2007 ACC Championship Game
The 2007 Dr. Pepper ACC Championship Game featured the Boston College Eagles and the Virginia Tech Hokies in a regular-season college football game that determined the conference's champion for the 2007 season. Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 30-16 to win the ACC football championship. The game, held at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, was a rematch of a regular-season game that took place on October 25, in Blacksburg, Virginia. In that game, Boston College, courtesy of a late-game comeback by quarterback Matt Ryan, won 14-10.
Following the loss, Virginia Tech won five straight games to win the Coastal Division of the ACC, while Boston College stumbled, losing two games before defeating the Clemson Tigers to win the Atlantic Division and representation in the Championship Game. Most pre-game media coverage of the event cast the game as an opportunity for Virginia Tech to avenge its earlier loss. In addition, the winner of the game would be awarded an automatic bid to the Bowl Championship Series 2008 Orange Bowl game in Miami, Florida on January 3, 2008. Despite Boston College's earlier win over Virginia Tech, spread bettors favored Virginia Tech by five points.
In the opening quarter of the game, the Eagles took a 7-0 lead on a 51-yard fumble return for a touchdown. The Eagles' offense dominated the first half of the game statistically, but failed to add to its early lead until the second quarter, when a field goal made it 10-0. Virginia Tech answered with a touchdown of their own, but Boston College responded with a seven-play, 74-yard touchdown drive of its own. Then came perhaps the most pivotal play of the game. During the extra point kick following the Boston College touchdown, Virginia Tech's Duane Brown blocked the kick, which was caught by the Hokies' cornerback Brandon Flowers, who returned it 75 yards for a defensive two-point conversion.
The play changed the momentum of the game. Virginia Tech added a tying touchdown before halftime, and after a scoreless third quarter, two Matt Ryan interceptions resulted in 14 points for Virginia Tech and a 30-16 Virginia Tech win. With the victory, the Hokies earned their second Atlantic Coast Conference football championship in four years and their first Orange Bowl bid since 1996.
Background
The ACC Championship Game matches the winner of the Coastal and Atlantic Divisions of the Atlantic Coast Conference. A conference championship game was added in 2005, as a result of the league's expansion the previous year, adding former Big East members Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. With the addition of Boston College, the ACC consisted of 12 teams, allowing it to hold a conference championship game under NCAA rules.Florida State defeated Virginia Tech, 27-22 in the first ACC Championship game. The following year, the game, held in Jacksonville, Florida, pitted Wake Forest against Georgia Tech, with Wake Forest winning 9-6. Before the 2007 season began, most sports writers and pollsters predicted Florida State would win the Atlantic Division while Virginia Tech would win the Coastal Division, setting up a rematch of the 2005 ACC Championship Game.
In October, Florida State lost back-to-back ACC conference games to Wake Forest and Miami, eliminating them from contention for their division title. Boston College, which had finished second in the preseason Atlantic Division poll, was ranked No. 2 in the country after Florida State's loss to Miami. Virginia Tech, which suffered a 48-7 defeat at the hands of then-No. 2 LSU, nevertheless remained at the top of the Coastal Division standings as the Eagles passed the Seminoles for the Atlantic Division lead.
On October 25, Boston College traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, home of Virginia Tech, for a Thursday night game broadcast on ESPN. In heavy rain, Virginia Tech's defense dominated for most of the game. As time ran down, however, Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan orchestrated two late-game touchdown drives, scoring 14 points in the final 2 minutes to win 14-10. The victory seemingly sealed Boston College's route to a national championship game, while the loss potentially jeopardized Virginia Tech's chances of being selected to play in the ACC Championship Game. Over the next two weeks, however, Boston College was upset by Florida State and Maryland. The Eagles rallied to win their final two games—against Miami and Clemson—to clinch the division title. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, was undefeated through the remainder of its schedule, including a division-clinching win over its archrival, Virginia. This meant the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville would be a rematch between these two division champions.
