The ACC really got hammered in the media this year due to the high level of competitiveness within the ACC. With the season over, it's high time to really look at how the ACC has fared with its out of conference scheduling.
The ACC had 48 OOC games and won 37 of them for a win percentage of 77 percent, the same win percentage of the SEC.
Against the SEC, the ACC went 6-4. If we exclude the games involving Alabama and Florida, since NO team in the SEC could hang with either of those teams, the ACC is 6-1. Pretty amazing for the ACC, since it's
- B/R Ticket Guide
Against the other conferences, the ACC went 2-2 against the Big East, 0-1 against the Big 10, 4-0 against the Big 12, 4-1 against Conference USA, 2-0 against Middle American, and 1-1 against the Pac-10.
The only team in the Big East that an ACC team played was Northwestern. Overall, the ACC played some great football against the other conferences. Some highlights include Maryland's win over Cal, Virginia Tech's win over Nebraska, Georgia Tech's win over Georgia, UNC's win over Connecticut, and Clemson's win over South Carolina.
Nine teams in the ACC have winning records and are bowl eligible—more than any other conference.
Despite all of the problems the ACC had this year, it turns out the ACC played a pretty good year.
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about 1 month ago
Don't you mean the only Big Ten team they played this year was N'western?
Other than that, good stuff.
about 1 month ago
You have to actually look at who those games were against though too...Against the Big XII the ACC was 4-0...but look who they actually played. Baylor, Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Colorado. Only one of those teams is bowl eligible. The teams that played them WF, Florida St. Va Tech, and Miami. WF started the year ranked. Miami was tied for the lead in the Coastal Division until they had a brain fart against NC State. Florida State lost the tie breaker for the Atlantic Division. Va Tech is the Coastal Division champion. Yes the numbers are right, but when you really look at them, they are misleading. The cream of the ACC crop beat the 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th teams from the Big XII.
I am not an SEC fan, but to try to compare the strength of the ACC to that of the SEC is rediculous. This is a down-year for the SEC but the SEC still showed up on the field in their games. I imagine if I looked at who the ACC's wins were against, the only win over a decent SEC team by a decent ACC team is the Georgia-Ga Tech game.
The ACC has a winning record against the Big XII. Does that mean that the ACC is as good or better than the Big XII. Not a chance. Big XII teams were 38-10 in OOC 79%...which is comparable. The ACC does have a winning record against the Big XII...so I guess they get the nod there. But you have to be kidding yourself if you think that the Big XII wouldn't OWN a series pitting ACC teams against Big XII teams if it were 1v1 2v2 3v3 etc. The ACC comes out of there with maybe 3 wins in the 12 games. Its rediculous.
The ACC is having a down period. They haven't been up since the merger. Next year, it should be a good conference finally.
from about 1 month ago
http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/28041-conference-power-rankings-week-14?eref=fromSI
argue with that.
about 1 month ago
CW woah.....three wins? how do you figure? The Big 12 has more dominant teams at the top but I don't see where you'd get three wins. heres how id see it happen:
Boston College (18) v OKLAHOMA (4)
Virginia Tech v TT (8)
Florida State v TEXAS(3)
Georgia Tech (15) v OSU(14)
Maryland v MISSOURI (19)
UNC v Kansas
CLEMSON v Nebraska
MIAMI v Texas A&M
WAKE FOREST v Colorado
NCSU v Kansas State
UVA v Baylor
DUKE v Iowa State
from about 1 month ago
teams in caps win
from about 1 month ago
Samuel - Top to bottom I think the ACC would beat the Big 12. Based on your matchups The Big 12 should win the OU and Texas games, TT should be slightly favored against VT (I still think TT is overrated), the next 4 would be toss-ups, and the last 5 should go to the ACC. Even if you swapped the opponents the results would be similar since the ACC has such good balance and depth this year.
about 1 month ago
Well, the SEC teams that the ACC beat included a 6-2 team, a 5-3 team, and 2 4-4 teams, which are the best teams in the SEC not called Florida or Alabama. So, if the only team that's decent was 6-2 UGA, that means 9 out of 12 SEC teams are considered awful.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the comment, that's a good way of looking at it!
about 1 month ago
Good article Matt. There aren't many articles on this site in defense of the ACC. Why? Because it is a mediocre conference. Lots of parity, not strength is the reason so many teams are going bowling this year.
The ACC, to me, is a conference with a lot of good teams and a few bad ones. There was no really good or great teams this year. I'd still put it ahead of the Big East and Pac-10 overall.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the comment!
about 1 month ago
The problem with this argument is that there isn't an ACC team in the Top 10. While the SEC is certainly down, the SEC will get a team in the national title game, and a second team in the BCS. When SEC fans complain about the conference beating each other up, they still place a team in the National Title Game. The ACC has a decent balance this year, but they lack an elite team, which reflects negatively on the entire conference.
