2020 Atlantic Coast Conference football season

The 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference football season, part of the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season, was the 68th season of college football play for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It began on September 3, 2020, and ended in January 2021. For 2020, the ACC consisted of 15 members in one division.

The original 2020 schedule was released on January 22, 2020. On July 29, a revised concept of the schedule was released in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced that teams would play a ten-game conference schedule, which would include Notre Dame. An option was left for one out-of-conference game, provided that game was played in the home state of the ACC school.

Previous season

Clemson defeated Virginia 62–17 in the ACC Football Championship Game. The victory, along with a 12–0 regular season record, earned Clemson a berth in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers were the number three seed in the playoff and faced Ohio State in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl. The Tigers won the game 29–23 and advanced to the National Championship game where they lost to LSU 25–42.

Preseason

ACC Kickoff

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC announced that its 2020 Football Kickoff would be held virtually instead of at the Westin in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Kickoff was scheduled for July 21–23, 2020. On July 13, it was announced that the Kickoff was postponed until further notice. On September 4, 2020, the ACC Preseason Media Poll was released.

Preseason ACC Player of the Year

Source:

Preseason All-Conference Teams

Offense

Defense

Specialist

Source:

Recruiting classes

Coaches

Coaching changes

The ACC entered the 2020 season with two new head football coaches:

• On November 4, 2019, Florida State head coach Willie Taggart was fired and replaced by Mike Norvell on December 7, 2019.
• On December 1, 2019, Boston College head coach Steve Addazio was fired after seven seasons and a starting the season 2–8. Jeff Hafley was named head coach on December 14, 2019.

Head coaching records

Notes

• Records shown are prior to the 2020 season
• Years at school includes the 2020 season

Rankings

Schedule

Regular season

The regular season began on September 10 and ended on December 5. The ACC Championship game was played on December 19.

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

The other Power 5 conferences (Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) announced a conference-only schedule model, and no ACC team played another Power 5 team during the regular season.

ACC vs Group of Five matchups

The following games featured ACC teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, or Sun Belt.

ACC vs FBS independents matchups

The following games featured ACC teams competing against FBS Independents, which included Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn, and UMass.

ACC vs FCS matchups

Records against other conferences

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:

ACC Individual Awards

All-Americans

Consensus All-Americans

Associated Press

AFCA

FWAA

The Sporting News

WCFF

National Award Winners

• Nolan Cooney – Brian Piccolo Award
• Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – Butkus Award

Home game attendance

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance was limited at all stadiums for the season. Depending on state regulations, some universities did not allow any fans.

Bold – Exceeded capacity
†Season High

NFL Draft

The following list includes all ACC Players who were drafted in the 2021 NFL draft

References

Further reading

• "Jury still out on Notre Dame's 1-and-done ACC member status". Boston Herald. Associated Press. November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.