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Column: Historic Saturday a chance for ACC to improve football image

  • September 20, 2011 at 9:10 pm

As Valentine’s Day gifts go, it wasn’t bling, dark chocolate orracy lingerie. but when the ACC unveiled this season’s footballschedule Feb. 14, no date matched the appeal of Sept. 17. 

Sure enough, the day has emerged as advertised: an historicopportunity for a conference founded on basketball to show afootball pulse against the heavyweights.

Florida State-Oklahoma, Clemson-Auburn, Miami-Ohio State,Maryland-West Virginia.

Four games, four ranked opponents, all at home. I doubt any leaguehas hosted as many top-25, non-conference teams on the same day.I’m sure none needs a reputation boost more than the ACC.

Not to suggest its football players wear toe tags instead ofcleats. The league is competitive, entertaining and produces NFLdraft choices by the bushel. The ACC’s 50 bowl bids since 2005trail only the Southeastern Conference’s 51.

But even commissioner John Swofford concedes that’s not enough toforge and sustain national relevance. Acclaim comes only withmarquee victories, and there the ACC is lacking.

Conference teams have lost 31 consecutive games to non-leagueopponents ranked among the top five at kickoff. The last such winwas Florida State’s thumping of No. 4 Florida in 2000.

The ACC boasts only five top-10 conquests in the last decade, mostrecently in 2009, when Miami defeated No. 8 Oklahoma, and FloridaState upended No. 7 BYU. The last conference team to finish aseason among the national top five was the Seminoles in 2000.

Florida State carries the ACC banner again Saturday, and the No. 5Seminoles can stamp themselves national contenders by beating No. 1Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Clemson can ease the pressure on coach DaboSwinney – the Tigers were 6-7 last year and haven’t enduredconsecutive losing seasons since 1975 and ’76 – by besting No. 21Auburn.

New coaches Al Golden at Miami and Randy Edsall at Maryland canbank beaucoup goodwill with victories over No. 17 Ohio State andNo. 18 West Virginia, respectively.

The four games are returns from last September, when the ACCcontingent was winless on the road – Clemson’s overtime loss atthen-No. 16 Auburn was the most competitive.

Those defeats were part of another season that frustratedconference officials. ACC teams were 2-12 versus outside top-25opponents, the lone wins Florida State over South Carolina in theChick-fil-A Bowl, and North Carolina State over West Virginia inthe Champs Bowl.

Virginia Tech’s Orange Bowl crash against Stanford dropped theACC’s Bowl Championship Series record to a national-worst 2-11.Each of the other five major conferences has won at least six BCSgames.

Saturday can’t repair the ACC’s football image, but this unrivaledconvergence certainly could start the process.

Never has the ACC hosted four ranked non-conference teams on thesame day. The previous high was three, in the ACC’s 1953inaugural.

On Nov. 21, Maryland blanked No. 11 Alabama 21-0, Clemson fell toNo. 14 Auburn 45-19, and N.C. State lost to No. 19 West Virginia61-0.

The ACC needs better Saturday.

With the possible exception of Oklahoma, the opponents aren’tdaunting. Auburn was lucky to survive Utah State, Ohio Statecouldn’t shake Toledo, and West Virginia trailed Norfolk State athalftime before awakening at intermission.

Indeed, Clemson, Maryland and Miami are favored, albeit by slimmargins. and three wins Saturday would be unprecedented.

Eight times the ACC has enjoyed two victories over ranked teams onthe same day, most recently Sept. 29, 2007, when Maryland defeatedNo. 10 Rutgers, and Florida State bested No. 22 Alabama.

When Swofford offered his annual state-of-the-union at theconference’s August football kickoff, he extolled, as always, theleague’s depth, bowl bids and draft picks.

But unprompted by media, he acknowledged the ACC’sshortcomings.

“Obviously we need to win more of our high-profile games againstnon-conference opponents,” he said. “That’s the one thing wehaven’t done enough of in recent years … and for us to gain thekind of respect we want for Atlantic Coast Conference football,those are the kind of games we will need to win.”

If not Saturday, if not on its home fields, then when and wheredoes the conference make a stand?

Column: Historic Saturday a chance for ACC to improve football image

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