Is the ACC Worth It?

One week after announcing they would begin a “define the relationship” discussion with the ACC, Notre Dame cannot be pleased looking over the college landscape on Monday morning.  The DTR discussion, quite possibly the worst twenty minutes of spoken word ever initiated on Earth, gives Notre Dame a teaser period as a full member in all but football while agreeing to schedule five ACC football opponents every season.  Sounded great and will undoubtedly boost the conference’s profile, but logically one would think the conference that would finally woo Notre Dame could stand alone without the Irish.  A brand as prestigious as Notre Dame doesn’t give up its independence for just anyone right?  Notre Dame represents the “white whale” for all the other boys to chase…she’s a tough nut to crack, and the mere prospect of dating her keeps all the boys coming back once every two years to try again.

The coup of Notre Dame’s move to the ACC, spurning the more traditional suitors in the Big Ten, will likely change college football irrevocably starting a few years from now.  That depends, however, on how events unfold between Notre Dame and NBC, the money behind a lucrative TV deal.  Should NBC renew the deal, South Bend could stay out of a conference a while longer.  And, after watching the ACC play football this weekend and in recent years, I wouldn’t blame them.

Futility follows the ACC in recent memory at the highest level.  The conference has not sent a representative to the National Championship game since 2000, the last hurrah by Bowden’s Florida State.  And yet, each year, pundits give the ACC loads of preseason hype and the conference maintains a traditional relationship with the fairly prestigious Orange Bowl.  Even then, results don’t seem to be in the ACC’s favor.  Since the addition of former Big East teams (Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, etc.) to the conference, the ACC has won the Orange Bowl once.  Last year, West Virginia poured salt in the wound by racking up 70 points over Clemson.

On Saturday, the ACC continued the themes by now so familiar to many of its alumni.  Virginia Tech, the darling of so many pollsters, inexplicably lost to Pittsburgh 35-17.  Granted, Tech lost on the road, but Pitt lost two weeks ago to Youngstown State of FCS…not exactly prime opposition.  But for Virginia Tech, they are incapable of living up to preseason hype.  In the last six years, Tech has escaped September undefeated only once (2011, and even then they lost to Clemson on October 1^st).  For some of those years, Tech played tough games (LSU, Alabama, Boise State) but also lost no-brainers (James Madison, East Carolina, the 2012 Pittsburgh Panthers).  This has been the best ACC team since joining the conference, and they can’t get out of September?

Miami, once the absolute gem of East Coast football, looks to be in a free-fall.  Their last double digit season was in 2003, a veritable lifetime behind us (seriously, Justin Bieber wasn’t even around in those dark ages) and their record since those days has nosedived.  The 5-7 record under coach Randy Shannon in 2007 was the school’s worst since 1979 (that is not a typo).  Al Golden, the current entrant in Miami’s carousel, recorded a 6-6 record in 2011 and watched his team lose to little-known (but talented) Kansas State last week, 52-13.  While all teams go through bad periods, college football programs are defined by their ability to play in big games.  Just this morning folks in Knoxville are calling for Derek Dooley’s head due to his 0-11 record against ranked teams.  If you can’t motivate your team to play ranked schools, especially with the institutional pride so imbued in Miami, you will be embarrassed and find yourself on the hot seat.  A 28-point win over Bethune Cookman on Saturday won’t help.

Florida State, by far the most successful ACC team ever, finally looks to be rebounding under coach Jimbo Fisher.  The dying gasps of the Bobby Bowden era look to be forgotten in Tallahassee, as Florida State currently stands ranked 5^th in the country and a dark horse national championship contender.  The road has not been easy, but the Miami Freefall described above has not happened with nearly as much intensity for the Seminoles.  Florida States did not miss a bowl game during the whole period of transition, and has found their coach for the future.  If there’s a team that could provide the ACC a much-needed boost, Florida State will likely be it.

Looking at the top three schools in the ACC, their prestige, while large, looks outdated compared to schools in the Big Ten or even the Big 12.  But, every conference will have some top-heaviness, so in order to judge conference we must examine the other guys who make up the rest of the ACC ranks.

