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.
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.
1 Clemson 2,008 (132) 2 Notre Dame 1,824 (2) 3 North Carolina 1,682 4 Louisville 1,434 5 Virginia Tech 1,318 6 Miami 1,280 7 Florida State 1,177 8 Pittsburgh 1,132 9 Virginia 994 10 Wake Forest 659 11 NC State 634 12 Duke 618 13 Boston College 532 14 Syracuse 449 15 Georgia Tech 339
Preseason ACC Player of the Year
Source:
Ranking Player Position Team Votes 1 Trevor Lawrence QB Clemson 100 2 Travis Etienne RB 30 3 Sam Howell QB North Carolina 1 Chazz Surratt LB Ian Book QB Notre Dame Carlos Basham Jr. DE Wake Forest
Preseason All-Conference Teams
Offense Position Player School Votes Wide receiver Tamorrion Terry Florida State 100 Tutu Atwell Louisville 96 Dazz Newsome North Carolina 75 Tight end Brevin Jordan Miami 77 Advanced Playmaker Michael Carter North Carolina 82 Tackle Jackson Carman Clemson 64 Ben Petrula Boston College 61 Guard Zion Johnson Boston College 78 Aaron Banks Notre Dame 34 Center Jimmy Morrissey Pittsburgh 80 Quarterback Trevor Lawrence Clemson 131 Running back Travis Etienne Clemson 133 Javian Hawkins Louisville 80
Defense Position Player School Votes Defensive end Carlos Basham Jr. Wake Forest 89 Patrick Jones II Pittsburgh 37 Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson Florida State 108 Tyler Davis Clemson 75 Linebacker Chazz Surratt North Carolina 106 Rayshard Ashby Virginia Tech 66 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Notre Dame 47 Cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. Florida State 90 Derion Kendrick Clemson 85 Safety Paris Ford Pittsburgh 62 Hamsah Nasirildeen Florida State 56
Specialist Position Player School Votes Placekicker Nick Sciba Wake Forest 69 Punter Trenton Gill NC State 43 Specialist Damond Philyaw-Johnson Duke 48
Source:
Recruiting classes + Rankings Team ESPN Rivals 24/7Signees Boston College 60 63 65 13 Clemson 1 1 1 23 Duke 42 58 53 17 Florida State 22 22 21 18 Georgia Tech 27 23 26 24 Louisville 33 37 39 25 Miami 19 16 17 19 North Carolina 17 17 19 26 NC State 31 45 42 19 Pittsburgh 44 47 41 17 Syracuse 58 53 58 19 Virginia 48 55 50 14 Virginia Tech 70 80 63 15 Wake Forest 54 58 57 19
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 Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school ACC record Boston College Jeff Hafley 1 0–0 0–0 0–0 Clemson Dabo Swinney 13 130–31 130–31 77–16 Duke David Cutcliffe 13 116–108 72–79 34–62 Florida State Mike Norvell 1 38–15 0–0 0–0 Georgia Tech Geoff Collins 2 18–19 3–9 2–6 Louisville Scott Satterfield 2 59–29 8–5 5–3 Miami Manny Diaz 2 6–7 6–7 4–4 North Carolina Mack Brown 12 251–128–1 76–52–1 44–39–1 Dave Doeren 8 70–46 47–42 21–35 Pittsburgh Pat Narduzzi 6 36–29 36–29 24–16 Syracuse Dino Babers 5 60–42 23–26 12–20 Virginia Bronco Mendenhall 5 124–70 25–27 14–18 Virginia Tech Justin Fuente 5 59–43 33–20 20–12 Wake Forest Dave Clawson 7 126–119 36–40 16–32
Notes Records shown are prior to the 2020 season Years at school includes the 2020 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 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 FinalBoston College AP RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Clemson AP 1 (38) 1 (60) 1 (59) 1 (55) 1 (52) 1 (59) 1 (54) 1 (52) 1 (33) 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 3C 1 (38) 1 (37) 1 (44) 1 (42) 1 (46) 1 (55) 1 (52) 1 (52) 1 (43) 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 3CFP Not released 3 3 3 3 2 Duke AP C RV RV CFP Not released Florida State AP RV RV C RV CFP Not released Georgia Tech AP RV C RV RV CFP Not released Louisville AP RV 18 24 RV C RV 16 RV CFP Not released Miami AP RV 17 12 8 7 13 11 12 11 9 12 10 9 9 19 18 22C RV 18 14 8 7 12 11 12 10 9 9 9 9 8 19 18 22CFP Not released 10 10 10 18 18 North Carolina AP 18 12 11 12 8 5 14 15 RV RV RV 25 RV 20 16 14 18C 19 11 12 11 9 6 13 13 24 RV 24 23 RV 20 15 14 17 CFP Not released 19 17 17 15 13 NC State AP RV RV 23 RV RV 24 24 RVC RV RV RV 22 RV RV RV RV 24 23 22 RVCFP Not released 23 22 23 Notre Dame AP 10 7 7 5 5 4 3 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 5C 10 7 7 5 5 4 3 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 (2) 4 5 CFP Not released 2 2 2 2 4 Pittsburgh AP 25 21 24 RV C RV RV RV 25 RV CFP Not released Syracuse AP C CFP Not released Virginia AP RV RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Virginia Tech AP RV 20 20 RV 19 23 19 RV C 24 19 24 23 18 23 20 RV RV RV CFP Not released Wake Forest AP RV RV C RV RV RV CFP Not released
Schedule Index to colors and formattingACC member wonACC member lostACC teams in bold
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
Date Bye WeekSeptember 12 Boston College NC State Virginia Virginia Tech
