal Division consisted of Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. The division champions, Florida State and Georgia Tech, met in December in the 2014 ACC Championship Game, played in Charlotte, North Carolina at Bank of America Stadium.

Preseason

Preseason Poll

The 2014 ACC Preseason Poll was announced at the ACC Football Kickoff meetings in Greensboro, North Carolina on July 23. Miami was voted to win Coastal division while Florida State was voted to win the Atlantic division and the conference. Jameis Winston of Florida State was voted the Preseason ACC Player of the Year.^[5]

Atlantic Division poll

1. Florida State – 780 (104 first place votes)
2. Clemson – 660 (3)
3. Louisville – 564
4. Syracuse - 368
5. North Carolina State – 326
6. Boston College – 301
7. Wake Forest – 136

Coastal Division poll

1. Miami – 614 (26)
2. Duke – 597 (33)
3. Virginia Tech – 571 (23)
4. North Carolina – 570 (27)
5. Georgia Tech – 322 (1)
6. Pittsburgh - 319 (2)
7. Virginia – 142

Predicted ACC Championship Game Winner

1. Florida State – 104
2. Clemson – 2
3. Virginia Tech - 2

Preseason ACC Player of the Year

1. Jameis Winston, FSU - 99
2. Vic Beasley, CLEM - 6
3. Duke Johnson, MIA - 1
4. Jamison Crowder, DU - 1
5. Brenden Motley, VT - 1

Preseason All Conference Teams^[6]

Offense

Position	Player	School
Wide Receiver	Jamison Crowder	Duke
	Rashad Greene	Florida State
	DeVante Parker	Louisville
Tight End	Nick O'Leary	Florida State
Tackle	Cameron Erving	Florida State
	Sean Hickey	Syracuse
Guard	Tre' Jackson	Florida State
	Laken Tomlinson	Duke
Center	Andy Gallik	Boston College
Quarterback	Jameis Winston	Florida State
Running Back	Duke Johnson	Miami
	Karlos Williams	Florida State

Defense

Position	Player	School
Defensive end	Vic Beasley	Clemson
	Mario Edwards, Jr.	Florida State
Defensive tackle	Luther Maddy	Virginia Tech
	Grady Jarrett	Clemson
Linebacker	Denzel Perryman	Miami
	Kelby Brown	Duke
	Stephone Anthony	Clemson
Cornerback	Kendall Fuller	Virginia Tech
	P. J. Williams	Florida State
Safety	Anthony Harris	Virginia
	Jeremy Cash	Duke

Specialist

Position	Player	School
Placekicker	Roberto Aguayo	Florida State
Punter	A. J. Hughes	Virginia Tech
Specialist	Ryan Switzer	North Carolina

Coaches

The conference had two new head coaches for the 2014 football season. Wake Forest hired Dave Clawson from Bowling Green one week after 13-year coach Jim Grobe resigned after his fifth straight losing season.^[7] Wake Forest athletic director, Ron Wellman, stated that their preference was to hire someone with experience coaching a private school. Clawson previously coached at FCS Fordham and Richmond before leading FBS Bowling Green to three bowl appearances and a conference title in the past five years. Louisville also changed coaches prior to the 2014 season. Former head coach Charlie Strong left the Louisville program following the 2013 season to take the head coaching position at Texas.^[8] Following his departure, Louisville rehired former head coach Bobby Petrino to a seven-year contract.^[9] Petrino formerly coached Louisville from 2003-2006 before leaving to coach at Arkansas. He spent his 2013 season as the head coach of Western Kentucky, where he led the team to an 8-4 record.

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	ACC record
Boston College	Steve Addazio	2	20–17	7–6	4–4
Clemson	Dabo Swinney	7	51–23	51–23	33–12
Duke	David Cutcliffe	7	75–73	31–44	15–33
Florida State	Jimbo Fisher	4	45–10	45–10	26–6
Georgia Tech	Paul Johnson	7	155–71	48–32	31–17
Louisville	Bobby Petrino	5	83–30	41–9	0–0
Miami	Al Golden	4	49–49	22–15	13–11
North Carolina	Larry Fedora	3	49-29	15-10	9-7
NC State	Dave Doeren	2	26–13	3–9	0-8
Pittsburgh	Paul Chryst	3	13–13	13–13	3–5
Syracuse	Scott Shafer	2	7–6	7–6	4–4
Virginia	Mike London	5	42–36	18–31	8–24
Virginia Tech	Frank Beamer	27	264-132–4	224–109–2	62–18
Wake Forest	Dave Clawson	1	90–80	0-0	0–0

