C.J. Spiller set an ACC Championship game record by rushing for 233 yards.
C.J. Spiller set an ACC Championship game record by rushing for 233 yards.

The ACC Hot List

A weekly list of notable accomplishments from around the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Dec. 8, 2009

FOOTBALL

  • C.J. Spiller set an ACC Championship game record by rushing for 233 yards while carrying 11 times for 123 yards in the first half. His four rushing touchdowns set a championship game record for most touchdowns and most points (24). With four field goals and three extra-points made for 15 points, Georgia Tech kicker Scott Blair put up the second most points by an individual in a championship game behind the 24 points C.J. Spiller finished with.
  • The 469 total yards (333 rushing, 136 passing) by Georgia Tech is a championship game record. Both teams shattered the previous record of 389 (305 passing, 84 rushing) yards by Boston College in the 2007 championship game. Clemson finished the game with 414 total yards (323 rushing, 91 passing). Both teams also shattered the team rushing record of 150 yards by Virginia Tech in the 2008 championship game.
  • The Atlantic Coast Conference has seven NCAA bowl-eligible teams. The ACC’s seven bowl-bound teams gives the conference 41 teams which have participated post-season bowl games over the past five years, which is second only the SEC, which has had 42.
  • FedEx Orange Bowl, Jan. 5, 8 p.m., FOX - #9 Georgia Tech (11-2) vs. #10 Iowa (10-2)

    • Leading the way for the Conference is its champion—Georgia Tech—which earned the berth as the host team in the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl opposite 10th-ranked Iowa (10-2) by virtue of its 39-34 dramatic victory over Clemson in the Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game Saturday night in Tampa. Tech, 11-2 overall and ranked 9th nationally (AP), returns to the Orange Bowl for the first time in 42 years and will be enjoying its 13th consecutive bowl trip.
  • Chick-fil-A Bowl, Dec. 31, 7:30 pm ESPN - #12 Virginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5)

    • Virginia Tech, ranked 12th nationally this week, will be making its fourth trip to Atlanta for a bowl game and second appearance in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Hokies of Coach Frank Beamer will also be making their 17th straight post-season bowl appearance. They will be facing Tennessee (7-5) of the Southeastern Conference for the first time since meeting the Volunteers in the 1994 Gator Bowl. A victory (9-3) would extend Tech’s string of 10 or more wins to six straight seasons.
  • Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, Jan. 1, 1 p.m., CBS - Florida State (6-6) vs. #18 West Virginia (9-3)

    • Florida State, with legendary Head Coach Bobby Bowden coaching the Seminoles for the final time, will be facing 18th-ranked West Virginia. Bowden, college football’s second-winningest head coach with 388 career victories, is completing his 34th and final season in Tallahassee and will be guiding FSU to its 28th consecutive bowl game. Florida State is 5-0-1 in the Gator Bowl, including winning both previous appearances against the Mountaineers, whom they faced in 1982 and 2005.
  • Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 29, 8 pm, ESPN - #14 Miami (9-3) vs. #24 Wisconsin (9-3)

    • Miami (9-3), ranked 14th nationally, will play its 10th game in the state of Florida this year, travelling to Orlando for a berth in the Champs Sports Bowl. This year, the Hurricanes have won nine games for the first time since 2005 and will be going to their 35th post-season bowl game, but their first in Orlando. The ‘Canes will be playing 24th-ranked Wisconsin (9-3) of the Big Ten.
  • Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, Dec. 27, 8:15 pm, ESPN - Clemson (8-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5)

    • Clemson (8-5) and its Heisman Trophy candidate C. J. Spiller will be headed to their fifth consecutive bowl game and 10th in their last 11 years at the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be a rematch for the Tigers of the 2006 Music City Bowl as Clemson will again face Kentucky (7-5) of the SEC. Spiller is coming off a Heisman-like performance in the ACC title contest, earning Most Outstanding Player honors for his play against the Yellow Jackets.
  • Meineke Car Care Bowl, Dec. 26, 4:30 pm, ESPN - North Carolina (8-4) vs. #17 Pittsburgh (9-3)

    • North Carolina (8-4), which features a defense ranked 6th nationally in total defense and 9th in rushing defense, will be making its second straight bowl appearance and its second consecutive trip to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, this time to play the 17th-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers of the Big East. In all, UNC has played three times in the Charlotte-based bowl, facing Boston College in the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl.
  • Emerald Bowl, Dec. 26, 8:30 pm, ESPN - Boston College (8-4) vs. Southern California (8-4)

