Merry Christmas from OTB!
The Hokies ruled the 00s and were not even in the conference all 10 years.
These last ten years in ACC football have been one of transition for the conference. The decade in the ACC saw only one BCS National Championship appearance and it kicked off the decade with Florida State vs. Oklahoma. At the start of the decade until 2003, Florida State’s rule of the conference was nearing its end. In 2004, expansion brought Virginia Tech and Miami to the league which changed the face of the ACC and BC would be added a little later as one of the more consistent teams in their years in the ACC. Expansion has not made the ACC Championship Game what we all thought it might be, but this year’s ACC Championship Game was the most exciting conference championship game in college football. As we look back at the decade, we will crown the best in teams, players, and coaches. First, here are your decade ACC Champions…
Year Team Record
2000-Florida State…11-2
2001-Maryland…10-2
2002-Florida State…9-4
2003-Florida State…9-3
2004-Virginia Tech…10-3
2005-Florida State…8-5
2006-Wake Forest…11-3
2007-Virginia Tech…11-3
2008-Virginia Tech…10-4
2009-Georgia Tech…11-2
Decade Recaps From ‘Round The Blogosphere
BC Interruption did a really outstanding post on the decade that was in the ACC.
Here’s a chart(that even makes GT fans proud) for the decade from it…
ACC All-Decade Standings (sorted by Overall Winning Percentage)
Team Conf.* Pct. Overall Pct. Bowls BCS ACC Title NFL Draft 1st Rd. Virginia Tech 38-10 .792 98-32 .754 10 3 3 47 4 Miami (Fla.) 25-23 .521 92-32 .742 9 4 0 63 26 Boston College 26-14 .650 88-39 .693 10 0 0 21 7 Florida State 55-25 .688 84-44 .656 10 4 4 55 13 Georgia Tech 50-30 .625 81-47 .633 10 1 1 22 1 Clemson 47-33 .588 78-47 .624 9 0 0 24 3 Maryland 41-39 .513 71-52 .577 6 1 1 26 3 NC State 34-46 .425 65-58 .528 6 0 0 27 5 Virginia 32-48 .513 65-59 .524 6 0 0 32 6 Wake Forest 32-48 .400 61-60 .504 4 1 1 17 2 North Carolina 32-48 .400 53-67 .442 4 0 0 26 4 Duke 7-73 .088 19-97 .164 0 0 0 2 0
Gobbler Country did a series of posts about the Hokies’ program that racked up a ton of awards below.
Here’s an excerpt(well, if you think 80% is an excerpt) from GC’s Mr. Hokie post…
Justin Hamilton (2002-2005) – Hamilton played a different position just about every year he was with the Hokies. Wherever Tech had a need, that’s where he was willing to play. He saw time at running back and wide receiver his first three years at Tech before moving to free safety his senior year. He helped quarterback statistically one of the best defenses we’ve seen at Tech that year. While Hamilton could have transferred to a school where he would have been given the ball more often, he stayed at Tech and did all that was asked of him.
Bryan Randall (2001-2004) – Despite struggling early in his career as Tech’s quarterback, Randall put it all together his senior season and led the Hokies to the 2004 ACC championship. In 2003, Randall was forced to split time at quarterback with Marcus Vick. However, Vick was suspended for the 2004 season and Randall took the team on his back and led them to the Sugar Bowl.
Vince Hall (2004-2007) - Hall was at or near the top in tackles for the Hokies in all four of his years at Tech. He may not have been as gifted an athlete as his partner in crime, Xavier Adibi, but Hall made up for it in leadership and a strong football sense. He also seemed to be there whenever the Hokies needed a big play, including an interception at the Hokies’ four-yard line with just over two minutes to go in the 2007 ACCCG with Tech clinging to a 23-16 lead over BC.
Cody Grimm (2006-2009) – The Deathbacker. Grimm came to Tech as a walk-on and gradually worked his way onto the field by working hard in practice and being a wild man on special teams. Grimm shared time with Cam Martin at whip linebacker in 2008, but still tied for second on the team in sacks with 7.5. He took over for the injured Martin in 2009 and through 12 games has three sacks, five pass break-ups and seven forced fumbles.
Awards for the 00s
Program of Decade: Virginia Tech Hokies—They only played in the ACC for 6 years, but won 3 ACC titles in that span with BeamerBall, Foster’s D, and strong running backs.
