With all due respect to the fine higher learning institutions in the Atlantic Coast Conference, from a football perspective a Florida State and Clemson matchup like this is what this conference needs. All other conferences in the nation have bell cow teams with large, passionate football fans that not only can compete for conference titles, they regularly compete for National Titles. They rally the nation to see their top matchups that mean so much more than just regional rivalries. The SEC has Alabama, Florida, LSU, and Georgia. They go even deeper with teams like Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, and now Texas A&M occasionally competing on a national level, too. The Pac-12 has Oregon and USC with Stanford joining the party as of late. The Big12 has Oklahoma and Texas (though they’ve fallen on hard times lately) with Oklahoma State and TCU occasionally making waves. The Big10 has Ohio State and Michigan, with Wisconsin and Nebraska having past success. Over the past decade, what has the ACC had? Not much!
Virginia Tech has been the only team winning consistently in that time frame, but they haven’t really moved the needle on a national level. The Hokies haven’t been in serious national championship consideration into November with the exception of maybe a year. Clemson has found itself mired in mediocrity far too often. Florida State is coming off it’s worst few years since Captain and Tennille were reminding us that “Love Will Keep Us Together”. Miami hasn’t competed for the ACC title, let alone being a National contender, since joining the conference in 2005 (though they qualified last season but sat it out due to self-imposed sanctions). Take a look at the stretch of ACC Championship games from 2006-2009:
2006 – Wake Forest vs Georgia Tech
2007 – Virginia Tech vs Boston College
2008 – Virginia Tech vs Boston College
2009 – Georgia Tech vs Clemson
Wake Forest? It was a great story. It was a solid team led by some savvy veterans and had some NFL talent. It is NOT a team that garners national respect, though. They went on to win that ACC Championship in a riveting 9-6 field goal fest. Then followed that up with a 24-13 loss to Louisville in the Orange Bowl.
Boston College was a good team in 2007-08. They had a quarterback in Matt Ryan that would go on to be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
They reached #2 in the nation at one point in the season. However, they were never taken serious on a national stage. The two matchups they had with Virginia Tech were outright embarrassments for the ACC on a national stage. Remember those overhead stadium shots? Yikes!
For the last 3 seasons the ACC has at least had some traditional football schools in the title game with Virginia Tech and Florida State featured twice and Clemson and Georgia Tech featured once. However, not one of those teams were in contention for the National Championship at game time. Now, just because Clemson and Florida State are matching up in the Top 5 halfway through the season doesn’t guarantee that the ACC will factor into the discussion at the end of the season. It is a positive sign, though, that for the first time since November 5, 2005 The ACC features 3 teams in the AP Top 10. That it’s the 3 more prolific powers, name teams that draw national interest, is all the more reason for optimism.
This game is big on so many levels. It will showcase one of the great atmospheres and fan bases in college football in Clemson, South Carolina. A school that is on par with other great southern football programs in terms of commitment and passion for football. Florida State is one of probably only 2 other schools in the conference that can make that claim (the other being Virginia Tech). That makes for a buildup that really can only be paralleled by a select few other teams in the nation outside of the rampant and wild SEC. Barring an upset in the few weeks after the game, it will give the ACC a legitimate National Title contender into November.
The real beauty of this game is much like classic Alabama/LSU of the recent past or Florida/Tennessee games of yesteryear, with it being a division game, both teams could possibly combine for just 1 loss at the end of the season. That is where other conferences have garnered their respect over the last decade. That is where the ACC needs to be going forward. Some combination of Clemson, Florida State, Miami, and Virgnia Tech need to be the bell cows for this conference winning at a high level each year. Then if a Georgia Tech, sans Paul Johnson, or North Carolina want to join the party occasionally and have successful years, that’s becomes acceptable because it means they were beating quality, respected teams.