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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 790178, member: 289"] I did something similar last August, based on James Howell's ratings: The average ranking, (by Howell): Florida State 14.03 range: 1-44 top 10s: 16 conference “titles”: 9 SU was better: 1 time Miami 19.67 range: 1-73 top 10s: 16 conference “titles”: 10 SU was better: 5 times Virginia Tech 26.33 range: 3-78 top 10s: 6 conference “titles”: 1 SU was better: 10 times Clemson 29.09 range: 1-81 top 10s: 3 conference “titles”: 1 SU was better: 10 times Boston College 44.55 range: 6-108 top 10s: 1 conference “titles”: 1 SU was better: 15 times Georgia Tech 47.33 range: 1-118 top 10s: 1 conference “titles”: 1 SU was better: 17 times North Carolina 47.79 range: 5-99 top 10s: 4 conference “titles”: 0 SU was better: 18 times Pittsburgh 48.33 range: 1-99 top 10: 3 conference “titles”: 2 SU was better: 16 times Syracuse 48.48 range: 4-109 top 10s: 2 conference “titles”: 0 Virginia 50.21 range: 13-120 top 10s: 0 conference “titles”: 0 SU was better: 18 times North Carolina State 50.76 range: 12-90 top 10s: 0 conference “titles”: 0 SU was better: 18 times Louisville 57.88 range: 21-105 top 10s: 2 conference “titles”: 2 SU was better: 18 times Wake Forest 69.61 range: 21-108 top 10s: 0 conference “titles”: 0 SU was better: 22 times Duke 81.21 range: 27-116 top 10s: 0 conference “titles”: 0 SU was better: 25 times (a conference "title" means that Howell rated a schools's team higher than any of the other 13 teams that now comproise the ACC in a particular year) I see four strata here: Florida State and Miami are the true powerhouses, capable of being regular contenders for the national championship when not held back by probation. Miami is down now but we’ve seen several examples of dormant powerhouses rising again in recent history: Oklahoma, USC, Alabama, even Miami itself after their troubles in the late 90’s. Florida State has slowly been building back up and the Noles are perhaps just a notch below what they once were. South Florida will get knocked down a peg being in the sinking ship that is the Big East football conference. That will help both these schools. When they are on their game, they will be the class of the conference. Virginia Tech and Clemson are on the next level. The Hokies have been better at their best but the Tigers have been consistently good the entire 30 years. Louisville is currently in the next group but I think that is deceiving. They are a powerhouse athletic department, making tons of money right now. The school is in SEC country but also close to prime recruiting areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I don’t see them rising to the Florida State/Miami level for the next 33 years but I think they will be on a par with Virginia Tech and Clemson. Then comes what I will call the “elevator bank” teams. They represent the middle of the conference and will be up and down. In good years they might be on the second tier. In a dream year they might be on the first tier. But they will be up and down. Their games against each other should be very competitive and they will occasionally pull off an upset over a higher tiered school. Some years it won’t be an upset. But they are not going to be dominant programs or regular contenders. They are Boston College, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia and North Carolina State. (Maybe we can finally beat the Wolfpack: we are 0-6 against them all time.) The bottom feeders will be Wake Forest and Duke. The Deacons have had their moments in recent years and Grobe is a good coach but I don’t think they can sustain it. Can we compete in the ACC? I think so. That doesn’t tell me how much we will win there or how often we will compete for a title. It may help that the conference is split into divisions. We could have a year when we are strong but the division is weak. If we can get to the conference title game, that’s one game and if we got there, we are good enough to win it. I think it’s a conference that will be very tough on struggling teams, much like the basketball Big East, (or the basketball ACC), where even a pretty good team could get pounded down playing someone each week who can beat them, even if they play poorly. It will be quite a challenge but we need to keep the legs pumping to keep our heads above water. [/QUOTE]

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