Why Isn't The ACC Better In Football?
posted by Scott Hood on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
He was talking about reviewing game film for Saturday’s border battle between South Carolina and North Carolina. Inevitably, he came around to comparing the talents levels of the SEC and ACC.
While doing so, he said something provocative. After studying all that film, he claimed there wasn’t much difference in the overall talent levels of the two conferences.
If that’s true, it raises a thoughtful question.
Why then is the SEC regarded by most knowledgeable college football observers as the top conference in the nation while the ACC is barely mentioned among the top five conferences?
When the ACC expanded several years ago to 12 teams and created a conference championship game, many people thought the conference would become a superpower on the college football landscape.
It hasn’t happened yet. Why not?
I think I have the answer.
The ACC is afflicted with H.I.V.
Hoops Insecurity Virus.
We all know the ACC is a basketball league, first and foremost. A head count of the 12 league members indicates seven schools regard men’s basketball as their top sport – Maryland, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia.
Only four member schools have football at the top of the food chain – Clemson, Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech.
Boston College? It’s a hockey school. Believe me, I know. I grew up there.
It’s my theory many ACC schools simply don’t want quality football teams because they might deflect attention – and dollars - away from their beloved basketball programs.
That’s where the insecurity part comes in.
Duke, I’m afraid, is the perfect example.
Steve Spurrier has proven a coach can win at the Durham, N.C. based school with the right coaching and players. But any head football coach there has an enemy within – the Duke administration.
I‘m convinced – and have been for years – that the powers that be at Duke have no intention of allowing the football program to become successful out of fear of men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyewski.
Unfortunately, Duke has taken football apathy to a new level.
Heck, even the Duke lacrosse team has received more media attention than the football program in the last year or so.
The last time we saw a football program this incompetent, the Big East kicked Temple out of the league. Frankly, the ACC should do the same to Duke, but won’t because of the millions of dollars the basketball program attracts like a magnet.
At minimum, Duke should stop the charade and demote its football program to the I-AA level.
But Duke is only a reflection of a larger dilemma for the conference.
The ACC will never reach its full potential on the gridiron until the Tobacco Road schools – the heart and soul of the league for half a century - start taking football more seriously.
Right now, the four league schools located in the Tar Heel State are a combined 7-16. Duke is 1-5 after stunning Northwestern on the road earlier this year. N.C. State is also 1-5, while UNC is 2-4 after surprising Miami last Saturday.
Isn’t Miami one of the new league members that were supposed to propel the ACC into the stratosphere? Prior to last Saturday, the last time I checked out Miami they were being trounced by Oklahoma, 51-13, an embarrassing performance by a once proud school.
Just three ACC schools are in this week’s AP Top 25. Ironically, the top two schools (Boston College #4, Virginia Tec #12) joined the league just a few years ago. The third school – Florida State – joined the conference in 1992.
That means not one of the eight long-standing league members is included in Top 25.
Football is too much of an afterthought for many conference schools to carry the league. It’s important to note none of the so-called four “football schools” are located within North Carolina. In fact, they’re located mostly on the geographic fringes of the conference.
As for North Carolina, there’s no excuse why the Tar Heels have been mostly mediocre in the 10 years since Mack Brown left to take over the Texas program.
As Spurrier pointed out on Tuesday, they have excellent facilities, a big budget, a decent stadium and good coaches. Everything is there to win, and won big. Yet, they don’t.
Sadly, most UNC fans simply don’t care, or even long for the days of the Tar Heels returning to its elite status.
They’re too busy counting down the days to the start of basketball practice.
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Steve Spurrier said something Tuesday during his weekly press conference that piqued my interest.
He was talking about reviewing game film for Saturday’s border battle between South Carolina and North Carolina. Inevitably, he came around to comparing the talents levels of the SEC and ACC.
While doing so, he said something provocative. After studying all that film, he claimed there wasn’t much difference in the overall talent levels of the two conferences.
If that’s true, it raises a thoughtful question.
Why then is the SEC regarded by most knowledgeable college football observers as the top conference in the nation while the ACC is barely mentioned among the top five conferences?
When the ACC expanded several years ago to 12 teams and created a conference championship game, many people thought the conference would become a superpower on the college football landscape.
It hasn’t happened yet. Why not?
I think I have the answer.
The ACC is afflicted with H.I.V.
Hoops Insecurity Virus.
We all know the ACC is a basketball league, first and foremost. A head count of the 12 league members indicates seven schools regard men’s basketball as their top sport – Maryland, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia.
Only four member schools have football at the top of the food chain – Clemson, Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech.
Boston College? It’s a hockey school. Believe me, I know. I grew up there.
It’s my theory many ACC schools simply don’t want quality football teams because they might deflect attention – and dollars - away from their beloved basketball programs.
That’s where the insecurity part comes in.
Duke, I’m afraid, is the perfect example.
Steve Spurrier has proven a coach can win at the Durham, N.C. based school with the right coaching and players. But any head football coach there has an enemy within – the Duke administration.
I‘m convinced – and have been for years – that the powers that be at Duke have no intention of allowing the football program to become successful out of fear of men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyewski.
Unfortunately, Duke has taken football apathy to a new level.
Heck, even the Duke lacrosse team has received more media attention than the football program in the last year or so.
The last time we saw a football program this incompetent, the Big East kicked Temple out of the league. Frankly, the ACC should do the same to Duke, but won’t because of the millions of dollars the basketball program attracts like a magnet.
At minimum, Duke should stop the charade and demote its football program to the I-AA level.
But Duke is only a reflection of a larger dilemma for the conference.
The ACC will never reach its full potential on the gridiron until the Tobacco Road schools – the heart and soul of the league for half a century - start taking football more seriously.
Right now, the four league schools located in the Tar Heel State are a combined 7-16. Duke is 1-5 after stunning Northwestern on the road earlier this year. N.C. State is also 1-5, while UNC is 2-4 after surprising Miami last Saturday.
Isn’t Miami one of the new league members that were supposed to propel the ACC into the stratosphere? Prior to last Saturday, the last time I checked out Miami they were being trounced by Oklahoma, 51-13, an embarrassing performance by a once proud school.
Just three ACC schools are in this week’s AP Top 25. Ironically, the top two schools (Boston College #4, Virginia Tec #12) joined the league just a few years ago. The third school – Florida State – joined the conference in 1992.
That means not one of the eight long-standing league members is included in Top 25.
Football is too much of an afterthought for many conference schools to carry the league. It’s important to note none of the so-called four “football schools” are located within North Carolina. In fact, they’re located mostly on the geographic fringes of the conference.
As for North Carolina, there’s no excuse why the Tar Heels have been mostly mediocre in the 10 years since Mack Brown left to take over the Texas program.
As Spurrier pointed out on Tuesday, they have excellent facilities, a big budget, a decent stadium and good coaches. Everything is there to win, and won big. Yet, they don’t.
Sadly, most UNC fans simply don’t care, or even long for the days of the Tar Heels returning to its elite status.
They’re too busy counting down the days to the start of basketball practice.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.