Week two
Date Bye Week September 19 Florida State North Carolina Virginia No. 20 Virginia Tech
Week three
Date Bye WeekSeptember 26 Clemson North Carolina No. 7 Notre Dame Wake Forest
Week four
Date Bye Week October 3 Georgia Tech Louisville No. 8 Miami (FL) No. 5 Notre Dame Syracuse
Week five
Date Bye Week October 10 Wake Forest
Week six
Week seven
Date Bye WeekOctober 24 Duke
Week eight
Date Bye WeekOctober 31 Florida State No. 12 Miami (FL) NC State Pittsburgh
Week nine
Date Bye WeekNovember 7 Georgia Tech Louisville Virginia Wake Forest
Week ten
Date Bye WeekNovember 14 No. 4 Clemson Duke Georgia Tech Syracuse Pittsburgh
Week eleven
Date Bye WeekNovember 21 Boston College No. 4 Clemson Duke Georgia Tech Florida State No. 12 Miami (FL) North Carolina No. 2 Notre Dame Wake Forest
Week twelve
Date Bye WeekNovember 28 Florida State No. 10 Miami (FL) Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest
Week thirteen
Date Bye WeekDecember 5 Florida State Louisville Pittsburgh Wake Forest
Week fourteen
Date Bye WeekDecember 12 Boston College No. 3 Clemson No. 23 NC State No. 2 Notre Dame Syracuse
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.
Index to colors and formattingACC member wonACC member lostACC teams in bold
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 10 C-USA UAB Miami (FL)Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL W 31–14 September 12 C-USA Western Kentucky LouisvilleCardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY W 35–21 September 19 American UCF Georgia TechBobby Dodd Stadium • Atlanta, GA L 21–49 September 19 American South Florida Notre DameNotre Dame Stadium • South Bend, IN W 52–0 September 26 Sun Belt Texas State Boston CollegeAlumni Stadium • Chestnut Hill, MA W 24–21 October 31 C-USA Charlotte DukeWallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC W 53–19
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.
Index to colors and formattingACC member wonACC member lostACC teams in bold
Date Visitor Home Site Score October 17 Liberty SyracuseCarrier Dome • Syracuse, NY L 21–38 November 7 Liberty Virginia TechLane Stadium • Blacksburg, VA L 35–38 November 21 Liberty NC StateCarter-Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC W 15–14
ACC vs FCS matchups Index to colors and formattingACC member wonACC member lostACC teams in bold
Date Visitor Home Site Score September 12 Austin Peay PittsburghHeinz Field • Pittsburgh, PA W 55–0 September 19 The Citadel ClemsonMemorial Stadium • Clemson, SC W 49–0 October 2 Campbell Wake ForestTruist Field at Wake Forest • Winston-Salem, NC W 66–14 October 3 Jacksonville State Florida StateDoak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL W 41–24 November 21 Abilene Christian VirginiaScott Stadium • Charlottesville, VA W 55–15 December 5 Western Carolina North CarolinaKenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC W 49–9
Records against other conferences
Regular season
Power 5 ConferencesRecordBig Ten0–0Big 120–0BYU0–0Pac-120–0SEC0–0Power 5 Total0–0Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican1–1C–USA3–0Independents (Excluding BYU)1–2MAC0–0Mountain West0–0Sun Belt1–0Other FBS Total6–3FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision6–0Total Non-Conference Record12–3
Post Season
Power Conferences 5RecordBig Ten0–2Big 120–1BYU0–0Pac-120–0SEC0–3Power 5 Total0–6Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–0C–USA0–0Independents (Excluding BYU)0–0MAC0–0Mountain West0–0Sun Belt0–0Other FBS Total0–0Total Bowl Record0–6
Postseason
Bowl games Legend ACC win ACC loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)ACC teamOpponentScoreAttendance 2020 Cheez-It Bowl December 29 Camping World Stadium • Orlando, FL ESPN 5:30 p.m. No. 18 Miami No. 21 Oklahoma State L 34–37 2020 Duke's Mayo Bowl December 30 Bank of America Stadium • Charlotte, NC ESPN 12:00 p.m. Wake Forest Wisconsin L 28–42 1,500 2021 Gator Bowl January 2 TIAA Bank Field • Jacksonville, FL ESPN 12:00 p.m. No. 23 NC State Kentucky L 21–23 10,422New Year's Six bowl games 2021 Orange Bowl January 2 Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL ESPN 8:00 p.m. No. 13 North Carolina No. 5 Texas A&M L 27–41 13,737College Football Playoff bowl games Rose Bowl (CFP Semifinal) January 1 AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TX ESPN 4:00 p.m. No. 4 Notre Dame No. 1 Alabama L 14–31 18,373 Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal) January 1 Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA ESPN 8:00 p.m. No. 2 Clemson No. 3 Ohio State L 28–49 3,000
Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Eastern Time Zone. ACC teams shown in bold.
Awards and honors
Player of the week honors