A quick but thorough examination unearths some potential bright spots.  Clemson, for instance, reached double digits in wins last year for the first time since 1990.  This season, Dabo Swinney’s team beat Auburn in Week 1, continuing what has become a close rivalry over the last three years.  Clemson 11^th ranked 2012 team should benefit from an easier schedule to find success.  But, for all the excitement, Clemson has not produced when needed.  The 70-34 debacle at the Orange Bowl last year further deflated the prospects of the conference and Clemson has not beaten in-state SEC rival South Carolina under Swinney.  For the team to take the next step, a win over a higher echelon SEC team (South Carolina is ranked in the top ten this year) or big bowl victory will prove Clemson’s worth.  Up to now, Clemson has not done enough.

The same could be said for Georgia Tech, a team that found success early using the complicated triple option offense but cannot seem to sustain that streak.  Paul Johnson, the architect of the offense, led the Yellow Jackets to the Orange Bowl in 2009, a close 24-14 loss to Iowa.  Unfortunately, the team has not reached that level since.  The next season, Johnson’s team went 6-7, followed by an 8-5 record last year.  Each year, however, Georgia Tech breached the top 15 rankings under Johnson, only to tumble late in the season due to bad losses, many of those in conference.  Like Clemson, however, Georgia Tech suffers against in-state SEC opposition.  Since 2001, Georgia Tech has won once against Georgia, a close 45-42 contest in 2008.  In the postseason, Paul Johnson has yet to win a bowl game, losing to Utah and Air Force in the last two years.  For Georgia Tech to find success and play with the big boys, it will need to do more.

After that, the list drops off precipitously.  Boston College continues to re-live the days of Matt Ryan despite not reaching nine wins since then.  North Carolina, despite moments of hope, has not finished the season in the AP poll since 1997 and seems perpetually under the cloud of suspicion and NCAA violations.  Maryland, a conference champion in 2001, enjoyed two wins last season and a one point victory over William and Mary in Week 1 of this year (translation: going nowhere fast).  NC State has seen three bowls in six years and similarly can’t make the jump to relevance, losing big time to Tennessee at the start of this season.  Wake Forest has lost any edge it had off a 2006 conference championship by not finishing in the AP poll since then.  For academic powerhouses Virginia and Duke, the way forward looks promising but not rosy enough to compete with a resurgent Florida State or even a semi-conscious Virginia Tech.  Duke hasn’t made a bowl since 1993, and while my alma mater in Charlottesville looks to be promising, embarrassing contests like Saturday’s loss to Georgia Tech and consistent blowouts at the hands of Virginia Tech will forever impede the program’s progress.  Additions of Syracuse and Pittsburgh next year will not change much about the conference except making it more competitive.

And that might be the eventual trump card argument: we can bash the ACC all we want but at the very least the conference brings a level playing field.  In that sense, the ACC might be the best fit for a brand like Notre Dame who will look for competitive opponents.  But, looking at recent history, while the ACC might be competitive now the conference looks to be in a standstill.  No one team rises above the pack and, whenever it appears that one team can compete on the national level, we are constantly disappointed.  Since the Big East infusion of 2004, only Virginia Tech has been ranked in the top ten nationally to close a season, which they have done three times.  Considering their consistent disappointments and big game letdowns as the "best ACC football team", I have to wonder: is the ACC worth the attention?  Only time will tell.

Bit #1: Redskins Recap

Major thesis statement: Josh Morgan should run suicides until he pukes this week.  Every day, every minute, every hour.

Overall, I am tired of losing to the Rams every year.  But, the effort by the Skins on Sunday was not without promise.  Robert Griffin III still provides enough dynamism on offense to scare opponents and excite fans.  For the first time in a while, I wanted the Skins to have the ball on offense and didn’t mind when the defense gave up a score (something that unit did a lot of on Sunday).  Griffin missed only nine passes, but overall his protection abandoned him.  While the Rams recorded only one sack, Chris Long set up a lemonade stand in the backfield, forcing Griffin out of the pocket.  Once there, the Rams provided a pretty good blueprint for the league: you might not be able to stop RGIII, but you can knock him around.  The offensive line will need to provide better protection going forward after overachieving in Week 1, but RGIII also needs to avoid taking so many hits once he tucks the ball and runs or moves into the backfield.  Above all else, the offense must convert more than 4 of 13 third downs.  With the potential of that unit, those are drive-killers.

On defense, the effort was pitiful.  The Rams gained 452 yards of total offense, 243 of which could be attributed to a slot receiver and a backup running back.  Daryl Richardson averaged 5.5 yards a carry while Danny Amendola caught 15 balls on 16 targets.  While the front seven could be better at stopping the run, the secondary truly let down the rest of the team.  Once Amendola had 10 receptions in the first half, there were no adjustments made in the second half to limit his potential.  For a guy to catch all but one of his targets speaks volumes about the horrid day by the secondary.  Throw in the 7-for-12 third down conversion rate for the Rams, and they outplayed the Skins.