    • Completing the ACC in post-season play, Boston College (8-4) travels to San Francisco to face the Trojans of Southern California (8-4) of the Pac-10 in the Emerald Bowl. The game marks the 11th straight bowl trip for the Eagles and their second bowl visit to San Francisco, having appeared in the Emerald Bowl, then the Emerald Walnut Bowl in 2003. BC enters the game with the fourth-best winning percentage in bowl games (minimum of 15 played), having posted a .650 winning percentage (13-7), including winning eight of their last nine appearances.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

  • Four ACC teams - Duke (8), North Carolina (10), Georgia Tech (21) and Clemson (24) - are listed in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll ... three ACC teams - Duke (8), North Carolina (11) and Georgia Tech (24) - ranked in this week’s AP poll.
  • Clemson’s Trevor Booker leads all active ACC players in career rebounds (870), blocked shots (212) and double-doubles (24) while Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez is 22nd on the ACC career assists chart with 611 and Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal is one point shy of 800 for his career.
  • Duke’s Kyle Singler is three points shy of 1,200 for his career and has made at least one 3-point field goal in 23 consecutive games while Oliver Purnell has 124 wins in seven years at Clemson and is two wins shy of tying Wake Forest’s Skip Prosser for 22nd place on the ACC career win list.
  • Duke’s Jon Scheyer is eighth among ACC career free throw percentage leaders (.858) and leads the ACC in assists-to-turnover ratio (8.4:1).
  • Maryland’s Jordan Williams leads all ACC freshmen in rebounds per game (8.6) while Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors leads all ACC freshmen in scoring (13.4).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

  • The ACC won its third-straight Big Ten/ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge, posting a 7-4 record in the 2009 Challenge and improving to 22-11 over Big Ten opponents in the Challenge series. The Challenge, which just concluded its third year of a four-year agreement, matches 11 teams from each conference in head-to-head competition. The league has also earned a 12-5 home record over the Challenge history.
  • The ACC currently owns a 75-22 (77.3 percent) non-conference record thus far this season, including a 49-8 mark on home courts. League teams were a combined 146-49 (.749) when defending their home courts just one year ago.
  • Florida State forward Jacinta Monroe moved into seventh place on the ACC career blocked shots list as the senior posted eight blocks in just two games last week. Monroe, who led her Seminoles to a 2-0 record for the week with wins over Indiana and Alcorn State, also fell one rebound shy of her 18th career double-double against Indiana.
  • North Carolina’s Jessica Breland opened up to ESPN.com, talking publicly for the first time since her diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in May 2009. The powerful article, titled “She is ready to think about the future,” was especially published for the third annual ESPN Jimmy V Week: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=4708733

MEN’S SOCCER

  • The ACC owns 75 percent (3 teams: North Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest) of the upcoming 2009 NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup field (Dec. 11 and 13) and is currently 14-2-0 against non-conference opponents in the Tournament. The league is the only conference with more than one team represented in the College Cup (3), while this year marks the ninth consecutive year at least one team from the ACC will be represented in the final four.
  • Last year, the ACC became the only league in NCAA Tournament history to place three teams in the same College Cup (now back-to-back years). And for the first time in NCAA history, the NCAA had two teams from the same conference competing for the national title (Maryland vs. North Carolina, 2008).
  • The ACC owns 13 NCAA Men’s Soccer national titles and has appeared in the championship game on 20 occasions. The league has won the last two consecutive College Cups (Maryland ‘08, Wake Forest ‘07) and three of the past four crowns (Maryland ‘08, Wake Forest ‘07, & Maryland ‘05).

WOMEN’S SOCCER

  • Eight ACC teams posted a 20-7-1 record in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, setting a league record for combined postseason wins.
  • Along with guiding North Carolina to its 20th NCAA title (and 21st national championship overall), Anson Dorrance moved one step closer to the 700-win milestone. Dorrance, who just completed his 31st season with the Tar Heels, owns a staggering all-time record of 696-36-22 (.963) as a women’s soccer collegiate head coach.
  • After scoring six goals the entire regular season, North Carolina’s Casey Nogueira scored seven in nine postseason games (three ACC Championship games, six NCAA Tournament contests), including game-winners in the closing minutes of a 1-0 NCAA third-round win over Maryland and last Friday’s 1-0 win over Notre Dame in the College Cup semifinals. Nogueira, a senior, was named Offensive MVP of the Women’s College Cup for the second straight year. Nogueira scored the game-winning goal in four of the six College Cup games in which she played (2006 semifinals and finals, 2008 finals, 2009 semifinals), and she had the game-winning assist in a fifth game (2009 finals).
  • UNC's nine seniors were the winningest senior class in the country over their four years at 94-9-4. Notre Dame was second at 91-11-4. UCLA was third with a record of 84-10-5 for its senior class. The Tar Heels defeated each of those teams at least once this season.

