The 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference football season was the 66th season of

College Football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

play for the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC). It was played from August 30, 2018 until January 2019. The

consists of 14 members in two divisions. It was part of the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 149th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

. The entire 2018 schedule was released on January 17, 2018.

Previous season

Clemson defeated Miami, 38–3, in the ACC Football Championship Game. Ten teams participated in bowl games in the 2017 season and the league went 4–6 in those games. Two teams participated in New Years 6 Bowls, however both lost. Clemson lost to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in the 2018 Sugar Bowl, 6–24. Miami was played in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

as the ACC's other New Years Six team and lost to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

24–34. Louisville lost 27–31 to

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

in the TaxSlayer Bowl. NC State beat Arizona State 52–31 in the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

. Wake Forest won a shootout in the Belk Bowl with

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, 55–52. Virginia Tech lost 21–30 to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in the Camping World Bowl Virginia lost 7–49 to

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

in the Military Bowl.

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

defeated Boston College, 20-27, in the

Pinstripe Bowl The Pinstripe Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game held annually since 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City. Through 2025 it is affiliated ...

. Florida State beat Southern Miss 42–13 in the Independence Bowl. Duke beat

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

36–14 in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Preseason

ACC Media days

The 2018 ACC Football Kickoff event was held on July 18 & 19 at the Westin Hotel in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. On July 6, the ACC announced 28 student athletes from 14 schools that addressed the media at the kickoff event. Press also released preseason polls (shown below) at the event.

Preseason Poll

The 2018 ACC Preseason Poll was announced following the ACC Football Kickoff event. Clemson and Miami were selected to win the Atlantic Division and Coastal Division, respectively. Clemson was selected the favorite to win the ACC Championship, receiving 139 out of 148 votes, or 94% of the vote. The poll was voted on by 148 media members, all of which were in attendance for the ACC Football Kickoff. ACC Championship Votes # Clemson – 139 #

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

– 5 # NC State – 2 #

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

– 1 Atlantic Division # Clemson – 1,031 (145 First place votes) #

– 789 (1) # NC State – 712 (2) #

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

– 545 #

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

– 422 # Wake Forest – 413 #

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

– 232 Coastal Division #

– 998 (122) #

– 838 (16) #

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

– 654 (8) #

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

– 607 (1) #

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

– 420 #

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

– 370 (1) #

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

– 257

Preseason ACC Player of the year

Source: 1 A. J. Dillon (RB) - Boston College - 45
2 Christian Wilkins (DT) - Clemson - 42
3 Ryan Finley (QB) - NC State - 37
4

Cam Akers Cam Akers (born June 22, 1999) is an American professional American football, football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles football, Florida St ...

(RB) - Florida State - 13
5 Greg Dortch (WR) - Wake Forest – 3
T6 Joe Giles-Harris (LB) - Duke, TaQuon Marshall (QB) - Georgia Tech – 2
T8 Zach Allen - (DE) - Boston College, Eric Dungey (QB) - Syracuse, Jaylen Smith (WR) - Louisville, Olamide Zaccheaus (HB) - Virginia – 1

Preseason All Conference Teams

=Offense

=Defense

=Specialist

= Source:

Recruiting classes

Coaches

''Notes:'' *Records shown are prior to the 2018 season. *Years at school includes the 2018 season.

Rankings

Schedule

† denotes Homecoming game

Regular season

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Week five

Week six

Week seven

Week eight

Week nine

Week ten

Week eleven

Week twelve

Week thirteen

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 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, 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 ACC plays in the non-conference games. All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Records against other conferences

Regular Season Post Season

Postseason

Bowl games

Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone. ACC teams shown in bold.

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

All Conference Teams

Source: First Team Second Team Third Team

ACC Individual Awards

ACC Player of the Year : Travis Etienne ACC Rookie of the Year :

Trevor Lawrence William Trevor Lawrence (born October 6, 1999) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Considered among the highest-touted college football prospect ...

ACC Coach of the Year :

Dabo Swinney William Christopher "Dabo" Swinney (; born November 20, 1969) is an American college football coach, currently serving as the head football coach at Clemson Tigers football, Clemson University. Swinney took over as head coach of the Clemson Tiger ...

ACC Offensive Player of the Year : Travis Etienne ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year :

Jacobs Blocking Trophy : Mitch Hyatt ACC Defensive Player of the Year : Clelin Ferrell ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year : Andre Cisco

All-Americans

=Consensus

=Associated Press

=Walter Camp

=FWAA

National award winners

* Hunter Renfrow – Burlsworth Trophy * Christian Wilkins – Campbell Trophy * Garrett Bradbury –

Rimington Trophy The Dave Rimington Trophy is awarded to the player considered to be the best center in college football. Dave Rimington was a center who played at the University of Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. A member of the National College Football Awards ...

* Clelin Ferrell –

Ted Hendricks Award The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and is presented by his own foundation. I ...

* Andre Szmyt –

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, Florida, Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award is named after former Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns ...

– Woody Hayes Award, Bear Bryant Award *

– Archie Griffin Award

Home game attendance

Bold – Exceeded capacity
†Season High

NFL Draft

References

{{2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox