unACCeptable
The BCS bowls played the last two nights have featured two ACC teams. Like usual, neither team was able to win their game. As a conference, the ACC is now 2-13 all time in BCS bowl games. That’s a winning percentage of .154. Dreadful. That is easily the worst record among the Big Six conferences.
The ACC expanded fully in 2005 to 12 teams (Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College came from the Big East). Since the implementation of the BCS system, even with the addition of these “football schools”, the ACC just cannot cut it in terms of big time college football. Virginia Tech and Florida State have been to 11 games combined and have only won one game apiece. Those are two premier programs for football in the entire country. They have generally maintained their regular season success throughout the years, save for a few blips on the radar for Florida State. Between Miami, Florida State, Clemson, and Virginia Tech, the ACC was supposed to be a tough out for other leagues. Miami is a shell of its former self. Clemson’s defense just gave up 70 points (70 points?!) to a West Virginia team that wasn’t spectacular all season. The ACC looks like a delicious milk bone for all the other big dogs to chew up and spit out.
National media generally pans the ACC as an underwhelming conference in college football. Bowl game officials just have to hope that the teams they select for their bowls will have fans that travel well. Hell, they have to hope these teams will finish 6-6 or better. Either way, it’s easy to see why all the attention is paid to all the other schools in Division I. The ACC hasn’t given anyone reason to believe in its squads in the BCS era.
I don’t know what the solution is. Maybe the lights get too bright in big games. Maybe the talent really is just inferior to other BCS teams they play. The ACC is the laughingstock of the college football world, and it appears that that perception will continue. If the conference truly wants respect, it has to find a way to compete on a national level. Syracuse and Pittsburgh enter the fray in the next few years. That is more of a basketball boost. The football teams for those schools are often subpar and no threat to win 10 games. Teams like Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Miami need to return to the glory days. Not just for themselves, but for their league. The ACC is the Rodney Dangerfield of college football. They don’t get no respect. In this, case it’s justified.
