Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (or ACC) is an American college athletic conference, affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I, that was formed in June 1953. The current member institutions are located in the mid- and south-Atlantic coastal states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Charter members included Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. The seven charter members were formerly aligned with the Southern Conference.
The only former member of the ACC is South Carolina (1953-1971), which is now aligned with the Southeastern Conference.
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2 Sports rivalries in the ACC 3 See also 4 External link |
Current members (and year joined)
Member schools participate in baseball, men's and women's basketball, field hockey, football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, women's rowing, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, indoor and outdoors track, cross country, women's volleyball, and wrestling.
The ACC expanded from nine to 11 schools in 2004, with Miami and Virginia Tech joining from the Big East Conference. Boston College is now expected to join in 2005, bringing the total to 12 schools.
The ACC is considered one of the best college basketball conferences in the NCAA. For example, during February 2004, six teams were ranked in the top 25 at one time. One of the unranked teams, Maryland, was the National Champion in 2002 (and the ACC Champion in March 2004) and Clemson, who was ranked last in the ACC, had a strength of schedule ranked #1 in the country. The addition of Miami and Virginia Tech is expected to make the Atlantic Coast Conference more competitive in most sports, especially football; however, both schools' basketball programs, especially Virginia Tech's, are generally regarded as weaker than the rest of the ACC.
Sports rivalries in the ACC
The rivalries among the schools in the ACC begin on the basketball court. The four "Tobacco Road" schools—that is, the ACC members in North Carolina (Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, and North Carolina)—have some of the most heated rivalries. For many years, the marquee basketball games in the ACC have been between Duke and North Carolina. Recently, teams like Maryland and Georgia Tech have challenged the North Carolina schools for ACC basketball supremacy.
While football is not the first sport that comes to mind when one thinks of the ACC, the ACC has quality football rivalries as well. With the recent expansion, rivalries like Virginia-Virginia Tech (Commonwealth Cup) and Florida State-Miami take on added meaning. Here are some other football rivalries involving ACC schools:
- North Carolina and N.C. State
- N.C. State and Clemson ("The Textile Bowl")
- Maryland and Virginia
- Clemson and South Carolina
- Georgia Tech and Georgia ("Clean, Old Fashioned Hate")
- Florida State and Florida