By Bert Leeson
2023 ACC Football Championship Game Information
2023 ACC Football Championship Game Tickets
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – No. 4 Florida State (12-0, 8-0 ACC) and No. 14 Louisville (10-2, 7-1 ACC) will meet in the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m. on ABC. This is the 14th time in the last 15 years that the game will be held in primetime.
The Seminoles will make their sixth trip to the ACC Football Championship Game and the first since 2014 (2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014) when they won their third consecutive ACC Championship title with a 37-35 win over Georgia Tech.
It will mark the Cardinals’ first-ever trip to the ACC Football Championship Game.
Tickets to the 2023 ACC Football Championship Game are on sale via Ticketmaster.com and through the ACC’s official website at theACC.com.
The 2023 ACC Football Championship Game is the first under the ACC’s new scheduling model, which includes eliminating divisions with the top two teams based on the highest winning percentage in regular-season conference play participating in the championship game.
Florida State holds a 17-6 advantage in the all-time series versus Louisville, with the Seminoles picking up a 35-31 win over the Cardinals in Louisville on Sept. 16, 2022, in their teams’ last meeting.
Since joining the league in 1992, the Seminoles have won 15 ACC titles, with the last one coming in 2014. Florida State’s 15 titles are second to Clemson’s 21 total titles. However, FSU’s 15 titles since 1992 are the most of any school, ahead of Clemson with eight and Virginia Tech with four.
The Seminoles are 12-0 overall and went 8-0 in the ACC, their best start to a season since a 12-0 start in 2014. FSU is 12-0 for the fourth time in school history and completed an unbeaten regular season for the seventh time in program history. Their perfect 8-0 conference season is the 10th all-time and the first since 2014.
One of only five remaining undefeated teams in all of FBS this season, Florida State is the eighth team in the College Football Playoff era to complete its ACC regular season with a perfect conference record.
FSU is No. 4 in this week’s Associated Press (AP) Top 25 Poll. It is the 13th consecutive week FSU has been ranked in the top five, the program’s longest streak since 2013-14. FSU has been ranked in the top 10 in both the AP and Coaches polls all season long.
The Seminoles are on an 18-game winning streak dating back to last year, the longest active streak in the ACC and the third-longest active streak in the country. The winning streak is also the second-longest in program history and third-longest in ACC history. During its 18-game winning streak, Florida State has outscored its opponents 718-310.
The Florida State defense has not allowed 30 points in a game this season, one of just four teams to do that in all of FBS this year. The 12-game streak is the longest active in the ACC and third-longest in the country.
FSU leads the ACC and ranks in the top 15 in both scoring offense and scoring defense – offense (10th, 38.8 ppg) and defense (11th, 16.8 ppg) – just one of seven teams in all of FBS – and in the top 26 in both red zone offense and red zone defense – offense (26th, 89.8 percent) and defense (23rd, 77.1 percent) – one of only six teams in all of FBS.
Louisville finished the regular season at 10-2 overall and went 7-1 in ACC play under first-year head coach and alumnus Jeff Brohm. The Cardinals have posted their seventh 10-win season in program history and first since the 2013 Cards finished 12-1.
The Cardinals’ Coach Brohm became the first coach to take teams to two different Power 5 conference championship games in back-to-back seasons. Brohm took Purdue to the Big Ten Championship versus Michigan last year and will lead the Cards against Florida State in the ACC Championship this year.
Louisville has been ranked in each of the last eight weeks, coming in at No. 15 in the AP Top 25 Poll and No. 14 in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Top 25 Poll this week. The No. 9 ranking earlier this year was the highest for the Cards since coming in as high as No. 3 in the AP Poll in 2016.
Louisville is 5-1 this season in games decided by one touchdown or less, one of just 11 teams in all of FBS with five or more wins by one touchdown or less on the year, and has posted four comeback victories on the season, matching the 2012 Cards for most comeback wins in a single season.
The Cardinals rank in the top 26 nationally in both total defense and total offense – defense (19th, 314.7 ypg) and offense (26th, 438.6 ypg) – one of only four teams in all of FBS – and in the top 35 in both scoring defense and scoring offense – defense (24th, 20.0 ppg) and offense (31st, 33.0 ppg) – one of 18 teams in all of FBS.
The Cards also rank in the top 35 in both rushing defense and rushing offense – defense (11th, 96.8 ypg) and offense (33rd, 183.5 ypg) – one of just 16 teams in all of FBS.
The Seminoles and Cardinals are tied for the most wins in the nation over bowl-eligible Power 5 teams with seven. Florida State and Louisville are also two of just six teams nationally that are undefeated with at least two wins or more versus top 25 teams.
This will mark the first year since 2014 that neither participating team in the championship game has been from the state of North or South Carolina (Florida State versus Georgia Tech).
Since the first ACC Football Championship Game in 2005, Clemson has won the most championship games with seven. Both Florida State and Virginia Tech have won four title games, while Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Wake Forest have each won one game.
The winner of the conference championship game has gone on to play in the National Championship Game or compete in the College Football Playoff in eight of the last 10 seasons, including two teams in 2020. The ACC has the second-most CFP appearances of all time of any conference.
In 2018, the ACC, Charlotte Sports Foundation and Carolina Panthers announced a 10-year agreement to keep the ACC Football Championship Game in Charlotte through the 2030 season. The game is played annually at Bank of America Stadium on the first Saturday in December.
Not including the 2020 game, which had limited attendance due to the pandemic, ACC Football Championship Games played at Bank of America Stadium have had an average attendance of nearly 70,000 fans. The game’s attendance record is 74,514 for the 2015 contest between Clemson and North Carolina, which also set an attendance record for Bank of America Stadium at the time.
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