1998 ACC Football Review
Notes from an outstanding gridiron season!



TECH, FSU TIE FOR ACC CROWN
For only the third time in 32 years, the conference featured co-champions in football as Florida State and Georgia Tech deadlocked with 7-1 league marks... for Florida State, 1998 marked the seventh-straight year that the Seminoles have won outright, or tied, for the league crown while the Yellow Jackets captured a share of their first ACC title since 1990, and second overall.

For the second straight year, the ACC finished the season with two teams ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll... Florida State was No. 3 and Georgia Tech No. 9 while Virginia finished 18th... earlier in the year, the Cavaliers were in the AP Top 10 four weeks... in all, five ACC teams were ranked during the 1998 season.

Five ACC teams earned bowl bids in 1998 ... Florida State made its 18th straight post-season appearance losing to Tennessee 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl... 1998 marked the ninth consecutive year that the ACC had at least four teams participating in bowl games.

Florida State became the first school in Division I-A history to win 10-or-more games in 12 consecutive seasons... Virginia posted two wins over non-ACC ranked teams and became the first school in ACC history to win at least seven games 12 years in a row.

FINAL BCS STANDINGS
Three ACC teams - Florida State (2), Virginia (12) and Georgia Tech (14) - were ranked in the Top 15 of the Final Bowl Championship Series rankings... the ACC tied with the SEC and the Big 12 with three teams listed in the Top 15.

Final 1998 BCS Rankings 

   1. Tennessee       3.47
   2. Florida State   4.91
   3. Kansas State    9.96
   4. Ohio State     10.37
   5. UCLA           10.90
   6. Texas A&M      15.70
   7. Arizona        16.49
   8. Florida        19.95
   9. Wisconsin      21.61
  10. Tulane         26.67
  11. Nebraska       29.06
  12. Virginia       32.22
  13. Arkansas       32.28
  14. Georgia Tech   32.76
  15. Syracuse       34.80

THURSDAY NIGHT TIGERS
Clemson made its first ever appearance on the ESPN's Thursday night game package when they hosted No. 22 Georgia Tech on November 12 in Memorial Stadium... the Jackets scored in the game's final minute to post a 24-21 win... Clemson was the last of the nine ACC schools to appear on ESPN's Thursday night package... Tech was making its eighth ESPN Thursday night appearance.

BCS TOUGH
During the course of the 1998 season, the ACC played more games (22), and won more games (13), against BCS conference opponents than any other league... the ACC, the Pacific-10 and the Big 10 were the only three conferences to have a .500 or better record against non-league AP-ranked opponents.

BCS Conferences vs. BCS Opponents 

Conference   W-L   Pct.
ACC         13-9   .591
Pac-10       9-7   .563
Big 10       8-8   .500
Big 12      8-10   .444
Big East    7-10   .412
SEC         7-10   .412

JANIKOWSKI SETS ACC FIELD GOAL RECORD
Florida State's All-America placekicker Sebastian Janikowski kicked three field goals in the win over 4th-ranked Florida on November 21, giving him an ACC-record 27 field goals on the season... Janikowski also tied for the fourth highest single season total in NCAA history and fell only two short of the NCAA record of 29 set by UCLA's John Lee in 1984... Janikowski finished with 123 points, the second-highest single season total in ACC history.

ACC VS. DIVISION I-A CONFERENCES (1990-1998) 

         1990    1991   1992   1993    1994   1995   1996  1997  1998  ACC
Big East    x     7-4  2-2-1    1-5     2-2    3-3    3-3   8-1   5-4  31-24-1
Big 8     2-0     1-1    1-0    2-0     0-0    0-0      x     x     x  6-1
Big Ten   2-1     1-1    1-0    1-3     0-1    0-1    1-2   3-1   1-0  10-10
Big 12      x       x      x      x       x      x    1-1   0-0   1-1  2-2
Big West  1-0     0-0    0-0    1-0     0-0    0-0    0-0   0-0   1-0  3-0
Conf USA    x       x      x      x       x      x    3-0   1-1   0-0  4-1
MAC       1-0     2-0    1-0    2-0     1-0    1-0    1-0   1-1   1-1  11-2
Pac-10    0-0     1-1    1-0    1-0     0-1    0-1    0-0   2-0   1-1  6-4
SEC       4-1     2-3    3-4    3-4   2-4-1    3-4    1-5   1-4   4-3  23-32-1
SWC       0-1     1-0    2-1    2-0     3-1    0-2      x     x     x  8-5
WAC       0-0     1-0    0-0    1-0     0-0    0-0    0-0   2-0   2-1  6-1
Ind.   11-4-1  10-4-1    6-1    3-1     8-1    5-3    3-5   2-1   2-0  50-20-2
I-AA      7-0     8-1    6-0    4-0     5-0    5-1    2-0   2-0   3-1  42-3
Total  28-7-1 34-15-1 23-8-1  21-13 21-10-1  17-15  15-16  22-9 21-12  202-105-4

NON-ACC SINCE 1990
In the decade of the 1990s, ACC teams have posted the second-best non-conference record of any Division I-A conference... the ACC is 202-105-4 versus outside opponents since 1990.

