The charter members of the ACC were
Clemson,
Duke,
Maryland,
North Carolina,
North Carolina State,
South Carolina, and
Wake Forest. The ACC officially came into existence on June 14, 1953. The
1953 NCAA University Division football season, the first under the new conference, saw Duke and Maryland crowned conference co-champions. Maryland later went on to be crowned national champions before losing the
1954 Orange Bowl. On December 4, 1953, conference officials convened in
Greensboro, North Carolina, and admitted the
University of Virginia as the eighth member of the conference. After South Carolina's departure, the ACC operated with seven members until April 3, 1978, when the
Georgia Institute of Technology was admitted. The
Atlanta school had withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference in January 1964 and had operated as an independent before joining the ACC. Though the school joined the conference beginning with
the 1979 season, it did not become eligible to win the ACC football championship until
the 1983 season. Seven years after beginning full ACC play, Georgia Tech won its first ACC football championship en route to winning the 1990 NCAA Division I football championship. In the fall of 1982, Clemson University was
put on probation by the NCAA for recruiting violations. The probation forbade the team from participating in any
bowl games, reduced the scholarships available to the team, and rendered the team ineligible for ACC football championship competition. Beginning with the 1992 football season—its first in the ACC—Florida State won or shared the ACC football championship nine consecutive times. The conference expanded to 11 members on July 1, 2004, with the addition of the University of Miami and
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. but because the league was forbidden from hosting a championship game, the conference was forced to award a championship based on regular-season play (round-robin scheduling was no longer used beginning that season). Virginia Tech, which had the best conference record at the conclusion of the season, was awarded the ACC championship. == Championship game era ==