The 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference football season, part of the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season, is the 67th season of college football play for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It began on August 29, 2019, and ended on January 13, 2020. The ACC consists of 14 members in two divisions.
The entire 2019 schedule was released on January 16, 2019. The new cable/satellite television channel ACC Network debuted this season, and broadcast 40 regular season games.The ACC Network launches this week, signaling a new era with new questions - Andrew Carte, Raleigh News & Observer, 20 August 2019
Preseason
ACC Kickoff The 2019 ACC Kickoff was held on July 17 & 18 at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. On July 2, 2019, the ACC announced that 28 athletes from the 14 ACC teams would be available for press questions at the Kickoff event.
The Preseason Poll was released on July 22, 2019, after the Kickoff Event. Clemson was elected an overwhelming favorite to repeat as ACC Champions, receiving 170 of 173 Championship votes.
+Atlantic 1 Clemson 1,209 (171) 2 Syracuse 913 (2) 3 Florida State 753 4 NC State 666 5 Boston College 588 6 Wake Forest 462 7 Louisville 253 +Coastal 1 Virginia 1,003 (82) 2 Miami 992 (55) 3 Virginia Tech 827 (20) 4 Pittsburgh 691 (8) 5 Duke 566 (6) 6 North Carolina 463 (1) 7 Georgia Tech 302 (1) Media poll (ACC Championship) 1 Clemson 170 2 Syracuse 2 3 Virginia 1
Preseason ACC Player of the Year Source:
1 Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson – 127 2 Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson – 24 3 A. J. Dillon, RB, Boston College – 15 4 Bryce Perkins, QB, Virginia – 6 5 Cam Akers, RB, Florida State – 1
Preseason All-Conference Teams
Offense Position Player School Votes Wide receiver Tee Higgins Clemson 145 Justyn Ross Clemson 123 Tamorrion Terry Florida State 69 Tight end Brevin Jordan Miami 66 Advanced Playmaker Deon Jackson Duke 47 Tackle Tremayne Anchrum Clemson 100 Ben Petrula Boston College 54 Guard John Simpson Clemson 136 Gage Cervenka Clemson 45 Center Sean Pollard Clemson 75 Quarterback Trevor Lawrence Clemson 161 Running back Travis Etienne Clemson 144 A. J. Dillon Boston College 144
Defense Position Player School Votes Defensive end Xavier Thomas Clemson 84 Alton Robinson Syracuse 83 Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson Florida State 105 Nyles Pinckney Clemson 49 Linebacker Shaquille Quarterman Miami 118 Isaiah Simmons Clemson 109 Michael Pinckney Miami 66 Cornerback Bryce Hall Virginia 122 A. J. Terrell Clemson 62 Safety Andre Cisco Syracuse 80 Tanner Muse Clemson 78
Specialist Position Player School Votes Placekicker Andre Szmyt Syracuse 88 Punter Sterling Hofrichter Syracuse 70 Specialist Maurice Ffrench Pittsburgh 48
Source:
Recruiting classes + Rankings Team ESPN Rivals 24/7Signees Boston College 56 60 61 19 Clemson 10 9 10 28 Duke 42 48 47 21 Florida State 22 18 18 22 Georgia Tech 61 43 52 20 Louisville 68 89 72 14 Miami 30 35 28 17 North Carolina 35 31 32 19 NC State 31 31 29 24 Pittsburgh 49 50 55 19 Syracuse 58 54 53 20 Virginia 40 39 39 23 Virginia Tech 27 25 26 23 Wake Forest 54 59 54 21
Coaches
Coaching changes In 2019 the ACC Conference will have 4 new head coaches for the 2019 season.
On November 11, 2018, Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino was fired after starting the season 2–8. The interim coach, Lorenzo Ward, was not retained and Scott Satterfield was announced as the new head coach on December 2, 2018. On November 25, 2018, North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora was fired and replaced by returning coach Mack Brown. On November 28, 2018, Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson announced his retirement from coaching effective after Georgia Tech's bowl game. On December 7 it was announced Temple head coach Geoff Collins, a former grad assistant and recruiting coordinator for Georgia Tech, would be the new head coach. On December 30, 2018, Miami Hurricanes head coach Mark Richt announced his retirement from coaching and was replaced by Manny Diaz. Diaz was previously the defensive coordinator at Miami and had been hired on December 13, 2018, to be the head coach at Temple.
