2008 ACC Championship Game
The 2008 ACC Championship Game was a college football game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Boston College Eagles. The game, sponsored by Dr Pepper, was the final regular-season contest of the 2008 college football season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia Tech defeated Boston College, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship, 30–12. Until 2021, this was the last ACC Championship Game to not feature Clemson or Florida State from the Atlantic Division.
The Virginia Tech Hokies were selected to represent the Coastal Division by virtue of a tie-breaking head-to-head victory against division rival Georgia Tech and came into the game with an 8–4 record. Representing the Atlantic Division was Boston College, which had a 9–3 record. The two teams were the victors of a closely contested season in the ACC. Neither team clinched a spot in the game until the final week before the championship, and both had to rely on conference tie-breaking rules to earn a spot. The game was a rematch of the previous year's contest, which Virginia Tech won, 30–16.
The game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2008. Tampa had been chosen after poor attendance at the game's previous spot led conference officials to move the game. The 2008 championship was the first to be played in Tampa. The game began slowly, as both teams punted after their opening possessions failed to gain a first down. Later in the quarter, Virginia Tech took a 7–0 lead with a five-yard touchdown run by Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The Hokies never relinquished the lead after that point. Tech extended its lead to 14–0 in the second quarter, but Boston College managed to narrow Tech's lead to 14–7 by halftime. In the second half, Virginia Tech scored 17 points to the Eagles' five, and the Hokies won the game. In recognition of his game-winning performance, Taylor was named the game's most valuable player.
Selection process
The ACC Championship Game matches the winners of the Coastal and Atlantic divisions of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In the first decade of the 21st century, the league underwent an expansion to add three former Big East members: Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004, and Boston College in 2005. With the addition of a twelfth team, the ACC was allowed to hold a conference championship game under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.The inaugural 2005 game featured a Florida State win over Virginia Tech, 27–22. In 2006, two different teams made their first appearances in the game, which was held in Jacksonville, Florida. Wake Forest defeated Georgia Tech, 9–6. In 2007, one team new to the championship game and championship-game veteran featured in the contest as Virginia Tech faced off against Boston College. The game resulted in a 30–16 Virginia Tech victory.
Site selection
Before the 2007 game, cities other than Jacksonville presented their plans to be the site of the 2008 ACC Championship Game. After poor attendance in the ACC Championship Game at Jacksonville for the second straight year, ACC officials and representatives of the conference's member schools elected not to extend the Gator Bowl Association's contract to host the game for another year. On December 12, less than two weeks after Jacksonville had hosted the 2007 ACC Championship Game, the ACC announced that Tampa, Florida would host the game in 2008 and 2009 and Charlotte, North Carolina would host the game in 2010 and 2011.The cities were chosen based on bids presented to the ACC and its member schools. Each city requested and was granted a two-year contract, locking the ACC into the locations well in advance. Tampa was chosen as the site of the 2008 game because Charlotte was scheduled to hold the annual convention of the Association for Career and Technical Education at the same time as the game, and adequate hotel space would not be ready in time for the two events. Because of this, Charlotte's two-year span of hosting the game was pushed back to 2010.
Team selection
Before the beginning of the 2008 college football season, the annual poll by media members who cover ACC football predicted Clemson to win the Atlantic Division and Virginia Tech to win the Coastal Division. Clemson received 59 of a possible 65 first-place votes in its division, while Virginia Tech received 58.From the first game of the season, however, those preseason predictions were cast into doubt. Virginia Tech lost its season opener to lightly regarded East Carolina, while Clemson lost to Alabama. Though neither loss factored into either team's conference standings, it reflected the early stages of a conference schedule that was regarded as crazy, wacky, "a mess", and "confusing" by members of the media and college football fans. So closely matched were the 12 teams of the conference that as late as the second-to-last week of the regular season, nine teams were still in the running for a place in the championship game. Heading into the final week of the regular season, four teams were still in position to potentially participate in the game: Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech from the Coastal Division, and Boston College and Florida State from the Atlantic Division. In that final week, Virginia Tech clinched the Coastal Division co-championship with a 17–14 win over Virginia, while Boston College became co-champions of the Atlantic Division with a 28–21 win against Maryland.
