The 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference football season, part of the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 154th 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). ...

, was the 71st 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). The ACC consisted of 14 members, with

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, and SMU having been announced to join the ACC on July 1st, 2024, on August 31st, 2023. The 2023 season was the first season without divisions since 2005 (other than the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season). The entire schedule was released on January 30, 2023.

Previous season

Clemson defeated

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 ...

39−10 in the

2022 ACC Championship Game The 2022 ACC Championship Game was a college football conference championship game that was played on December 3, 2022, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina to determine the champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for ...

Bank of America Stadium Bank of America Stadium is a 74,867-seat multi-purpose stadium located on in the Uptown section of Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is the home facility and headquarters of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL ...

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 ...

Preseason

Recruiting classes

ACC Kickoff

The 2023 ACC Kickoff was held on July 25 through 27 at the

Westin Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wes ...

hotel in

. This year was the first year where the event expanded to three full interview days. Each team had their head coach and three players available to talk to the media. Coverage of the event was televised by the

ACC Network ACC Network (ACCN) is an American multinational subscription-television channel owned and operated by ESPN Inc. Dedicated to coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was announced in July 2016 and launched on August 22, 2019. The channel ...

. The preseason poll and preseason All-ACC Teams were released after the event, with the preseason poll being released on August 1, 2023.

Preseason ACC Player of the year

Source:

Preseason all-conference teams

Source:

Offense

Defense

Specialist

Preseason awards

All−American Teams

Preseason award watchlists

Coaches

Coaching changes

The ACC entered the 2023 season with two new head football coaches: * On September 25, 2022, Georgia Tech fired head coach Geoff Collins and was replaced by interim head coach Brent Key. On November 29, 2022, Key was hired as the next head coach. * On December 5, 2022,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

hired Louisville head coach

Scott Satterfield Fredric Scott Satterfield (born December 21, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Satterfield served as the hea ...

and was replaced by former

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

head coach

Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American college football coach and former professional quarterback. He is the head football coach at his alma mater, the University of Louisville, a position he has held since the 2023 season. Bro ...

on December 7, 2022.

Head coaching records

Rankings

Schedule

The regular season began on Thursday, August 31, 2023, and will end on Saturday, November 25, 2023. 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 2019, and from 2021 to 2022, the gam ...

will be played on Saturday December 2, 2023, at

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

Championship Game

Head-to-head matchups

× – Matchup not played in 2023
''Updated after the season.''

ACC vs other conferences

ACC vs Power Five matchups

The following games include ACC teams competing against "Power Five" conference teams from the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

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 ...

, and SEC, as well as Notre Dame. All rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game.

ACC vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include ACC teams competing against teams from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

C-USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern United States, Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

, or

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

ACC vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include ACC teams competing against

FBS independents National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule ...

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, or

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, a medical school in Worcester and a law school in Dartmouth ...

(but excluding independent Notre Dame, which appears in the Power Five section above).

ACC vs FCS matchups

The

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs.

Records against other conferences

Regular season Post Season

Postseason

The bowl games will begin on December 16, 2023, and will end with the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 8, 2024.

Bowl games

For the 2020–2025 bowl cycle, The ACC will have annually ten appearances in the following bowls:

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 ...

and

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since December 30, 1968. The first three Peach Bowls were played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Grant Field on the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech c ...

(unless they are selected for playoffs filled by a SEC and at-large team if champion is in the playoffs), Military Bowl,

Duke's Mayo Bowl The Duke's Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. Originally commissioned as the Queen City Bowl, it has undergone many name changes due to spon ...

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, usually contested on or around New Year's Day. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first televise ...

Pop-Tarts Bowl The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone many name changes due to sponsorship rights. The bowl is op ...

Fenway Bowl The Fenway Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Organized by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management, it features teams from the American Athletic Conf ...

ReliaQuest Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California. Operating since 1978, its current conference tie-ins are with the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The bowl is held at Snapdragon S ...

and

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. ...

. The ACC teams will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of

Power Five conferences The power conferences are the most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I, the highest level o ...

in the final College Football Playoff rankings. The ACC champion are also eligible for the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking. 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 :

Jordan Travis Jordan Travis (born May 2, 2000) is an American former professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals and the Florida State Seminoles, winning ACC Player of the Year in 2023 before being selected by th ...

, QB, Florida State ACC Rookie of the Year : Kevin Concepcion, WR, NC State ACC Coach of the Year :

Mike Norvell Michael Kelly Norvell (born October 11, 1981) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for Florida State, a position he has held since 2020. He was previously head coach at Memphis, and has coached for Arizona State ...

–

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 ...

ACC Offensive Player of the Year : Jordan Travis, QB, Florida State ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year : Kevin Concepcion, WR, NC State

Jacobs Blocking Trophy The Jacobs Blocking Trophy is the name of several similar annual college football awards bestowed by a conference upon their best blocker. The awards are named in honor of William P. Jacobs, son of the founder and president of Presbyterian Colleg ...

: Bryan Hudson –

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 ...

ACC Defensive Player of the Year : Payton Wilson, LB, NC State ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year : Rueben Bain Jr., DL, Miami

All-Americans

Consensus All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of

Division I FBS 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 ...

football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. Players are chosen against other players playing at their position only. To be selected a consensus All-American, players must be chosen to the first team on at least half of the five official selectors as recognized by the NCAA. Second- and third-team honors are used to break ties. Players named first-team by all five selectors are deemed

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

s. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans.

Associated Press

AFCA

FWAA

The Sporting News

WCFF

Home game attendance

Bold – Exceeded capacity
† Season High

NFL draft

The

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

was held at

Campus Martius Park Campus Martius Park ( ') is a re-established park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the Great Fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for ''Field of Mars'', where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of Judge Augustus Woodward's ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...