2008 ACC Championship Game

The 2008 ACC Championship Game was the final regular-season contest of the 2008 college football season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2008. Virginia Tech defeated Boston College, winning the ACC football championship, 30–12.

About 2008 ACC Championship Game in brief

Summary 2008 ACC Championship GameThe 2008 ACC Championship Game was a college football game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Boston College Eagles. It was the final regular-season contest of the 2008 college football season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2008. Virginia Tech defeated Boston College, winning the ACC football championship, 30–12. As of 2019, this is the lastACC Championship Game to not feature Clemson or Florida State from the Atlantic Division. 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. 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. In 2008, Tampa was chosen as the site of the 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. Because of this, Charlotte’s two-year span of hosting the game was pushed back to 2010. The 2008 championship was the first to be played in Tampa. The Hokies scored 17 points to the Eagles’ five in the second half, and the Hokies won the game 30-12.

In recognition of his game-winning performance, Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor was named the game’s most valuable player. Before the beginning of the season, the annual poll by media members who cover ACC football predicted Virginia Tech and Clemson to win the Coastal Division. Clemson received 59 of a possible 65 votes in its division in the poll, while Virginia Tech received 58. From the first game of theseason, those predictions were cast into doubt. Clemson lost its opener to Alabama, but neither team lost its second-to-last week of the regular season. Neither team clinched a spot in the championship until the final week before the championship, and both had to rely on conference tie-breaking rules to earn a spot. Though both teams were still in the running for a championship, neither loss factored into either team’s final place in the conference standings. The teams were closely matched as late as the final-last-week of the conference season, with nine teams still in contention for a place in a championship game. The final game was played at 1 p.m. ET on December 12, 2008, with the game being played at the University of Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The ACC announced that Tampa would host the game in 2008 and 2009 and Charlotte, North Carolina would host it in 2010 and 2011. Each city requested and was granted a two- year contract, locking the ACC into the locations well in advance.