ACC Football 2018: Midseason awards and superlatives

The 2018 college football season has officially reached the midway point. Here are the best of the best in ACC football through Week 7.

Before the Florida State Seminoles joined the ACC in 1991 (full ACC schedule by 1992), the Clemson Tigers had a clear stronghold on championships since their 1981 national championship season. The Tigers won six ACC titles from 1981 to 1991, and won a seventh on the field although they ineligibility kept it from the official record books. Once FSU joined full-tilt for the 1992 season things changed in the ACC.

Florida State, led by head coach Bobby Bowden, dominated the conference filled with mostly private, and often elite academic institutions. Until the Seminoles arrived the ACC was better known for its basketball than its football. The ‘Noles attempted to change all of that. FSU won all three of their national championships (1993, 1999, and 2013) as a member of the ACC. Florida State dominated the conference winning at least a share of the ACC crown for nine consecutive years and 15 times in total.

Former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, Bobby’s son, was unable to best his father and win the ACC Championship. The first Clemson head coach to achieve that goal since the Seminoles arrival in 1991 was Dabo Swinney– Tommy’s former wide receivers coach.

Swinney has won the ACC crown four times including three in a row from 2015 to 2017. With Florida State down Clemson looks like the clear favorite to win the ACC Championship once again, unless a former Bobby Bowden disciple can knock off Swinney’s Tigers in Charlotte.

It’s no surprise then that Clemson dominates quite a few of the ACC mid-season awards for the 2018 season. But it’s not all Tigers. Here’s how the shake out.