The 2021 ACC Championship Game was a college football game played on December 4, 2021, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the 17th edition of the ACC Championship Game and determined the champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2021 season. The game began at 8:15 p.m. EST and aired on ABC. The game featured the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Atlantic Division champions, and the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Coastal Division champions. Sponsored by restaurant chain Subway, the game was known as the Subway ACC Championship Game. Teams The 2021 ACC Championship Game featured the Pittsburgh Panthers, champions of the Coastal Division, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, champions of the Atlantic Division. It was only the second all-time meeting between the teams, with Pittsburgh winning the only previous meeting, in 2018, by a score of 34–13. This was each teams' second appearance in the ACC title game; Wake Forest won its lone previous appearance in 2006, while Pittsburgh lost its lone previous appearance in 2018. This was the first ACC Championship game since 2014 where Clemson does not appear; the Tigers have won each of the last six championship games. Further, Pittsburgh will attempt to become the first Coastal Division team to win the ACC Championship since Virginia Tech did it in 2010. Entering the game, the winner of the last eight ACC Championship Games has gone on to compete in the College Football Playoff; it is expected that the streak will not continue to include the 2021 champions. Pittsburgh Led by head coach Pat Narduzzi, in his seventh season, the Pittsburgh Panthers opened their 2021 campaign with a rout of UMass at home. The Panthers followed this victory with a road contest against Tennessee; after a slow start, a 27-point second quarter propelled them to a one-touchdown win, 41–34. Pitt's third game of the season saw them face Western Michigan, who scored an upset against the Panthers in a 44–41 win, the first Power Five win they'd achieved under head coach Tim Lester. This was all despite the fact that Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett succeeded in tying the school's single-game record for passing touchdowns, set by Dan Marino, with six. Narduzzi's squad was able to bounce back the following week, as they "drilled" New Hampshire by ten touchdowns to move to 3–1. A pair of conference games on the road faced the