FIELD HOCKEY

  • Boston College fifth-year head coach Ainslee Lamb and North Carolina 29th-year head coach Karen Shelton were named the Northeast Region and South Region Coach of the Year, respectively, by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Lamb guided Boston College to a 13-7 overall record and the school’s first appearance in the NCAA field hockey championship since 2005, the school’s first as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  • Shelton, a four-time National Coach of the Year (1994-96, 2007) and eight-time ACC Coach of the Year (1986-89, ‘94, 2000, ’04, ’07), guided North Carolina to a 20-2 overall record and the school’s sixth NCAA field hockey championship—all of which have come under Shelton’s lead—with a 3-2 win over top-ranked and previously unbeaten Maryland on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

VOLLEYBALL

  • After clinching the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and the league’s automatic berth in the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Championship with a 19-1 conference record, the No. 12 Florida State Seminoles (American Volleyball Coaches Association) won its first and second round matches (Dec. 5-6) to advance to the Round of 16. The Seminoles swept both Alabama A&M and Jacksonville State in the first and second rounds, respectively. Florida State is the first ACC team to advance to the third round of NCAA action since 2004, when Georgia Tech won its first and second round matches before losing to Minnesota, 3-2.
  • A league-record five teams earned berths in the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Championship, with Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, and Miami earning at-large bids, in addition to the ACC regular-season champion and automatic qualifier Florida State.
  • Florida State will have the opportunity to become the second ACC team to advance to the regional final when its plays Kentucky (29-4), currently ranked 13th by the AVCA, on Friday, December 11 at 6 p.m. in Minneapolis, Minn. The winner will play the winner between No. 11 Minnesota, the regional host, and No. 25 Colorado State on Saturday, December 12 at 6:30 p.m. The match will be televised by ESPNU.

WRESTLING

  • Third-ranked Hudson Taylor of Maryland won five matches, including three by pinfall, to take the 197-pound title Sunday at the Penn State Open and become the winningest wrestler in school history. Combined with a win in Friday’s dual meet against North Carolina, Taylor won six matches over the weekend, bringing his career win total to 140. That surpassed Brandon York’s record of 139 wins, achieved from 1998-2002. York, who wrestled at 141 pounds, was a four-time NCAA qualifier and the only wrestler in Maryland history to win four ACC Championships. Taylor, who tied the Maryland career pinfall record of 69 on Friday against North Carolina, brought his career total to 72, breaking the record set by Jake Stork (1999-2003). The senior from Pennington, N.J., has 13 pins this season. Stork had a single-season record 23 pinfalls in 2002-03.
  • Five Virginia Tech wrestlers competed in the Nittany Lion Open Sunday on the campus of Penn State, highlighted by by Jarrod Garnett winning the title at 125 pounds and freshman Brian Stephens taking second at 149 pounds. Garnett returned to the mat for the first time since injuring his arm on the first day of the season and won five matches, including a pin of the sixth-ranked and returning NCAA qualifier Brad Pataky of Penn State in the finals.

SWIMMING & DIVING

  • Duke freshman Nick McCrory has not lost a diving event this season and remained unbeaten this weekend at the Ohio State Invitational (Dec. 4-6). In the 10-meter platform diving event, McCrory registered a first-place performance with 474.30 points, which broke both the Duke school record by 181.05 points and the Ohio State pool record by more than 40 points. In the three-meter dive, the Chapel Hill, N.C., native had a 447.50-point and first-place performance, which also broke the Duke school and Ohio State pool records.
  • Virginia freshman Lauren Perdue won three individual events, helped five winning relay teams, and clinched a total of eight “B” cuts at the UVa Invitational, as the Cavalier women’s team scored 1,542 points and claimed first place out of five teams. Perdue set a pool record in the 100-yard freestyle with 49.46, and broke it again with a 49.08 leadoff split in her final event of the day. The Greenville, N.C., native also helped the 800-yard freestyle relay team to set a pool record with a 7:12.80 performance.