For all those Cardinals fans who look at the upcoming football schedule and yawns, you should take the opportunity to take a breath. When Louisville joins the ACC in 2014 the football schedule is going to be unbelievable. While the 2013 schedule lacks the marquee names the 2014 schedule and beyond are full of them.
What is the goal of an athletic director at one of the schools in the top several conferences? Is it to win national championships in the revenue sports? Is it to make consistently good showings in the revenue sports? Or is it to have a broad array of athletes participating in non-revenue sports? Well, the Big 10 folks like to talk about how it is the latter. So what if they are not winning national championships, they are offering teams in skee-ball and hula hoops. And all that leads to success in the Capital One Cup.
Or does it?
It looks like the Big Ten Conference may finally get North Carolina and Virginia after all… but not as conference mates.
A few weeks back, The Confidential reviewed the future ACC bowl lineup. With four more teams entering the league, it was believed that the league might increase its bowl affiliations to nine or 10.
Brett McMurphy of ESPN is reporting that the Detroit Lions are looking to replace the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl after this season and operate a new bowl game at Ford Field starting in 2014.
The bowl will still feature a team from the Big Ten, but is expected to have an opponent from the ACC.
Last week, we analyzed the last decade of ACC performances in football and basketball. There were some surprises. For example, Boston College in football and Florida State in basketball. But what does it mean overall? How about a ranking of the performances of all schools in both sports? Here you go.
The ACC records for the last decade of football was posted by acaffrey earlier this week so I thought it would be fun to see the numbers for the basketball side of the conference. I believe the biggest surprise over the last decade of ACC basketball has been the emergence of Florida State as the third winningest program in the conference behind Duke and North Carolina, a period that includes an ACC tournament championship for the Noles.
1. Duke 123-39 76%: Arguable one of the most successful decades in conference history. Duke has won at least 10 conference games in 9 of the last 10 years. During the last decade Duke has won one NCAA title, 3 ACC Regular Season titles, and 6 ACC Tournament titles.
2. North Carolina 117-45 72%: The baby blue (UNC) and navy blue (Duke) have dominated the conference in hoops. Although Duke has a better conference record, North Carolina won 2 NCAA titles during the Roy Williams era (which started in 2003-04). The Heels have also won 6 ACC Regular Season titles and 2 ACC Tournament titles during that time.
3. Florida State 85-77 52%: How in the world did the biggest name in ACC college football climb so high in the basketball centric ACC? Leonard Hamilton. Hamilton’s teams consistently play above their talent level through hard work and relentless defense. However, FSU could be hit the hardest from the most recent conference expansion as the competition for 3rd place in the conference gets considerably tougher.
The other day, the Confidential ran through the most successful ACC football teams for the past decade. Today, ESPN’s Travis Haney has a list of the 10 most talented football teams for 2013. Three of the top 10 teams in talent are in our very own ACC. Moreover, Clemson is in the next five.
The top 10 is, itself, a whos-who of college football elite. Obviously, one can find Alabama, Texas, and Ohio State on the list. But where does the ACC stack up?
Well, Florida State is #4 on the list. Here is some of the blurb on the Seminoles from the article:
Schlabach’s ranking: 14
Kiper’s top 50 prospects: 3
Kiper’s positional prospects: 14
Four-year recruiting class average rank: 4.5Considering the above numbers/rankings, there is no reason for Florida State to lose games the way it did to NC State in 2012 or Virginia in 2011. Injuries and inexperience played a part in those losses and others, but the Seminoles are better on paper than any team in the ACC. At least FSU managed a BCS berth — and win — last season, but it should have been a bigger year.
Pretty fair, actually. FSU has to stop losing to inferior opponents.
In a bit of a surprise, Miami is #8. Here is some of Haney’s explanation:
Schlabach’s ranking: NR
Kiper’s top 50 prospects: 0
Kiper’s positional prospects: 11
Four-year recruiting class average rank: 16.5Am I reaching here? Maybe, but there isn’t a whole lot to differentiate among programs such as Miami, Michigan, Clemson or the ones listed below. I just find the Hurricanes interesting because of how many players return, including the entire offense. They’re kind of easy to forget about, because of the self-imposed bowl ban, but they did win five of their seven games in the ACC — and no team has a hold on the league, not even the Seminoles.
And Notre Dame finished #10. Haney listed Clemson at #12, meaning 25% of the top 12 is in the ACC, while 33% of the top 12 is ACC or ACC-affiliated. Niot bad!
Here is the full list:
So… that’s 6 SEC schools, 3/4 ACC schools, 2 SEC schools, 2 Pac-12 schools, and 1 Big XII school.
An argument could be made for Nebraska, Wisconsin, USC, Virginia Tech, and Louisville to be on this list. But, alas, such is not the case.
What do you think… is ESPN stretching for the ACC now that they have a long-term partnership or is this a legit ranking?
Most sports fans are willing to make fun of a school based on its perceived on-field or on-court performance. Sometimes it is accurate; other times it is not. So, what we set out to do was look at the records of ACC schools in football over the past decade. Who do YOU think had the best record in conference games between 2003 and 2012? Worst? Courtesy of stassen.com, we were able to easily make the calculations.
So, Big 10 fans, you are getting a Maryland team that was 11th in conference wins the past decade. While Maryland has had financial troubles, they were operating under the same system as the rest of its ACC peers. So, good luck with that.
