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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The ACC, Clemson need to step up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a big football weekend for the ACC.
Is it a make or break weekend? Of course not. It’s a long season, But the next four days are big for the ACC. Here’s why.
The ACC expanded to add Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College because it wanted to sit at the same table, both competitively and financially, with the SEC, Big 12, and Big 10. On the financial side of things expansion has been good for the ACC. Very good, in fact.
Competitively? Not so much. The new ACC is still a work in progress.
Here are the important numbers from a story I wrote back in July at the ACC preseason meetings:
1-9: The ACC’s record in BCS Bowl games. Florida State won the 1999 BCS championship. The ACC has lost nine straight since.
2-17: The ACC’s record against non-conference teams ranked in the Top 10 over the past four years.
9-31: The ACC’s record against non-conference teams ranked in the Top 25 the past four years.
0: The number of times the ACC has received an at-large bid to a BCS game in 10 years.
Back in July ACC coaches and other officials assured me that because all the fundamentals were in place, it was just a matter of time before the league stepped up.
This weekend would be a good time to start.
Starting Thursday, the ACC has four non-conference games this weekend against BCS opponents:
Wake Forest at Baylor
N.C. State at South Carolina
Southern Cal at Virginia
Clemson vs. Alabama at the Georgia Dome.
If things go to form, the ACC goes 2-2 with Clemson and Wake Forest winning. Southern Cal is just a lot better than Virginia. N.C. State will play South Carolina tough but the Gamecocks probably win at home.
So what does all of this mean? It means that for the sake of the ACC, Clemson needs to beat Alabama Saturday night. Clemson is the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC and the closest thing the league has to a national championship contender. Miami and Florida State are still at least a year away from competing for a championship. Virginia Tech is completely rebuilding its defense. Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Boston College, and North Carolina all have first or second year coaches.
Clemson is a veteran team with its quarterback, two best running backs, best wide receiver, and seven defensive starters returning. Coach Tommy Bowden is in his 10th season at Clemson.
Alabama is picked to finish third in the SEC West in the second year of Nick Saban’s rebuilding project. At best, Alabama is projected as the fifth or sixth best team in the SEC.
On a week where the SEC grabbed headlines for its 15-year, $2.25 BILLION dollar television deal with ESPN, the ACC needs some good news. It needs the league’s best team to step up and play well on national television.
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