I didn't see a just ACC thread anywhere so I thought maybe I'd make a little post here to get some info and feedback on the past and future week. I'd love to read your thoughts!
Coastal:
Clemson and FSU look really good. SU's division (our first division ever in football and it feels weird) all won their games...some against good competition some not so good. Some took care of business like Maryland and NCS , Wake did what they had too and BC struggled.
This week:
FSU bye vs Nevada who got blown out vs UCLA next week. Maryland vs Old Dominion...please win ODU. NCS vs Richmond another tough FCS. Clemson vs SC State. ACC game Wake vs BC both on a short week. SU vs the #19 Wildcats of Northwestern.
Atlantic:
VT looks like VT, tough first game. NC played a very tough USCe team and showed signs of being pretty solid. Virginia with a tough fought win over BYU. GT and Miami took care of business. Duke played a high school team but did what they had to do. Pitt showed they struggle vs speed but should be solid but Savage still looks scared.
This week:
GT bye next week vs Duke. Duke vs Memphis our first ACC vs AAC game. #9/12Florida @ Miami...big game here. Virginia vs #2/3 Oregon ...the Cavaliers have a tough one here and kudos to them for these first 2 games. NC plays Middle Tennessee and we'll get aq better read on what kind of team they will be. VT vs Western Carolina...back to a Beamer type of OOC schedule. Pitt bye and next week New Mexico.
The ACC did pretty well in week 1 with some very big games coming up.
Actually, you've got the divisions mixed up, but don't feel bad. A lot of people do.
All in all, as far as the first weekend goes, not bad for the ACC. No embarrassing losses. UM vs UF will be the difference to whether the ACC is off to a good start or not, with a possible extra boost if you guys can knock off NW. I'm just conceeding a UVA massacre.
Clemson got the showcase win, UVA won a loseable game, and FSU, while it was a conference foe, looked at least as good as advertised.
In the losses, nobody got embarrassed in defeat. VT played Bama basically even other than special teams, and North Carolina was disappointing but was competitive. Nobody lost or even had closer than expected wins over their walk-overs, which is certainly saying something on a weekend that saw FCS flex their muscles a bit.
If Miami can beat UF, that will be huge upon huge for the ACC, and get people talking about more than Clemson and FSU. It's important, because Miami will lose an ACC game or two. Put it this way, if Miami gets drubbed by UF, and then loses to GT, that just makes Miami look like they suck. But if they beat UF, and lose to GT, GT gets ranked.
Now, I've got to take a huge exception to something you mentioned, just because I'm on my soapbox on this issue recently. As for UVA's "kudos to them for these first 2 games", NO. Exactly the opposite. I'm glad they pulled out the win against BYU, because now maybe they'll have a chance to be bowl eligible, but UVA scheduling like this is total B.S. It's crappy for them, for Mike London, and for the conference.
UVA is going to take a 55-0 whipping this weekend that will completely emasculate them as team. If not for a timely interception, they'd be starting 0-2. That does NOTHING for the ACC. It does NOTHING for UVA. UVA isn't recruiting the west coast, or Mormons, or anything else that justifies playing two tough OOC opponents every year like PSU, BYU, TCU, USC, Oregon. All it does is get their coaches fired, make it hard to make bowls, and make any team they beat in the ACC look bad. There is ZERO upside for UVA or the ACC in playing like this.
You guys are in the same boat staring down an 0-2 start, but I give you a pass because these games are holdovers. But you could have a pretty decent team this year, and still start out 0-2.
Do you guys not think you have a shot to beat Clemson? We'll learn more, but sure you do. Let's say you are 2-2 and beat Clemson. Clemson will probably drop to #23, and out of the national title picture. You guys will still not be sniffing the top 25.
But if you were 4-0, even with total walkovers, and beat Clemson, they'd probably drop to #15, and you guys would definitely be ranked. The talk would be that Syracuse is good this year, not just that Clemson is overrated. Then if another ACC team beats you, then they get the rub of beating a ranked team.
There is a place for the ACC to challenge itself out of conference. Schools that should be national title contenders should be aware of their SOS, and be looking for showcase games they can win. Clemson-UGA, FSU-Oklahoma State next year, UF-UM. Two of those a year is plenty for the conference.
There are some games that make SOME regional sense, that have history and recruiting impact if you can win them. UNC-USC, UVA-PSU, SU-PSU, I don't have a big problem with taking a crack at those kinds of games OCCASIONALLY. Not every year.
Other than that, everyone needs to be scheduling wins until they establish themselves as top 15-20 teams.
Why is everyone in the ACC scheduling UP in all their BCS opponents (not talking about the state rivalries)? Why are we constantly scheduling Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Florida, USC, and never scheduling Ole Miss, Arkansas, Vandy (except for WF), Mississippi State, and now Missouri?
Texas plays Ole Miss. Oklahoma State plays Mississippi State. Oregon plays Tennessee. Why are we as a conference not scheduling our power teams against those? We do the same thing with the PAC, scheduling Oregon and USC while other conferences eat up Washington State and Cal.
We have our second- and third-level teams playing the likes of Alabama, Oregon, USC, but where are the games against Indiana, Minnesota, Wash St, Mississippi State, etc?
NO other conference schedules this way. NONE. It's killing this conference. Our teams schedule like we're Louisiana Monroe.
We have to stop scheduling with our heart and use our brains. Look at every program that was built from crap into gold in the last 25 years and they were all built on easy OOC scheduling. KSU, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State. It's a formula and it works. It means when you're mediocre you're still 8-4, and when you've got a good team you've got a shot at 10-2.
Yes, I know better than anybody that FSU built themselves out of a murderer's row of a schedule, but that was a different time and a completely different set of circumstances that bears no resemblence to today. We have evidence of what works, and what doesn't work. Recruits don't look at the .500 record and December 20th bowl game in Idaho, and say "well, they played Oregon" when they're comparing to a school that won 9 games and played in January in Florida.
This is an especially bitter pill to swallow for a school like Syracuse, who has always played a national schedule, as it has been for FSU. But it has to be fixed. UVA and BC have to stop what they do. Syracuse has to pull back. Duke finally seems to get it, and maybe NCSU as well. We can't keep sending all our teams into conference play with 1-2 losses.
This conference needs 2-3 carefully selected showcase games every season, and that's it. When a UVA or Syracuse or BC builds up the program on the back of winning seasons, good bowl games, etc, THEN they should be a part of that. I'm not advocating elite teams playing complete cupcake schedules. But this conference MUST stop scheduling themselves for OOC games every year where they are underdogs.