What do you think the rankings would be for hoops? Would it be Duke, North Carolina, or someone else at the top? Who would be at the bottom?
The ACC ‘s annual meetings began in earnest yesterday and there are several topics of interest for Florida State fans:
1. Bowl tie-ins for football: We should learn the bowl lineup for the post BCS era this week. Here’s hoping the addition of Notre Dame results in an appealing slate. After the first day of meetings ESPN’s Brett Murphy has mentioned the potential for the Russell Athletic Bowl to host the #2 ACC team. Most FSU fans would be disappointed with this result.
2. ACC Network: Can the ACC really generate enough interest at ESPN to support another college oriented network? If the answer is yes, then how much money will it bring to the conference? FSU fans are anxious to fill the conference money gap as soon as possible.
3. Basketball Tournament Sites: Will the ACC consider a geographic rotation of sites for the ACC basketball tournament to better represent the geographic foot print of the conference? Can the new ACC programs influence the other non Carolina schools to become less Carolina centric? The selection of future sites for the ACC tournament could shed some light on the future direction of the conference.
Other potential topics of interest:
4. Geographic Division Alignment: it’s time to make North and South divisions to create meaningful geographic rivalries. Surely, FSU was able to work a deal “under the table” to enhance their ACC slate by adding Georgia Tech to their division in exchange for the Grant of Rights. I can’t imagine the Seminoles signing themselves over for a 15 year commitment to the conference without some assurance of immediate benefit for the football program.
FSU fans are mostly tired of hearing about Swofford’s endless amount of promises for an improved revenue and an enhanced league. It would be nice if the ACC could start to flex it’s muscle regarding the topics above so we can all sleep better at night.
Andrew Wiggins
The most disappointing part of Andrew Wiggins’ recruitment is also the most endearing. He does not like the spotlight. Unfortunately, there is no “inside information” available for fans to debate and dispute. FSU fans are hoping for the best. This could become the biggest day in the modern era of Florida State basketball.
The ACC-B1G Challenge games were announced a few days ago. After looking to see who your school played, the next thought was probably to check out whether any other games were intriguing. And there are several. So let’s just go ahead and rank them for interest.
Gold Medal Games:
1. North Carolina @ Michigan State. Tom Izzo v Roy Williams. That’s a lot of Final Four appearances. MSU always reloads, and North Carolina never stays quiet for long. This one should be a battle in Breslin.
2. Michigan @ Duke. Both teams had good seasons in 2012-2013, with Michigan exceeding expectations by making a run to the title game. Both have a lot of production to replace. Will be a great game though.
3. Indiana @ Syracuse. A rematch of a March Madness game that went for the Orange. A lot of new faces in 2013-2014, but a lot of star power will be back and new to both campuses.
4. Wisconsin @ Virginia. The first one to 40 wins? Don’t expect a lot of points in this one. But this is still a darn good matchup.
Silver Medal Games:
5. Notre Dame @ Iowa. Any time ANY Fighting Irish team comes to town, it is a big deal. A nice regional battle too.
6. Penn State @ Pittsburgh. A battle for Pennsylvania. This one should be close too–Penn State has experience coming back.
7. Miami @ Nebraska. The Hurricanes invested in their program by hiring a dynamic coach. Nebraska is investing in its facilities. A better game on the gridiron, but one to keep an eye on anyway.
8. Florida State @ Minnesota. Both teams fell short of expectations last year. A lot of new faces.
Bronze Medal Games:
9. Northwestern @ North Carolina State. This game might be underrated at #9. But until the Wildcats make a Big Dance, it is hard to take them seriously on the hardcourt.
10. Illinois @ Georgia Tech. Still waiting for that Georgia Tech team to turn the corner. Illinois fans may feel the same way.
11. Boston College @ Purdue. Not exactly the old Patriots-Colts battles featuring Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. It is what it is.
12. Maryland @ Ohio State. Big 10 fans will be rooting for Ohio State. ACC fans will be rooting for Ohio State. Not much of a “challenge.”
Participation Ribbons:
Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest are left out of the challenge. We’ll give them participation ribbons even though they are not, obviously, participating.
Listening to ESPN Radio on the way home from work and heard that the schedule for next season’s ACC-Big 10 Challenge had been released.
Here’s the lineup:
Tuesday, December 3
Florida State at Minnesota
Illinois at Georgia Tech
Indiana at Syracuse
Michigan at Duke
Notre Dame at Iowa
Penn State at Pittsburgh
Wednesday, December 4
Boston College at Purdue
Maryland at Ohio State
Miami, FL at Nebraska
North Carolina at Michigan State
Northwestern at North Carolina State
Wisconsin at Virginia
Admittedly NC State does not have the most attractive draw. This is only right after the debacle of 2012/13; however I do believe the coming year will see a less star-laden but more focused Pack. Meaning, of course, this game is winnable, especially at Raleigh.
However there are some great matchups here. Duke/Michigan and UNC/Michigan State, of course, but also the Battle of Pennsylvania, Pitt/Penn State; Syracuse/Indiana looks huge; and the first Challenge appearance of the Irish, Notre Dame/Iowa.
There is even a game in which I might end up rooting for the B1G team; er, go Buckeyes?
The Confidential 