Scooch
Living Legend
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- Aug 27, 2011
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... is that by and large it is totally under it's own control.
If we assume that the league doesn't suffer any defections, then what we're left with is a conference that is a clear (and deserved) #5 on the major conference pecking order. But that perception can change relatively quickly with improved on-field performance. Not every league can say that. The Big East is always going to be perceived as an also-ran, even if, say a Boise State, goes 12-0. It's a structural flaw in the conference.
I mean if the ACC was in it's looming 14 team configuration in the 1990s it would have been viewed as one of the pre-eminent football conferences in the nation, given the tremendous success of FSU and Miami, along with the top-25 caliber quality depth of programs like Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Teach, Virginia, etc.
The ACC hasn't fared too well the past decade, but I don't think that there is anything institutional about that. There's no endemic reason why FSU and Miami can't become top 10 programs again, or why another 4-6 programs can't be solid top 25 finishers on an annual basis. Schools in this conference just have to do it.
And if they don't, what can you do?
If we assume that the league doesn't suffer any defections, then what we're left with is a conference that is a clear (and deserved) #5 on the major conference pecking order. But that perception can change relatively quickly with improved on-field performance. Not every league can say that. The Big East is always going to be perceived as an also-ran, even if, say a Boise State, goes 12-0. It's a structural flaw in the conference.
I mean if the ACC was in it's looming 14 team configuration in the 1990s it would have been viewed as one of the pre-eminent football conferences in the nation, given the tremendous success of FSU and Miami, along with the top-25 caliber quality depth of programs like Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Teach, Virginia, etc.
The ACC hasn't fared too well the past decade, but I don't think that there is anything institutional about that. There's no endemic reason why FSU and Miami can't become top 10 programs again, or why another 4-6 programs can't be solid top 25 finishers on an annual basis. Schools in this conference just have to do it.
And if they don't, what can you do?