Pre-game buildup
In the weeks leading up to the game, there was much media discussion of the future site of the game due to Jacksonville's expiring contract to host the ACC Championship. The media also discussed whether Virginia Tech would be out for revenge against Boston College after its last-second defeat in Blacksburg on October 25. Despite its previous loss, spread bettors favored Virginia Tech to win the game, with most favoring the Hokies by 4.5-5 points.The game was the 15th contest between Boston College and Virginia Tech and was their second of the 2007 season. The first meeting, which took place in 1993 in the Big East conference, resulted in a 48-34 Boston College win. Between 1993 and 2003, Boston College and Virginia Tech played annually as part of their conference schedules. The teams did not meet in 2004 following Virginia Tech's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. When Boston College followed in 2005, the schools resumed meeting during the regular season, playing in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Off-field issues
Following the 2006 ACC Championship Game, the Gator Bowl Association, which administered the ACC Championship Game during its first two years of existence, was awarded a one-year extension to its two-year contract to host the game. The 2006 game suffered from poor attendance, resulting in over $1 million in losses for the Gator Bowl Association. In the off-season, the Gator Bowl Association declared that if sales did not improve for the 2007 ACC Championship game, the game's Jacksonville future would be in jeopardy. Attendance for the 2006 game was low due to high travel costs stemming from Jacksonville's distance from the participating schools, and the 2007 participants—Boston College and Virginia Tech—faced the same problem.With Jacksonville's future as host in doubt, representatives from Charlotte, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, and Jacksonville visited the ACC offices to lobby to host the 2008 game. Orlando, Florida, which had been an early contender to host the 2008 game, was eliminated from consideration before the meetings took place. As kickoff drew closer, the Gator Bowl Association expressed displeasure with the poor ticket sales, saying nearly 20,000 tickets remained unsold as of the week of the game, and that if it was not a sellout the game would likely not remain in Jacksonville.
Offensive matchups
Media attention was also directed at the teams' offensive capabilities. Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in the week leading up to the game. In the first half of the 2007 season, Ryan had been prominently mentioned in candidate lists for the Heisman Trophy, college football's highest individual award. Although Ryan's late-game comeback in their previous game against Virginia Tech had made him a front-runner, the team's two subsequent losses to unranked teams dropped him from contention for the Heisman. Excellent performances in a division-clinching win at Clemson and against Miami seemed to return Ryan to Heisman-candidate form, however, and heading into the ACC Championship Game, Ryan appeared to be the biggest offensive threat for Boston College.Virginia Tech's offense was led by an unusual two-quarterback system, as junior Sean Glennon shared time with freshman Tyrod Taylor. While Glennon proved to be a better pocket passer, Taylor's quickness enabled him to scramble out of trouble and gain positive yardage even when no open receivers were available for passes. Until the final game of the season, either Taylor or Glennon was hampered by injury and limited the two-quarterback system's effectiveness. Although the two-quarterback system proved effective against Virginia, there were still questions about how well such an unusual setup would work in the ACC Championship Game.
On the ground, Taylor's offensive scrambling, while effective, was not Virginia Tech's primary rushing weapon. Running back Brandon Ore, Virginia Tech's starter at the position, would need to have a good game, analysts predicted, if the Hokies wanted to win the game. Ore, who suffered several injuries during the 2006 season, failed to produce meaningful offensive yardage until late in the season, disappointing many fans who hoped he would repeat his excellent 2006 performance on the field. With a 146-yard performance against Virginia in the final game of the regular season, Ore seemed to have regained his 2006 form and promised success in the ACC Championship Game.
The Boston College ground offense was led by running back Andre Callender, who had perhaps his biggest game of the year during the division-clinching match against Clemson two weeks earlier. In that game, Callender finished with 92 receiving yards and 75 rushing yards. Due to the success of Matt Ryan's passing attack, however, Callender was used mostly as a backfield receiver and was the team's leading receiver statistically during the 2007 season. In the regular season, Callender amassed 905 yards rushing, 613 yards receiving, and 13 total touchdowns. Callender's normal backup, running back A.J. Brooks, was suspended for the ACC Championship Game.