Winning the ACC could give Tech long-term benefits

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Standing beneath the stands of the South end zone of Bobby Dodd Stadium after his team had lost to Georgia Tech in the season's second week, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told the media that he had a feeling he was going to see the Yellow Jackets again.

Indeed he will.

The Tigers (8-4) and the Yellow Jackets (10-2) will play for the ACC championship at 8 p.m. Saturday in Tampa.

The stakes are huge: The first title for Tech since 1998. The first for Clemson since 1991. A berth in the Orange Bowl.

As the coaches and players have said throughout the week: It's what they play for.

"It would mean that we achieved our No. 1 goal, which was to win the ACC," Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said. "The regular season's over. We finished 10-2. We would liked to have been 12-0. Now we can cap that by winning the ACC championship and going to a BCS game, which would be huge."

The benefits from winning a title and a spot in the Orange Bowl could be long-reaching for recruiting and finances. The short-term benefits are mostly mental.

"Anytime you can compete for championships, there's a little more bounce in the step and everyone feels better," Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich said.

The players say winning the title would be the culmination of all the work they've put in since they enrolled. For some, such as Jonathan Malone, a non-scholarship player from Marietta who has been on the team for the past four years, winning a championship would be a special reward for four years of quiet, but important, contributions.

"It would be great to win a title, put in a lot of hard work for four years, no scholarship," Malone said. "It would be very rewarding."

Long term, Tech's recruiting could benefit. Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, whose teams have combined to win the past three titles, say they were able to show players that not only would they get a great education, but they would get a chance to play on the biggest stages. The players Grobe recruited from their 9-6 win over Georgia Tech in the 2006 title game are still underclassmen who haven't gotten a lot of time on the field. Boston College Frank Spaziani, whose Eagles lost to the Hokies for the title the past two seasons, said playing for the title can help convince the better players that they should come to your school.

"In the long term if you keep having and keep having success, it has a cumulative effect," Spaziani said. "It's exposure, it's all about the exposure."

Financially, there's no immediate benefit. The ACC doesn't give bonuses to conference champions. In addition, the ACC divides the revenues earned from postseason events equally among the member schools. So, even though the Orange Bowl has a payout of $17.5 million per conference, Tech or Clemson will receive roughly $1.45 million, not including the money it receives to cover travel expenses.

But there could be a long-term benefit because playing for a title or playing in the Orange Bowl will be used when it's time to sell season-ticket packages next season, Radakovich said.

"That will help solidify our financial base," Radakovich said.

Now, Johnson said they just have to seal the deal.

"The season will have longer-term effect," Johnson said. "If we can finish it off right, it'll be better. Anytime you win double-digit games it's a good year. Certainly we'd like to finish it off the right way."