Non-Conference Records, 1990-1998 

Conference         W-L   Pct
SEC           277-96-5   .739
ACC          202-105-4   .656
Big 12           85-46   .649
Big Ten      220-124-6   .637
Pac-10       203-115-4   .637
Big East     173-145-3   .544
WAC          194-206-4   .485
Conf. USA        50-65   .435
Mid-American  91-177-6   .343
Big West     117-249-3   .321

CAVALIER BALANCE
Virginia's 18th-ranked cavaliers finished the 1998 season as one of only five teams in NCAA Division I-A to average over 200 yards per game in both rushing and passing... 1998 also marked the third time in George Welsh's tenure at Virginia that the Cavaliers have averaged over 200 yards per game in both rushing and passing. 

Team        Rush  Pass   Total
Kansas St. 224.9  253.6  478.5
Arizona    213.4  231.5  444.9
Syracuse   228.4  201.6  430.0
Virginia   213.1  213.5  426.6
Texas Tech 201.7  202.7  404.4

VIRGINIA'S KERNEY AMONG ACC SACK LEADERS
Virginia senior defensive end Patrick Kerney finished 1998 as the ACC leader in quarterback sacks with 15... Kerney, a first team All-ACC and All-America selection, also had 21 tackles for loss.. Kerney's 15 QB sacks tied him for the fifth most in a single season in ACC history.

ACC Single Season QB Sack Leaders 

   1.  Peter Boulware, FSU   1996    19
   2.  Charles Bowser, Duke  1981  17.5
   3.  Andre Wadsworth, FSU  1997    16
       Lawrence Taylor, UNC  1980    16
   5.  Patrick Kerney, UVa   1998    15
       Pat Swilling, GaT     1985    15
       Chris Slade, UVa      1992    15
   8.  Chris Slade, UVa      1991    14
       Michael McCrary, WF   1992    14
  10.  Reinard Wilson, FSU   1996  13.5

AP BY THE NUMBERS
The ACC had the nation's best record against non-league AP-ranked foes last year posting an 8-4 mark versus Non-ACC AP-ranked teams... the eight wins were the most ever by the ACC.

ACC vs. Non-ACC AP-Ranked Opponents 

Conference   W-L   Pct.
ACC          8-4   .667
Big 10       8-5   .615
Big 12       5-6   .455
Pacific-10   4-7   .364
SEC          4-7   .364
Big East     2-8   .200
Mid-American 1-6   .143
WAC         2-13   .133
Conf. USA    0-8   .000
Big West     0-3   .000

ACC VERSUS AP-RANKED TEAMS, 1998 

   WINS (8)
   Opp & Rank           ACC Team        Score
   #4    Florida        Florida State   23-12
   #11   Syracuse       NC State        38-17
   #12   Georgia        Georgia Tech    21-19
   #14   Texas A&M      Florida State   23-14
   #17   Notre Dame     Georgia Tech    35-28
   #18   Southern Cal   Florida State   30-10
   #19   Virginia Tech  Virginia        36-32
   #25   Auburn         Virginia         19-0


   LOSSES (4)
   Opp & Rank           ACC Team        Score
   #1    Tennessee      Florida State   16-23
   #19   West Virginia  Maryland        20-42
   #19   Georgia        Virginia        33-35
   #24   Miami          NC State        23-46

VERSUS NON-ACC AP-RANKED OPPONENTS
Following last year's all-time best 8-4 mark against non-ACC AP-ranked opponents, the ACC is 43-44-1 (.494) against non-ACC AP-ranked opponents since 1990 with eight of the nine ACC schools posting at least one win. 

           ACC   Clm. Duke   FSU   GaT   Md.   UNC   NCS   UVa   WF
  1990   5-3-0   1-0   0-0     x   2-0   1-2   0-0   1-0   0-1   0-0
  1991  5-10-0   0-1   0-0   4-2   1-2   0-3   0-0   0-1   0-1   0-0
  1992   4-3-0   0-0   0-0   2-1   0-0   0-1   1-0   1-1   0-0   0-0
  1993   4-5-0   0-0   0-1   3-1   0-0   0-1   1-1   0-0   0-1   0-0
  1994   3-2-1   0-0   0-0 1-1-1   0-1   0-0   0-0   1-0   1-0   0-0
  1995   2-6-0   0-0   0-0   1-1   0-1   0-0   1-0   0-1   0-3   0-0
  1996   7-6-0   0-1   0-0   3-1   0-0   0-1   2-0   0-1   1-2   1-0
  1997   5-5-0   0-1   0-0   2-1   0-2   0-0   1-0   1-0   0-1   1-0
  1998   8-4-0   0-0   0-0   3-1   2-0   0-1   0-0   1-1   2-1   0-0