2015 ACC football season
LeagueNCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
SportFootball
DurationSeptember 2015 to January 2016
Number of teams14
2016 NFL Draft
Top draft pickJalen Ramsey (Florida State)
Picked byJacksonville Jaguars, 5th overall
Regular season
Atlantic championsClemson Tigers
Coastal championsNorth Carolina Tar Heels
ACC Championship Game
ChampionsClemson Tigers
Finals MVPDeshaun Watson
ACC seasons
2015 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
Atlantic Division
No. 2 Clemson x$^   8 – 0     14 – 1  
No. 14 Florida State   6 – 2     10 – 3  
Louisville   5 – 3     8 – 5  
NC State   3 – 5     7 – 6  
Syracuse   2 – 6     4 – 8  
Wake Forest   1 – 7     3 – 9  
Boston College   0 – 8     3 – 9  
Coastal Division
No. 15 North Carolina x   8 – 0     11 – 3  
Pittsburgh   6 – 2     8 – 5  
Miami (FL)   5 – 3     8 – 5  
Duke   4 – 4     8 – 5  
Virginia Tech   4 – 4     7 – 6  
Virginia   3 – 5     4 – 8  
Georgia Tech   1 – 7     3 – 9  
Championship: Clemson 45, North Carolina 37
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference football season was the 63rd season of college football play for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was played from September 2015 to January 2016.[1] 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, Clemson and North Carolina, met on December 5 in the 2015 ACC Championship Game, in Charlotte, North Carolina at Bank of America Stadium.

Preseason

Preseason Poll

The 2015 ACC Preseason Poll was announced at the ACC Football Kickoff meetings in Pinehurst, North Carolina on July 19–21.[2] Georgia Tech was voted to win Coastal division while Clemson was voted to win the Atlantic division and the conference. Deshaun Watson of Clemson was voted the Preseason ACC Player of the Year.[3]

Atlantic Division poll

  1. Clemson – 1,032 (101 first place votes)
  2. Florida State – 992 (56)
  3. Louisville – 746 (1)
  4. North Carolina State - 673
  5. Boston College – 473
  6. Syracuse – 291
  7. Wake Forest – 217

Coastal Division poll

  1. Georgia Tech – 991 (96)
  2. Virginia Tech – 841 (44)
  3. Miami – 632 (7)
  4. Duke – 615 (4)
  5. North Carolina – 590 (4)
  6. Pittsburgh - 535 (3)
  7. Virginia – 220

Predicted ACC Championship Game Winner

  1. Clemson – 84
  2. Florida State – 41
  3. Georgia Tech - 20
  4. Virginia Tech - 7
  5. North Carolina - 3
  6. Miami - 2
  7. NC State - 1

Preseason ACC Player of the Year

  1. Deshaun Watson, CLEM - 69
  2. James Conner, PITT - 16
  3. Justin Thomas, GT - 13
  4. Jalen Ramsey, FSU - 7
  5. Brad Kaaya, MIA - 7
  6. Marquise Williams, UNC - 6
  7. Kendall Fuller, VT - 6
  8. Tyler Boyd, PITT - 3
  9. Jacoby Brissett, NCST - 1

Preseason All Conference Teams

[4]

Offense

Position Player School
Wide receiver Tyler Boyd Pittsburgh
Mike Williams Clemson
Artavis Scott Clemson
Tight end Bucky Hodges Virginia Tech
Tackle Roderick Johnson Florida State
Adam Bisnowaty Pittsburgh
Guard Landon Turner North Carolina
Eric Mac Lain Clemson
Center Matt Skura Duke
Quarterback Deshaun Watson Clemson
Running back James Conner Pittsburgh
Shadrach Thornton NC State

Defense

Position Player School
Defensive end Dadi Lhomme Nicolas Virginia Tech
Shaq Lawson Clemson
Sheldon Rankins Louisville
Defensive tackle Adam Gotsis Georgia Tech
Luther Maddy Virginia Tech
Linebacker Terrance Smith Florida State
Brandon Chubb Wake Forest
James Burgess Louisville
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey Florida State
Kendall Fuller Virginia Tech
Safety Jeremy Cash Duke
Quin Blanding Virginia

Specialist

Position Player School
Placekicker Roberto Aguayo Florida State
Punter Alex Kinal Wake Forest
Specialist Ryan Switzer North Carolina

Coaches

Only one team changed head coaches for the 2015 season. Pat Narduzzi was selected as Pittsburgh's fifth head coach since 2010 following the resignation of former coach Paul Chryst. Chryst accepted the head coaching job at Wisconsin on December 17, 2014 leaving the vacancy for Pittsburgh to fill.[5] This will be Narduzzi's first head coaching job at the collegiate level. He has, however, been regarded as one of the best assistant coaches in college football, winning the 2013 Broyles Award.[6] He was most recently the defensive coordinator at Michigan State.