When comparing schedules, you can't just throw out the best teams from one conference. If you throw out Georgia Tech's record against the SEC too, you are left with mediocre versus mediocre. Wake's victory over Ole Miss is decent, but it's hard to be impressed with any of the others.
from about 1 month ago
The strength of the conference shouldn't rely on one or two "elite" teams. If anything, having one or two elite teams would make a conference weak instead of strong. Instead of having compelling matchups week in and week out, you end up with one great team dominating what will be percieved as cupcakes. Imagine if the sunbelt conference had an elite team, the conference would still be a joke.
from about 1 month ago
You slightly missed my point. I am not saying the SEC is the best conference, or even an elite conference this year. But my definition of a competitive but TOUGH conference would be for the top teams to have 2 losses max. The ACC is just having a rough run right now, much like the Big 10. Things will change over time, but just because a conference is "competitive", if your two best teams are 9-3, the conference isn't tough, it's competitive, but not tough. I would agree the ACC was alot of fun to watch this year, but when the conference championship game is 9-3 BC vs. 8-4 VTech, that says something about the conference as a whole. However, I would suspect the ACC will do great in bowl games, because they have played in close games all year. That is usually a good sign.
about 1 month ago
How convenient to ignore the games against Florida and Alabama.
UF 26, Miami 3
UF 45, FSU 15
Bama 34, Clemson 10
Total points: 105-28
Still, FSU finished 8-4, and Miami and Clemson finish 7-5.
I think this shows the the ACC has many above average teams this year and good depth, but no top tier teams (like Bama and Florida). Miami and FSU should be much improved next year.
The Georgia Tech - UGA game was ugly on defense (just like the Big 12). UGA was in control until the 3rd quarter when all hell broke loose.
In the SEC, UF and Bama are clearly the best, then probably Ole Miss and UGA, and the rest would struggle against any ACC team this year. I think 10 SEC-ACC matchups each year is too much. Both conferences should play at least 2 games against each of the other BCS conferences. I think that would be the key to fixing the BCS.
from about 1 month ago
I agree that there should be more interconference play. I personally want to see more USC/Ohio State games. We as fans deserve it.
about 1 month ago
Matt, while the above commenters are correct that you overstated your case, your main point is correct. The ACC is having a better year than they are given credit for. The fact is they bounce back well from a terrible September, that included the Alabama drubbing of Clemson and the losses by Virginia Tech to East Carolina (remember them?) and Wake Forest's loss to Navy.
You can't blame people for giving up on the whole conference after that, but they quietly got two teams ranked back in the top 20. Not bad.
from about 1 month ago
You have to look at the whole body of work, not just one single week or month. The ACC has actually surpassed the SEC in power rankings this year. Ironic, no?
from about 1 month ago
The SEC definitely cratered this year. It was the weakest season they've had top to bottom in a long time. Still, having the top two team in the country at this point in the season isn't shabby.
Very few teams can consistently compete with Fla and Alabama this year. The 3 Big 12 teams and USC, that's about it.
The ACC has a lot of decent teams, but nobody spectacular. I think the SEC could stick their 3rd best team, Georgia, in there and win the ACC easily.
about 1 month ago
By the way, I'm not sure anybody wants to play Georgia Tech right now. That's saying something.
about 1 month ago
Matt, another vote for you overstating your case a bit.
I agree with Lou: The ACC bounced back after being left for dead.
I thought the parity in the ACC made for a fairly entertaining season for a non-ACC fan such as myself.
I certainly wasn't pleased with the SEC losses.
about 1 month ago
I don't know if I could agree with you. I can't really applaud mediocrity. Sure, they have nine teams bowl eligible, but only two teams are ranked in the top-25, and they're toward the back of the pack. If anything, the ACC has had a middle-ground year. They're not a weak conference, but they're sure not a strong conference either.
about 1 month ago
I have to agree with Matt.
The SEC's top two teams - Alabama and Florida - are better than any ACC teams, but the ACC has beaten up the rest of the SEC, 6-1. The lone loss - NC St to S. Carolina - would not happen to the Wolfpack team by the end of this year. ACC is 13-8 against BCS opponents.
Here's a good site for non-conference records. http://www.colleyrankings.com/curconf.html#ACC
Overall, Billingsley would rank the ACC as the fifth strongest conference. But his ranking of Georgia Tech would be put it as third best in the SEC. http://www.cfrc.com/Ratings_2008/CC_14.htm
about 1 month ago
Getting back to national power.
about 1 month ago
Thanks Michael for the Colley link. ACC played 14 I-AA opponents? That should be illegal. It also looks like the Big 10 had the weakest non-conference schedule, largely avoiding the Big 12, ACC, and SEC. And as far as NC State's 34-0 loss to the Gamecocks earlier in the season, if they could beat the Gamecocks today then they should definitely win the most improved award.
about 1 month ago
Yay!
The ACC has a bunch of mediocre teams that can beat the medicore teams from other conferences. They have no elite teams. The true elite teams easily handled ACC teams (e.g. Florida over FSU and Miami by a ton, and Bama over Clemson by a ton).
Until they field some championship caliber teams, the ACC is going to remain a second-tier BCS conference.
from about 1 month ago
Yes, the ACC beat up on a bunch of mediocre teams from other conferences. I mean, they're average opponent's efficency ranking was 67 out of 120. But then again, the SEC's average efficency ranking was 77 out of 120. Interesting how the ACC's mediocre teams played better teams than the SEC, out of conference against better competition.
It's also very curious when Jeff Sagarin from USA Today ranks the ACC as the number 1 conference, Colley ranks it second with only the Big XII ahead, Wolfe ranks it third with only the Big XII and Big East ahead, and Massey ranks it first. That's 4 of the six computer rankings that go into the BCS rankings. Curious how they all rank the ACC so highly.
So tell me, how is the ACC a bunch of mediocre teams again?
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