Head coaching records
Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school ACC record Boston College Steve Addazio 7 51–49 38–38 18–30 Clemson Dabo Swinney 12 116–30 116–30 69–16 Duke David Cutcliffe 12 111–101 67–72 31–57 Florida State Willie Taggart 2 52–57 5–7 3–5 Georgia Tech Geoff Collins 1 15–10 0–0 0–0 Louisville Scott Satterfield 1 51–24 0–0 0–0 Miami Manny Diaz 1 0–0 0–0 0–0 North Carolina Mack Brown 11 244–122–1 69–46–1 40–35–1 Dave Doeren 7 66–38 43–34 20–28 Pittsburgh Pat Narduzzi 5 28–24 28–24 20–12 Syracuse Dino Babers 4 55–35 18–19 10–14 Virginia Bronco Mendenhall 4 115–65 16–22 8–16 Virginia Tech Justin Fuente 4 51–38 25–15 15–9 Wake Forest Dave Clawson 6 118–115 28–35 12–28
Notes Records shown are prior to the 2019 season Years at school includes the 2019 season
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 Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalBoston College AP RV RV C RV RV RV CFP Not released Clemson AP 1 (52) 1 (54) 1 (56) 1 (57) 1 (55) 2 (18) 2 (15) 3 (11) 4 (9) 4 (7) 4 (7) 3 (3) 3 (3) 3 (3) 3 (3) 3 (3) 2C 1 (59) 1 (58) 1 (60) 1 (62) 1 (62) 2 (30) 2 (20) 2 (14) 2 (10) 3 (10) 3 (9) 3 (4) 3 (4) 3 (4) 3 (4) 3 (5) 2CFP Not released 5 3 3 3 3 3 Duke AP C RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Florida State AP C RV CFP Not released Georgia Tech AP C CFP Not released Louisville AP C CFP Not released Miami AP RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released North Carolina AP RV RV C RV RV CFP Not released NC State AP C RV RV RV CFP Not released Pittsburgh AP RV RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Syracuse AP 22 21 RV C 22 22 CFP Not released Virginia AP RV RV 25 21 18 23 20 RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 RV RVC RV RV RV 22 18 22 19 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 25 25CFP Not released 23 24 Virginia Tech AP RV RV 25 23 RV C RV RV RV RV RV 23 RV RV CFP Not released 24 Wake Forest AP RV RV 22 19 RV 25 23 22 RV C RV RV 24 20 17 RV 23 22 20 RV RV RV CFP Not released 19
Schedule The regular season will begin on August 24 and will end on November 30. The ACC Championship game is scheduled for December 7, 2019.
Regular season
Week zero
Week one
Date Bye WeekAugust 31 Miami
Week two
Week three
The game between North Carolina and Wake Forest is being played as a non-conference game and will therefore not count in the conference standings. This was done because the two rivals otherwise only play once every six years due to conference divisional alignment.