Team of Decade: 2000 Florida State Seminoles—Made the BCS National Championship Game after going 11-1 in the regular season and lost in a shocker to Oklahoma. Dominated the ACC that season, but lost to future ACC opponent Miami by a FG for their only regular season blemish.
Runner-ups: 2007 Virginia Tech, 2009 Georgia Tech, and 2001 Maryland.
Player of Decade: GT WR Calvin Johnson—Won ACC Rookie of the Year in his freshman year and ACC Player of the Year in his junior year as an unstoppable force at WR for the Jackets.
Runner-ups: BC QB Matt Ryan, Clemson RB C.J. Spiller, and UNC DE Julius Peppers.
Coach of Decade: VT Frank Beamer—Hard to argue this one with 3 ACC titles and double digit wins 5 out of the 6 six years that the Hokies have been in the league and a shot at making it 6/6 in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
Runner-ups: FSU Bobby Bowden, WF Jim Grobe.
OTB’s Favorite Player of Decade: Clemson RB C.J. Spiller–There was nobody more fun to watch this decade than Spiller with Dantzler also being up there to me.
Runner-up: Clemson QB Woody Dantzler
Here could be the most controversial part of the post…an attempt at an All-ACC Decade Team
We could field great teams all rest of the year long, but I’m going with the All-ACC team instead of having reserves and such.
Offense
QB: BC Matt Ryan
RB: Clemson C.J. Spiller
RB: Maryland Bruce Perry
WR: GT Calvin Johnson
WR: Clemson Aaron Kelly
TE: UVA Heath Miller
OT: Miami Jason Fox
OG: UVA Elton Brown
C: Clemson Kyle Young
OG: Maryland C.J. Brooks
OT: FSU Alex Barron
Defense
DE: NC State Mario Williams
DT: BC B.J. Raji
DT: FSU Darnell Dockett
DE: UNC Julius Peppers
LB: Maryland E.J. Henderson
LB: BC Mark Herzlich
LB: VT Vince Hall
CB: VT Jimmy Williams Brandon Flowers(Don’t say I don’t listen to my readers…and apparently I had no clue when I did this one lol)
CB: Wake Forest Alphonso Smith
S: Clemson Robert Carswell
S: NC State Terrence Holt
Special Teams
K: Maryland Nick Novak
P: Maryland Brooks Barnard
KR/PR: Clemson RB C.J. Spiller
Players That Were in It at One Point until I Changed My Mind: Clemson DT Nick Eason, Clemson CB Alex Ardley, Wake Forest WR Kenneth Moore, UVA LB Ahmad Brooks, Maryland LB D’Qwell Jackson, and UVA WR Billy McMullen.
All-ACC Reps by Team:
BC: 3
Clemson: 5
Duke: 0
FSU: 2
GT: 1
Maryland: 4
Miami: 1
NC State: 2
VT: 2
UNC: 1
UVA: 2
WF: 1
Let’s hope the next decade brings a couple BCS titles and some more good football! Any omissions from or additions to my All-Decade ACC team that are egregious? Thoughts on the awards? General philosophical comments? Have at it…
Surprised Herzlich made the list. Surprised Chris Long did not, and was not considered.
@TheUVAFool
It’s probably the competition that hurt him at that position in the ACC. He’s definitely 2nd string if I made the 2nd team, but Williams and Peppers were outstanding players who are tough to beat at their positions. As for Herzlich, he had a great year last year and his name will be always be synonymous with this decade for that season and what he did off the field this year. I think it’s worthy of being on the all-decade team. Thanks for commenting!
Jimmy Williams? Jimmy (expletive) Williams? You could have picked Macho Harris or Brandon Flowers but instead you went with (expletive) Jimmy (expletive) Williams? (expletive).
Echoing F4H’s opinion, the Jimmy Williams selection was pretty bullshit. Clemson leading the all ACC team with 5 selections seems just a little bit homerish. I’m very happy Jim Grobe didn’t take you coach of the aughts. The “he does more with less argument” grinds my gears.
F4H,
I was never much of a Macho Harris guy…Flowers I can live with…since I have two prominent dissenting opinions on Williams…he will be struck from the record! lol
cgb,
Not nearly as homerish as the 7 I was going to have(lol). I guess you have to go position by position and I think it is pretty hard to argue against all five. Absolutely agree on the Jim Grobe thought…I would have gone with Bowden before Grobe if I was not going to take Beamer.