Boston College
The Boston College Eagles entered the 2008 college football season having gone 11–3 during the 2007 season, ending that season with a loss to Virginia Tech in the 2007 ACC Championship Game and a 24–21 victory over Michigan State in the 2007 Champs Sports Bowl. In the annual preseason poll of media covering the ACC, Boston College was picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic Division.The Eagles opened the season by traveling to Kent State, whom the Eagles defeated, 21–0. The Eagles' home opener was their second game of the season and was also their first conference game of the year. Against Georgia Tech, the Eagles eked out a 9–7 halftime lead, but fell behind in the second half, eventually losing, 19–16, on a Georgia Tech touchdown that came with 8:26 remaining in the game. Despite the loss, the Eagles recovered quickly, beating Central Florida, 34–7, two weeks after the Georgia Tech game. The victory was the first in an eventual four-game win streak that culminated with a 28–23 defeat of then-No. 17 Virginia Tech.The Associated Press. , ESPN.com. October 18, 2008. Accessed December 1, 2008.
The win over Virginia Tech gave the Eagles a 2–1 conference record, and they appeared to be destined for a bid to the ACC Championship Game. But Boston College lost its next two games, both against conference opponents, dropping its record to 2–3. Despite the losses, Boston College still had a chance to win the Atlantic Division—but only if other teams lost as well. This happened on November 6, when fellow Atlantic Division team Maryland lost to Virginia Tech, and the Eagles recovered from their losing streak with an out-of-conference win against Notre Dame.
Notre Dame was the last out-of-conference opponent on Boston College's schedule, as the Eagles finished the season with three consecutive ACC games. The first of these was against Florida State which led the Atlantic Division at the time, but had had five players suspended the day before the game. The Eagles secured a victory, 27–17. The second of Boston College's final opponents was Wake Forest, which had played in the 2006 ACC Championship Game. While Boston College won, 24–21, starting quarterback Chris Crane suffered a season-ending injury, leaving backup Dominique Davis in charge of the Eagles' offense. Boston College's final game of the regular season was against Maryland and a victory against the Terrapins would push the Eagles to a tie with Florida State atop the Atlantic Division. Since Boston College had won the head-to-head game against Florida State, according to the ACC's tie-breaking rules, the Eagles would win the division. A 28–21 victory over Maryland brought Boston College to a 5–3 ACC record, giving it a co-division championship with Florida State and a trip to the ACC Championship Game.
Virginia Tech
The Virginia Tech Hokies entered the 2008 season having won the 2007 ACC Championship Game, finishing with an 11–3 overall record that included a postseason loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2008 Orange Bowl. Despite winning the ACC for the second time in less than four years, Virginia Tech was anticipated to spend 2008 rebuilding a team that saw 12 starters graduate or enter the NFL draft. Though picked in a preseason poll to win the Coastal Division, the Hokies were defeated in their season opener by underdog East Carolina.Following that loss, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer announced that backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who had previously been expected to sit out the season on redshirt status, would play in the Hokies' second game, against Furman. Both Taylor and starting quarterback Sean Glennon performed well against the Paladins, and Tech won, 24–7. Tech's third game came against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who were employing a new offensive system, the option offense, under first-year head coach Paul Johnson. Unlike the game against Furman, Taylor started the game and remained at quarterback throughout, guiding the Hokies to their first ACC victory of the season, a 20–17 win that later gave Tech a crucial head-to-head tiebreaker against the Yellow Jackets, fellow members of the Coastal Division. The Hokies' fourth game of the season came against the North Carolina Tar Heels, who were defeated by the same margin of victory as Tech's win against Georgia Tech, 20–17.
The twin conference victories were followed by two out-of-conference wins: at Big 12 opponent Nebraska and against independent Western Kentucky. At the end of the four-game winning streak, the Hokies had a 4–1 record, 2–0 in conference, and were ranked No. 17 in the country. On October 18, however, the Hokies lost to unranked Boston College in Boston, 28–23. The game was a rematch of the previous year's ACC Championship Game and was a preview of the 2008 Championship Game matchup. The loss was the start of a four-game skid for the Hokies that saw Tech lose three of four games, only managing a victory against Maryland, 23–13. The final game of that four-game drop was a 16–13 loss to Coastal Division rival Miami, which then held a crucial tiebreaking win over the Hokies in the event of any head-to-head tie.
During the last two games of the regular season, the Hokies managed two victories: a 14–3 win against last-place ACC team Duke, and a 17–14 triumph over traditional rival Virginia. Miami, meanwhile, lost its final two games of the season: against Georgia Tech and North Carolina State. These losses dropped Miami to a 4–4 record in the ACC, one game behind the Hokies, who were tied with Georgia Tech at 5–3 following the end of the regular season. By virtue of the Hokies' head-to-head win against the Yellow Jackets, Virginia Tech earned a spot in the ACC Championship Game.