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 3 27–23 14–12 8–8
Clemson Dabo Swinney 8 61–26 61–26 39–14
Duke David Cutcliffe 8 84–77 40–48 20–36
Florida State Jimbo Fisher 5 58–11 58–11 34–6
Georgia Tech Paul Johnson 8 166–74 58–35 37–19
Louisville Bobby Petrino 6 92–34 50–13 5–3
Miami Al Golden 5 55–56 28–22 16–16
North Carolina Larry Fedora 4 55–36 21–17 13–11
NC State Dave Doeren 3 34–18 11–14 3–13
Pittsburgh Pat Narduzzi 1 0–0 0–0 0–0
Syracuse Scott Shafer 3 10–15 10–15 5–11
Virginia Mike London 6 47–43 23–38 11–29
Virginia Tech Frank Beamer 28 273-138–4 231–115–2 65–23
Wake Forest Dave Clawson 2 93–88 3–9 1–7

Al Golden Firing

On October 25, Miami athletic director Blake James fired head coach Al Golden, just over halfway through the season.[7] The firing came after a 58-0 loss to Clemson, the worst loss in program history.[8] Throughout the season, parts of the Miami fan base, and even former players, had been very vocal in calling for a head coaching change. In each home game, and even a game at Cincinnati, planes had been hired to fly banners over the stadium on gameday reading "Fire Al Golden".[9] The tight ends coach, Larry Scott, took over interim head coaching duties for the remainder of the season.[10]

Rankings

See also: 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football 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		 Final
Boston College AP
C RV
CFP Not released  
Clemson AP 12 12 11 11 12 6 5 (1) 6 (1) 3 (6) 3 (6) 1 (31) 1 (34) 1 (55) 1 (53) 1 (51) 2
C 12 12 9 10 11 6 6 6 6 (1) 5 (2) 2 (21) 1 (28) 1 (58) 1 (52) 1 (55) 2
CFP Not released 1 1 1 1 1 1
Duke AP RV RV RV 25 23 22 RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV 24 21 18 RV RV
CFP Not released  
Florida State AP 10 11 9 10 11 12 11 9 17 17 19 16 14 10 9 14
C 8 8 6 7 9 8 8 9 15 15 18 16 14 9 8 14
CFP Not released 16 16 14 13 9 9
Georgia Tech AP 16 15 14 20
C 17 16 16 20 RV
CFP Not released  
Louisville AP RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
CFP Not released  
Miami AP RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
CFP Not released  
North Carolina AP RV RV RV 21 17 12 11 8 10 15
C RV RV RV RV RV 21 17 12 11 8 11 15
CFP Not released   23 17 14 10 10
NC State AP RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
CFP Not released  
Pittsburgh AP 25 23 RV RV RV
C RV RV RV 24 RV RV RV RV RV
CFP Not released  
Syracuse AP
C
CFP Not released  
Virginia AP
C
CFP Not released  
Virginia Tech AP RV RV RV
C RV RV
CFP Not released  
Wake Forest AP
C
CFP Not released  

Bowl Games

See also: 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games
Bowl game Date Site Television Time (EST) ACC team Opponent Score Attendance
Hyundai Sun Bowl December 26 Sun Bowl Stadium • El Paso, TX CBS 2:00 PM Miami Washington State WSU 14–20 41,180
New Era Pinstripe Bowl December 26 Yankee Stadium • New York, NY ABC 3:30 PM Duke Indiana DUKE 44–41 (OT) 37,218
Camping World Independence Bowl December 26 Independence Stadium • Shreveport, LA ESPN 5:30 PM Virginia Tech Tulsa VT 55–52 31,289
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman December 28 Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD ESPN 2:30 PM Pittsburgh #21 Navy NAVY 28–44 36,352
Russell Athletic Bowl December 29 Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium • Orlando, FL ESPN 5:30 PM #10 North Carolina #17 Baylor BU 38–49 40,418
Belk Bowl December 30 Bank of America Stadium • Charlotte, NC ESPN 3:30 PM NC State Mississippi State MSU 28–51 46,423
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl December 30 Nissan Stadium • Nashville, TN ESPN 7:00 PM Louisville Texas A&M LOU 27–21 50,478
College Football Playoff bowl games
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl December 31 Georgia Dome • Atlanta, GA ESPN 12:00 PM #9 Florida State #18 Houston HOU 24–38 71,007
Capital One Orange Bowl (CFP Semifinal) December 31 Sun Life Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL ESPN 4:00 PM #1 Clemson #4 Oklahoma CLEM 37–17 67,615
CFP National Championship January 11 University of Phoenix Stadium • Glendale, AZ ESPN 8:00 PM #1 Clemson #2 Alabama ALA 40–45 75,765

* Rankings based on CFP rankings

Postseason

All-conference teams

The following player were selected to the All-ACC teams for 2015.[11]

^ indicates that there was a tie in the voting

ACC Individual Awards

National Awards

[13]

References

  1. ^ "2015 ACC football schedule". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  2. ^ Bender, Bill. "ACC Kickoff: Dates, schedule, five things to watch". Sporting News. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  3. ^ "Gators lead ACC FOOTBALL KICKOFF PRESEASON POLL". Atlantic Coast Conference. 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. ^ "2015 ALL-ACC Preseason Football Team Announced". Atlantic Coast Conference. 2015. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  5. ^ Fornelli, Tom. "Wisconsin makes it official, hiring Paul Chryst as head coach". CBS Sports. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  6. ^ Thamel, Pete. "Michigan State DC Pat Narduzzi to be new Pittsburgh head coach". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  7. ^ Fortuna, Matt. "Miami Hurricanes fire Al Golden as head coach day after 58-0 pounding". ESPN. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  8. ^ "Miami overrun by No. 6 Clemson in blowout". ESPN. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  9. ^ "The 'Fire Al Golden' banner follows Miami to Cincinnati". Fox Sports. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  10. ^ Miller–Degnan, Susan (October 25, 2015). "University of Miami Fires Head Coach Al Golden". The Miami Herald. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  11. ^ "ACSMA Announces 2015 All-ACC Teams". theacc.com. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  12. ^ Tom D'Angelo (2015). "Florida State OT Rod Johnson wins Jacobs Blocking Trophy". palmbeachpost.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  13. ^ "College Football Awards - 2015". ESPN. 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  14. ^ "Brandon Chubb Earns Pop Warner College Football Award". TheACC.com. 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2016.[permanent dead link]
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