Greastest ACC College Football Teams
1917 Georgia Tech, 9-0: This team simply destroyed everything in its path allowing a mere 17 points on the season while the offense averaged 55 points per game. Tech allowed ten points to Davidson and seven to Auburn, but that was it pitching shutouts in the other seven games. Six of the wins came over teams that finished the season with winning records.
1993 Florida State, 12-1: When you hear of fans and media types referring to the great Florida State teams of the past, this was the team. From Heisman winner Charlie Ward, to linebacker Derrick Brooks, to running backs Zach Crockett and William Floyd, to defensive backs like Corey Sawyer, Devin Bush, Corey Fuller, this team was loaded on both sides of the ball. There was the classic 31-24 loss to Notre Dame and the overconfident near-loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, but this team tore up everyone else beating Miami 24-10 and Florida 33-21. The offense got most of the hype but the D allowed seven points or fewer seven times.
1999 Florida State, 12-0: This was Bobby Bowden's first undefeated national champion. Led by Chris Weinke and Peter Warrick, the Noles had scares against Florida and Georgia Tech, but that was it. The Noles turned it on late in a sensational Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech.
1981 Clemson, 12-0: This Clemson team has never really been given its due. It outscored teams 338-105 beating a Herschel Walker-led Georgia team and a North Carolina squad that finished the season ranked ninth. The Tigers won the national title with a 22-15 win over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. A 33-year-old Danny Ford was the youngest head coach to ever win a national title. 22 players ended up playing in the NFL including William "The Refrigerator" Perry and running back Kevin Mack.
1928 Georgia Tech, 10-0: The national champion Yellow Jackets beat seven teams that ended up with winning records including an 8-7 win over California in the Rose Bowl and a 13-0 win over a Notre Dame that dominated Tech over the previous six years. Against North Carolina, the starters got a rest after the Notre Dame battle and Tech still won 20-7.
1987 Florida State, 11-1: The Noles were one play away from being national champions. In a classic 26-25 loss to Miami, Danny McManus's two-point conversion pass fell incomplete and the Canes went on to win the national title. No one else came even close to touching this team until the end of the season when Florida pushed the Noles in a 28-14 FSU win. Nebraska fell to the Noles 31-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. The 1987 Seminoles featured a secondary of Deion Sanders, Leroy Butler and Martin Mayhew.
1953 Maryland, 10-1: The 1953 Terps outscored teams 298 to 38 on the season finishing the regular season 10-0 earning the national champion crown. Maryland led the nation in run D and scoring D only allowing double digit points once. In the Orange Bowl, Maryland lost to number four Oklahoma 7-0. Other than that game, only Missouri got closer than 14 points.
1988 Florida State, 11-1: The Noles came into the season ranked number one and ready to take over the college football world. A 31-0 opening night loss to Miami put a crashing thud to those dreams for the season. The Noles would rebound pulling off a fake punt to beat Clemson and got a Deion Sanders interception in the Sugar Bowl to hold off Auburn. No one else got closer than twenty points of this team.
1952 Georgia Tech, 12-0: Head coach Bobby Dodd had his greatest team in a unanimous national title winning season. Pepper Rodgers won the Florida game on a late field goal and fought through SMU for a three point win. Those would be the only two times Tech came close to losing until a late goal line stop sealed a 7-3 win against Alabama. They won the national title by beating Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.
1990 Georgia Tech, 11-0-1: After winning a total of five games over the previous two seasons, the Tech team of 1990 had a season for the ages. They didn't blow too many teams out and had a 13-13 tie to get past, but this team still beat seven teams that finished with winning records including a 41-38 win over then No. 1 Virginia. A 45-21 win over Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl sealed a piece of the national title.
2000 Florida State, 11-2: This might be among the forgotten Florida State teams because of the two losses, but it was certainly among the best only losing on a wide right to Miami before getting shut down in the national title game by Oklahoma. Of all the great Florida State teams, this one might have had the most talent on defense with five players taken in the first three rounds of the 2001 draft. The Noles only allowed more than 14 points twice.
1992 Florida State, 11-1: The Noles lost to Miami 19-16 in the Wide Right II game. That would be the only blip on the map as they went on to be Nebraska 27-14 in the Orange Bowl to finish ranked second in the nation.
1996 Florida State, 11-1 Florida was the dominant team in college football in 1996, but the 10-0 Seminoles found a way to hit eventual Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel over and over and over again to pull off the 24-21 win. The national title would get taken away in the Sugar Bowl in a 52-20 win. Other than the Florida games, only Virginia got within double digits of the 1996 Noles.
1916 Georgia Tech, 8-0-1: The numbers are a bit skewed since Tech won a 222-0 squeaker over Cumberland, but that doesn't discount how good this team was finishing the season outscoring teams 421-20 while beating six teams that finished with winning records. The only hiccup was a 7-7 tie against Washington & Lee.
1920 Georgia Tech, 8-1: Other than a 10-3 loss to a Pittsburgh team that finished the season unbeaten, Georgia Tech rolled. The Tech allowed six points against Georgetown in a 35-6 win. Those 16 points given up in those two games were the only points allowed on the season pitching shutouts in the other seven games.
1979 Florida State, 11-1: Florida State was just beginning to become something special. The 1979 Noles got through the season unbeaten only getting pushed by LSU and Southern Miss. Unfortunately for Bobby Bowden, he faced a mighty Oklahoma team in the Orange Bowl losing 24-7. The 1980 team finished 10-2 and losing both games by a point.
1955 Maryland, 10-1: The 1955 Terps went 10-0 before losing 20-6 to a powerhouse Oklahoma team in the Orange Bowl. Maryland led the nation in run defense and were on a 15-game winning streak before the OU loss. The biggest win was a 7-0 upset over No. 1 UCLA in the season's second game. They finished number three.
1938 Duke, 9-1: It's hard to think of Duke as a national powerhouse, but that's precisely what the team was during the 1930s. Duke went 9-0 without allowing a point despite playing six of the games on the road. The only points the team surrendered was in the Rose Bowl losing 7-3 to USC.
1948 Clemson, 11-0: The 1948 Tigers finished the season unbeaten outscoring teams 274-76, but still only finished the season No. 11. The problem came late in the year struggling to a 7-6 win over an Auburn team that finished the season with only one win, but the Tigers bounced back to blow out The Citadel before ending the season with a 24-23 win over Missouri in the Gator Bowl.
1988 Clemson, 10-2: Led by running back Terry Allen and corner Donnell Woolford, Clemson went 10-2 finishing with a 13-6 win over Oklahoma in the Citrus Bowl. The Tigers only losses came 24-21 to a Florida State team that finished the season 11-1 and 10-3 to a NC State team that finished 8-3. The Tigers finished the year ranked ninth.