Rankings

Legend

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll

		Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Final
Boston College	AP				RV	RV
	C				RV	RV
	CFP	Not released
Clemson	AP	16	23	23	22	RV	RV	RV	24	21	22	19	18	RV	23	19	18	15
	C	16	24	24	24	RV	RV	25	22	20	21	19	17	RV	24	19	18	15
	CFP	Not released									21	21	19	22	21	18	17
Duke	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV	RV	24	22	19	25	RV	RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	20	19	25	RV	RV	RV
	CFP	Not released									24	22	21
Florida State	AP	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	5
	C	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	6
	CFP	Not released									2	2	3	3	3	4	3
Georgia Tech	AP					RV	RV	22	RV			RV	24	17	16	12	10	8
	C	RV				RV	RV	23	RV		RV	RV	23	16	15	12	9	7
	CFP	Not released										24	22	18	16	11	12
Louisville	AP	RV	25	21	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	21	20	24
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV			RV	RV	RV	RV	23	20	20	24
	CFP	Not released									25			24	22	21	21
Miami	AP	RV											RV	RV
	C	RV										RV	RV	RV
	CFP	Not released
North Carolina	AP	23	21	RV	RV
	C	23	23	25	25		RV
	CFP	Not released
NC State	AP						RV
	C				RV	RV
	CFP	Not released
Pittsburgh	AP		RV	RV	RV	RV
	C		RV	RV	RV
	CFP	Not released
Syracuse	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released
Virginia	AP				RV		RV	RV	RV
	C				RV
	CFP	Not released
Virginia Tech	AP	RV	RV	17	RV
	C	RV	RV	19	RV
	CFP	Not released
Wake Forest	AP
	C
	CFP	Not released

Notre Dame partnership

Starting in 2014, Notre Dame is scheduled to play five games against ACC opponents annually.^[2] Each ACC team will play Notre Dame at least once during a three-year period.^[10] Due to scheduling constraints however, the 2014 Notre Dame team will only play four ACC opponents, but will play six in 2015 to even out the schedule.^[11]

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 27	8:00 pm	#8 Notre Dame	Syracuse	MetLife Stadium • East Rutherford, NJ	ABC	L 15-31	76,802
October 11	3:30 pm	North Carolina	#6 Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN	NBC	L 43-50	80,795
October 18	8:00 pm	#5 Notre Dame	#2 Florida State	Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL	ABC	W 31-27	82,431
November 22	3:30 pm	Louisville	Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN	NBC	W 31-28	80,795
^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

Bowl games

Bowl eligibility

Bowl eligible[12] Boston College Clemson Duke Florida State Georgia Tech Louisville Miami NC State North Carolina Pittsburgh Virginia Tech

Bowl ineligible Syracuse Wake Forest Virginia

Bowl Results

Bowl game	Date	Site	Television	Time (EST)	ACC team	Opponent	Score	Attendance
Quick Lane Bowl	December 26	Ford Field • Detroit, MI	ESPN	4:30 PM	North Carolina	Rutgers	RUT 21–40	23,876
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl	December 26	Tropicana Field • St. Petersburg, FL	ESPN	8:00 PM	NC State	UCF	NCSU 34–27	26,675
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman	December 27	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD	ESPN	1:00 PM	Virginia Tech	Cincinnati	VT 33–17	34,277
Hyundai Sun Bowl	December 27	Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX	CBS	2:00 PM	Duke	#15 Arizona State	ASU 31–36	34,780
Duck Commander Independence Bowl	December 27	Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA	ABC	3:30 PM	Miami	South Carolina	USC 21–24	38,242
New Era Pinstripe Bowl	December 27	Yankee Stadium • New York, NY	ESPN	4:30 PM	Boston College	Penn State	PSU 30–31 (OT)	49,012
Russell Athletic Bowl	December 29	Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium • Orlando, FL	ESPN	5:30 PM	#17 Clemson	Oklahoma	CLEM 40–6	40,071
Belk Bowl	December 30	Bank of America Stadium • Charlotte, NC	ESPN	6:30 PM	#21 Louisville	#13 Georgia	UGA 14–37	45,671
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl	January 2	Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, TX	ESPN	12:00 PM	Pittsburgh	Houston	HOU 34–35	37,888
College Football Playoff bowl games
Capital One Orange Bowl	December 31	Sun Life Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL	ESPN	8:00 PM	#12 Georgia Tech	#7 Mississippi State	GT 49–34	58,211
Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual	January 1	Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA	ESPN	5:10 PM	#3 Florida State	#2 Oregon	ORE 59–20	91,322

Postseason

All Conference Teams^[13]

First Team Position Player Class Team First Team Offense QB Jameis Winston So Florida State RB James Conner So Pittsburgh Duke Johnson Jr Miami WR Rashad Greene Sr Florida State Jamison Crowder Sr Duke Tyler Boyd So Pittsburgh TE Nick O'Leary Sr Florida State T Cameron Erving Sr Florida State T. J. Clemmings Sr Pittsburgh G Laken Tomlinson Sr Duke Tre' Jackson Sr Florida State C Andy Gallik Sr Boston College First Team Defense DE Vic Beasley Sr Clemson Mario Edwards, Jr. Jr Florida State DT Eddie Goldman Jr Florida State Grady Jarrett Sr Clemson LB Denzel Perryman Sr Miami David Helton Sr Duke Stephone Anthony Sr Clemson CB Kendall Fuller So Virginia Tech P. J. Williams Jr Florida State S Gerod Holliman So Louisville Jalen Ramsey So Florida State First Team Special Teams PK Roberto Aguayo So Florida State P Wil Baumann Sr NC State SP Jamison Crowder Sr Duke