Week four
Date Bye Week September 21 Duke Georgia Tech Virginia Tech
Week five
Date Bye Week September 28 Louisville Miami
Week six
Date Bye WeekOctober 5 No. 2 Clemson Florida State NC State Syracuse No. 23 Virginia No. 22 Wake Forest
Week seven
Date Bye WeekOctober 12 Boston College North Carolina Pittsburgh
Week eight
Week nine
Date Bye WeekOctober 26 Georgia Tech NC State Virginia Tech No. 25 Wake Forest
Week ten
Date Bye WeekNovember 2 Duke Louisville
Week eleven
Date Bye WeekNovember 9 North Carolina Pittsburgh Syracuse
Week twelve
Date Bye WeekNovember 16 Boston College Miami Virginia
Week thirteen
Date Bye WeekNovember 23 No. 3 Clemson Florida State
Week fourteen
Championship game
ACC vs other conferences
ACC vs Power 5 matchups
This is a list of the power conference teams (Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, Notre Dame and SEC). Although the NCAA does not consider BYU a "Power Five" school, the ACC considers games against BYU as satisfying its "Power Five" scheduling requirement. The designated non-conference game between North Carolina and Wake Forest is not included in this list. All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Visitor Home Site Significance Score August 24 No. 8 Florida Miami Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FL Camping World Kickoff/Florida Cup/rivalry L 20–24 August 31 South Carolina North Carolina Bank of America Stadium • Charlotte, NC Belk Kickoff Game/rivalry W 24–20 August 31 No. 2 Alabama Duke Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, GA Chick-fil-A Kickoff L 3–42 September 2 No. 9 Notre Dame Louisville Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY L 17–35 September 7 No. 21 Syracuse Maryland Maryland Stadium • College Park, MD L 20–63 September 7 No. 12 Texas A&M No. 1 Clemson Memorial Stadium • Clemson, SC W 24–10 September 13 Kansas Boston College Alumni Stadium • Chestnut Hill, MA L 24–48 September 14 NC State West Virginia Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV L 27–44 September 14 Pittsburgh No. 13 Penn State Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA rivalry L 10–17 September 21 Boston College Rutgers HighPoint.com Stadium • Piscataway, NJ W 30–16 September 28 No. 18 Virginia No. 10 Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN L 20–35 November 2 Virginia Tech No. 16 Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN L 20–21 November 9 No. 15 Notre Dame Duke Wallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC L 7–38 November 23 Boston College No. 15 Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN Holy War L 7–40 November 30 No. 3 Clemson South Carolina Williams–Brice Stadium • Columbia, SC rivalry W 38–3 November 30 Florida State No. 8 Florida Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, FL Sunshine Showdown/Florida Cup L 17–40 November 30 No. 4 Georgia Georgia Tech Bobby Dodd Stadium • Atlanta, GA Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate L 7–52 November 30 Louisville Kentucky Kroger Field • Lexington, KY Governor's Cup L 13–45
ACC vs Group of Five matchups The following games include ACC teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 30 Mountain West Utah State Wake ForestBB&T Field • Winston-Salem, NC W 38–35 August 31 American East Carolina NC StateCarter–Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC W 34–6 August 31 Mountain West Boise State Florida StateDoak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL L 31–36 September 6 C-USA Wake Forest RiceRice Stadium • Houston, TX W 41–21 September 7 MAC Ohio PittsburghHeinz Field • Pittsburgh, PA W 20–10 September 7 C-USA Old Dominion Virginia TechLane Stadium • Blacksburg, VA W 31–17 September 7 American South Florida Georgia TechBobby Dodd Stadium • Atlanta, GA W 14–10 September 7 Sun Belt Louisiana–Monroe Florida State Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL W 45–44 OT September 14 C-USA Louisville Western KentuckyNissan Stadium • Nashville, TN W 38–21 September 14 C-USA Duke Middle Tennessee Floyd Stadium • Murfreesboro, TN W 41–18 September 21 MAC Central Michigan MiamiHard Rock Stadium • Miami, FL W 17–12 September 21 Sun Belt Appalachian State North CarolinaKenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC L 31–34 September 21 MAC Ball State NC StateCarter–Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC W 34–23 September 21 American No. 15 UCF PittsburghHeinz Field • Pittsburgh, PA W 35–34 September 21 MAC Western Michigan SyracuseCarrier Dome • Syracuse, NY W 52–33 September 21 C-USA Old Dominion No. 21 VirginiaScott Stadium • Charlottesville, VA W 28–17 September 21 C-USA Charlotte No. 1 ClemsonMemorial Stadium • Clemson, SC W 52–10 September 28 American Georgia Tech TempleLincoln Financial Field • Pennsylvania, PA L 2–24 November 23 C-USA Miami FIUMarlins Park • Miami, FL L 24–30
ACC vs FBS independents matchups The following games include ACC teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, or UMass.
Date Visitor Home Site Score August 31 No. 22 Syracuse LibertyWilliams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA W 24–0 November 23 Liberty VirginiaScott Stadium • Charlottesville, VA W 55–27
ACC vs FCS matchups