Atlantic Coast Conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is one of the oldest collegiate athletic leagues in the United States. Founded in 1953, one year before the formation of the Ivy League, the ACC's twelve member universities compete in twenty sports in the NCAA's Division I. Spanning the Eastern Seaboard, from New England to the Everglades, its member institutions are located in the Atlantic coastal states of Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Rivalries

As with most ACC traditions, the conference's classic rivalries began on the (men's) basketball court. Before the 2003 expansion, the ACC was able to maintain a full home-and-home double round-robin basketball schedule, meaning each team played each other team both at home and away each season. Coupled with the conference's geographic compactness (especially before Florida State joined in 1991), this enhanced conference cohesiveness and built a strong, interlocking web of rivalries, as each school could generally find something historical to be upset with each other school about. Some rivalries were, of course, stronger than others — notably those among the four "Tobacco Road" schools located in North Carolina.

Related Topics:
Home-and-home - Round-robin - North Carolina

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With the exception of Florida State-Miami, lesser-known are the ACC's football rivalries. With the recent expansion, intra-state rivalries in Florida and Virginia that have always been more significant in football than basketball are now under the conference banner. This gives them added meaning, as these games will have more direct impact on postseason bowl game invitations.

Related Topics:
Florida - Virginia

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Some of the ACC's classic rivalries include:

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• Duke-Maryland: Traditionally a basketball rivalry; reached heightened status in the early 2000s as both programs were frequently mentioned as national championship favorites
• Duke-North Carolina: This basketball rivalry is considered by fans and analysts to be one of the biggest in the country, these schools also play for the "Victory Bell" in football
• Florida State-Miami: Known for it's "Wide Right" outcomes
• N.C. State-Clemson: football's "Textile Bowl"
• North Carolina-N.C. State
• Virginia-Georgia Tech: football's "41-38"
• Virginia-Maryland: border rivalry;
• Virginia-North Carolina: football's "Oldest Rivalry in the South"
• Virginia-Virginia Tech: football's Commonwealth Cup

Extra-conference rivalries involving ACC members include:

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• Boston College and Notre Dame (Independent): football's "Holy War"
• Clemson and South Carolina (of the SEC)
• Clemson and Georgia (SEC) Discontinued when SEC went to an 8 game schedule, but they still meet sporadically
• Georgia Tech and Georgia (SEC)
• Georgia Tech and Auburn (SEC)
• Florida State and Florida (SEC)
• Maryland and Penn State (Big Ten)
• Maryland and West Virginia (Big East): football; longest current continuous non-conference series for both schools, as they have played each other each year since 1980.
• Virginia Tech and West Virginia (Big East)

In addition, Maryland has a long-held bitter rivalry in men's lacrosse with Johns Hopkins.

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Since the 1999-2000 season, ACC teams have played Big Ten teams in the annual ACC - Big Ten Challenge men's basketball tournament; the ACC has "won" this tournament every year since its inception (ACC teams have won a majority of the games played in every season).

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