Second Team Position Player Class Team Second Team Offense QB Marquise Williams Jr North Carolina RB Zach Laskey Sr Georgia Tech Dalvin Cook So Florida State WR Phillip Dorsett Sr Miami Mike Williams So Clemson Artavis Scott Fr Clemson TE Clive Walford Sr Miami T Ereck Flowers Jr Miami Jamon Brown Sr Louisville G Shaq Mason Sr Georgia Tech Josue Matías Jr Florida State C Cameron Erving Sr Florida State Second Team Defense DE Dadi Nicolas Jr Virginia Tech Eli Harold Jr Virginia DT Adam Gotsis Jr Georgia Tech Tylor Harris Jr Wake Forest LB Terrance Smith Jr Florida State Lorenzo Mauldin Sr Louisville Henry Coley^ Sr Virginia Quayshawn Nealy^ Sr Georgia Tech CB Garry Peters Sr Clemson Maurice Canady Jr Virginia S Jeremy Cash Jr Duke Quin Blanding Fr Virginia Second Team Special Teams PK Ian Frye Jr Virginia P Alex Kinal Jr Wake Forest SP Tyler Boyd So Pittsburgh

Third Team Position Player Class Team Third Team Offense QB Justin Thomas So Georgia Tech RB Kevin Parks Sr Virginia Jon Hilliman Fr Boston College WR DeAndre Smelter Sr Georgia Tech DeVante Parker Sr Louisville Ryan Switzer So North Carolina TE Bucky Hodges Fr Virginia Tech T Sean Hickey Sr Syracuse Bobby Hart^ Sr Florida State Seth Betancourt^ Sr Boston College Takoby Cofield^ Sr Duke G Landon Turner Jr North Carolina Matt Rotheram Sr Pittsburgh C Matt Skura Jr Duke Third Team Defense DE Sheldon Rankins Jr Louisville Ken Ekanem So Virginia Tech DT Corey Marshall Jr Virginia Tech Connor Wujciak Jr Boston College LB Reggie Northrup Jr Florida State Cameron Lynch Sr Syracuse Max Valles So Virginia CB Ronald Darby Jr Florida State Charles Gaines Jr Louisville S Anthony Harris Sr Virginia Jamal Golden Jr Georgia Tech Third Team Special Teams PK Ross Martin Jr Duke P Justin Vogel So Miami SP DeVon Edwards So Duke

^ indicates that there was a tie in the voting

ACC Individual Awards^[14]

ACC Player of the Year RB James Conner - Pittsburgh Rookie of the Year QB Brad Kaaya - Miami Coach of the Year Paul Johnson - Georgia Tech

Offensive Player of the Year RB James Conner - Pittsburgh Offensive Rookie of the Year QB Brad Kaaya - Miami Brian Piccolo Award[15] RB Duke Johnson - Miami Jacobs Blocking Trophy[16] T Cameron Erving - Florida State

Defensive Player of the Year DT Vic Beasley - Clemson Defensive Rookie of the Year S Quin Blanding - Virginia Jim Tatum Award[17] LB David Helton - Duke

National Awards^[18]

John Mackey Award TE Nick O'Leary- Florida State

Jim Thorpe Award S Gerod Holliman- Louisville

Campbell Trophy LB David Helton- Duke

References

1. 2013 ACC Composite Football Schedule - Week-By-Week
2. Schwab, Frank. "Notre Dame to the ACC, football not included... but football will have ACC feel to it". Yahoo! sports. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
3. Hansen, Eric. "Swarbrick offers updates on hot topics". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
4. Chip Patterson (December 20, 2013). "Notre Dame sets ACC schedule for 2014-16". CBSSports.com. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
5. "Defending National Champion Florida State Leads ACC Preseason Football Poll". Atlantic Coast Conference. 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
6. "2014 Preseason All-ACC Football Team Announced". Atlantic Coast Conference. 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
7. "Wake Forest hires Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson". USA Today. 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
8. "It's official: Charlie Strong to Texas". sportingnews.com. 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
9. Joe Shad and Brett McMurphy (2014). "Louisville hires Bobby Petrino". ESPN.com. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
10. Matt Fortuna (2013). "Clarifying Notre Dame's ACC arrangement". ESPN.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
11. JJ Stankevitz (2014). "ACC deal another necessary change for Notre Dame". CSN Chicago. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
12. "NCAA FBS (Division I-A) Football Standings - 2014". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
13. "ACSMA Announces 2014 All-ACC Teams". theacc.com. 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
14. "2014 coaches' all-ACC football, award winners". USA Today. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
15. "Miami’s Johnson Named Winner of Brian Piccolo Award". theacc.com. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
16. "Florida State's Cameron Erving Repeats as ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy Recipient". theacc.com. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
17. "Jim Tatum Award Goes To Helton". goduke.com. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
18. "College Football Awards - 2014". ESPN. 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2015.