But, the Skins had a chance to win the game.  That chance was all but eliminated by Josh Morgan, who gave in to an antagonizing defensive back and justly received a game-killing 15 yard penalty.  While everyone has rises in tempers, as a professional football player he must know where he is on the field and the stakes for his team.  On a play like that, catch the ball, get tackled, pop up, and run back to the line of scrimmage.  It’s that simple, but he assured a Rams victory by forcing an aged Billy Cundiff to kick an NFL-record field goal try.  As many know, Morgan is my pick for “traditional Redskins free agent bust” of 2012, but his actions on Sunday deserve ridicule.

Bit #2: Week 2 NFL Notes

As much as I don’t want to overreact after Week 2, Kansas City should be pushing the panic button.  The Chiefs gave up five sacks to the Bills and turned the ball over three times.  The two TD passes by Matt Cassel both happened with a Buffalo victory guaranteed.  Opponents have outscored the Chiefs 75-41 this season, and had only nine more yards of offense than C.J. Spiller in the first half.  The Chiefs play the Saints, Chargers, and Ravens in the next three weeks, so they might be 0-5 before too long.

For the Patriots, their game against Arizona proved any NFL team can win in a given week.  For all their talent, the Pats could not contain the Arizona pass rush, which sacked Brady four times.  The talent of New England can’t be denied, as with all that adversity New England still had a chance to win the game.  While folks will blame Gostkowski for not coming through, and should, the problems were more endemic to the entire team.  Kevin Kolb, for example, should not be running a QB sneak from the five yard line and scoring a touchdown.  While many will discuss the Aaron Hernandez injury as deciding the game, the Pats still had the chance to win.  In addition, we’ve all seen the Belichick-Brady combination adjust to another offensive style.  For my money, the Pats lost the game with boneheaded play.

The saga of the Giants-Bucs presents an interesting question: what could be considered “bush league” in football?  The Bucs knocked Eli Manning to the ground at the end of Sunday’s game as he attempted to take a knee and run the clock out.  The Bucs, down by seven, vaulted across the line and went after him.  Tom Coughlin, after the game, called the play cheap and dirty, among other phrases he likely used for Bucs coach Greg Schiano.  With all due respect to Coughlin (he does have two rings compared to my none), a team down by seven has every right to try and force a fumble.  Down by fourteen in this spot, the move would be bush league.  But, continued aggressiveness should not be lampooned, especially when the Bucs were within one touchdown to tie.  That’s football…if you’re worried about that, run the ball up the middle to close out the game.

Finally, I think the 49ers are the best team in the NFC.  After watching the Eagles almost piddle away another victory and seeing the Packers-Bears fracas on Thursday, the 49ers look better than ever.  Their defense remains the stoutest in the league and, as pointed out in the broadcast last night, they are able to keep less men in the box while devoting more resources to pass coverage.  That’s how good the defensive front has been in the last two games.  We may be seeing a lot more of San Fran this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised seeing them in New Orleans come February.

Bit #3: The true problem of replacement officials

There are bad calls in every sport, every match, every contest.  Replacement refs will make bad calls, as will full-time officials.  It happens.  But, referees can make two elements of their job a priority: maintain discipline and keeping games moving without unnecessary delays.

The refs failed at both this week.  The Baltimore-Philly and St. Louis-Washington games both featured pushing and shoving after the play with only offsetting penalties (in effect, no harm no foul) for combatants.  While I understand referees want to be fair, they should be willing to give the instigator a personal foul, just to send a message that players can’t start that kind of nonsense.  No attempt was made in either game to control the players or to punish their immaturity.  To decrease that kind of stuff, a firm message must be sent by refs.  Either eject someone or give them personal foul penalties, but above all do not give offsetting penalties three incidents in a row.

The games yesterday averaged 3 hours, 13 minutes of time…a little over ten minutes in normal years.  The cause of this has been long booth reviews and the ridiculous habit of conferencing for each flag thrown.  Referees must be confident in the call they make, otherwise their credibility comes into serious question.  While booth reviews can confuse even the best officials, a huddle of zebras after an obvious false start wastes everyone’s time.