ACC National Championships in Football

Great info.  Always debatable, but still good stuff.

Over the last 30 years, the ACC has had 3 teams win a national title.  Ga Tech, Miami, and FSU.  Notre Dame is not an ACC school in football, I don't count them.

It is nice to have titles before then, but unless that history was capitalized on, it means little.  Minnesota and Army have titles back in the day....it doesn't make them relative today.

For the ACC, the issue is, of those 3, Ga Tech has just completely fallen apart.  They are no longer relevant barring major change at the school.  They have money, history, and location....but as of now, they do not matter and have all but given up in football.  A huge issue they have is they have limited degrees that your average football player can major in and still pass.  It stinks for Tech, but it doesn't matter....the end result is still the same, they are no longer anywhere near a national title program anymore.

Miami is still Miami.....best geography in the nation and horrible support.  But still relevant.  10 years from now, Miami might find itself in a Ga Tech situation....but I can't put them there yet.

Clemson and Va Tech are great football schools.....but they are just not quite there.  Yes, Clemson has the 1981 title, but 33 years ago doesn't put them in the picture today.  They have to make a big jump to get to national title level.

FSU does well, but it has limited resources which makes it tough.  It is not optimal for the ACC to have one legit national title contender have much less resources than the SEC.

The ACC simply needs more schools that are legit threats to compete and win national titles in football and they have nothing outside of Miami and FSU right now.  The ACC lacks balance in football and it is a huge issue.  The conference needs to invest in football beyond just 2-4 football schools and get more schools elevated into national title programs.


National Championships in Football 

Orange fan
4/17/2014

"My Two Cents. The only pre-AP championships worth counting are Helms. They did their retroactive analysis back in 1936, and have been published for such a long time as to give the championships value. Others are either too recent, have too many co-champions, or just are not well enough recognized.

The prominently recognized contemporaneous awards are the AP (1936-present), Coaches (UPI 1950-1990, USAT 1991-present), FWAA (Grantland Rice Trophy 1954-present), NFF (MacArthur Bowl 1959-present), and the BCS (1998-2013, with the Coaches and NFF titles automatically awarded to the winner). I have also included below the USAT media championships (1982-1990) and the International New Service media championships (1952-1957) because these were widely publicized championships. However, these really don't have as much value as the other titles, because they were discontinued, and because they started later than and were not as widely respected at the time as the AP and the UPI.

Finally, note that some championships were awarded before the bowls. The FWAA was the first to start awarding after the bowls in 1954 (after the 1951 and 1953 champions, Tennessee and Maryland, lost their bowl games). The AP started doing so in 1965, and UPI (Coaches) in 1974.

Of all of the listed champions below, I would identify 1952 Georgia Tech (undefeated, but not recognized by the AP or UPI), 1953 Maryland (lost their bowl), and 1964 Notre Dame (had one loss as compared to undefeated and untied FWAA champ Arkansas, and not recognized by the AP or UPI) as arguably weak claims.

Really, Helms is the gold standard up until 1935. Since 1936, the AP has been the gold standard except for 1960 and 1964, when their champions lost their bowls and the FWAA awarded a post bowl championship. With respect to 1990 Georgia Tech (11-0-1), I think the AP got it wrong. GT was the better team over Colorado (10-1-1) and deserved the championship based on generally accepted criteria.

2013 Florida State (AP, BCS, FWAA, NFF, USAT(coaches))
2001 Miami (AP, BCS, FWAA, NFF, USAT-ESPN(coaches))
1999 Florida State (AP, BCS, FWAA, NFF, USAT-ESPN(coaches))
1993 Florida State (AP, FWAA, UPI, USAT-NFF, USAT-CNN(media))
1991 Miami (AP)
1990 Georgia Tech (UPI)
1989 Miami (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI, USAT-CNN(media))
1988 Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI, USAT-CNN(media))
1987 Miami (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI, USAT-CNN(media))
1983 Miami (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI, USAT-CNN(media))
1981 Clemson (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
1977 Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
1976 Pittsburgh (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
1973 Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF)
1966 Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
1964 Notre Dame (NFF)
1959 Syracuse (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
1953 Maryland (AP, UPI, INS)
1952 Georgia Tech (INS)
1949 Notre Dame (AP)
1947 Notre Dame (AP)
1946 Notre Dame (AP)
1943 Notre Dame (AP)
1937 Pittsburgh (AP)
1930 Notre Dame (HELMS)
1929 Notre Dame (HELMS)
1928 Georgia Tech (HELMS)
1924 Notre Dame (HELMS)
1918 Pittsburgh (HELMS)
1917 Georgia Tech (HELMS)
1916 Pittsburgh (HELMS) "