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.
Baseballs post season was set Monday afternoon and North Carolina incredible season was rewarded with the #1 national seed. The other national seeds in order are Vanderbilt, Oregon St, LSU, Cal St Fullerton, Virginia, Florida St and Oregon.
North Carolina (52-8) won its first regular season champion since 1990 and it’s coach Mike Fox’s program first #1 seed. They have been a top 8 seed 6 of the last 7 years. They are the only team in the nation that hasn’t lost consecutive games this season. They will open their bid to be the first top seeded team to win the championship since the 1999 Miami team against Canisius (42-15), who is making their first appearance in the tournament.
The Louisville Cardinals (46-12) will begin their quest to make it to Omaha for the first time since 2007 against Bowling Green (24-29) on Friday at 6pm. They missed out on a national seed but they will host the regional. Also in their region is future ACC foe Miami (36-23) who has made the tournament for a record 41st straight year.
The SEC led all conferences with a record-tying 9 bids. The ACC received 8 while the Pac 12 and Sun Belt received 4 bids each. The committee snubbed the Big East by handing out only 2 bids, to Louisville and UConn. Although the SEC received more bids, the ACC has the upper hand with 5 teams playing host, not including Louisville, while the SEC has only 4 teams hosting a regional. Also the ACC received more national seeds than the SEC, 3-2.
The tournament opens this Friday with 16 four team double-elimination regionals. Those winners will advance to next weeks best of 3 super regionals. The remaining 8 teams will then be broken down into 2 double-elimination brackets in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Here is a look at the regionals and super regional line up. Read more…
The pools and games have been set for this years ACC Baseball Tournament. With North Carolina being the top ranked team in the country almost the entire year and the ACC #1 conference RPI, this should be a very exciting tourney.
Pool A Pool B
#1 North Carolina #2 Florida St
#4 NC State #3 Virginia
#5 Clemson #6 Virginia Tech
#8 Miami #7 Georgia
Each team will play each other in their pool Here’s a look at the tournament schedule:
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.
Just scanning the Charlotte Observer website and came across this tidbit: Charlotte West Mecklenburg Junior QB Jalan McClendon has commited to the Wolfpack. Here’s the link:
http://prepinsiders.blogspot.com/2013/05/west-meck-qb-jalen-mcclendon-commits-to.html
Two things here interest me greatly; Jalan’s coach states that the Pack intends “to build a program around him”, and the fact that he was recruited by both Miami and UNC, two conference rivals including the in-state one that usually snaps up everybody locally.
Of course it will be some time before McClendon actually puts on red and white, so there is plenty of time for him to change his mind. But for now this looks like at least a minor recruiting coup for Dave Doeren and his staff.
If any readers went to West Meck, please let me know more about this kid. It would be interesting to hear from someone who has seen him first-hand.
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?
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 folks over at Tomahawk Nation have a nice debate, albeit FSU-centric, as to how the ACC divisions should be reconfigured. So let’s delve in and discuss.
Given that the current divisions are just a random collection of whatever that nobody could possibly remember, here are they are as of right now:
Atlantic: Florida State, Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, Maryland (Louisville in 2014), Boston College, Syracuse
Coastal: Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh
The Confidential has previously advocated for a quasi-geographic breakdown of the teams. John Cassillo over at atlanticcoastconvos proposed the same thing on the Tomahawk Nation blog (midway down):
Atlantic: Miami, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, Maryland (Louisville)
Coastal: Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech
The teams are listed above/below a permanent crossover.
This is essentially the “Old ACC less Virginia.” Or N/S, plus Miami and Louisville. Miami works with the North. Virginia? Maybe, maybe not. But they would play UNC every year.
But the FSU folks have an interesting suggestion or two, including a straight–let’s get a strong strength of schedule method proposed by SirChancelot:
Atlantic: Florida State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, Louisville, Pitt, Virginia
Coastal: Duke, UNC, NC State, Wake Forest, BC, Syracuse, and Georgia Tech
The logic being that the football schools can beat up on each other and establish a strength of schedule that matches up with the SEC. And if the ACC-Championship Game is garbage, so what? It always is anyway. Better to have the 11-1 team get to 12-1 without hassle. Frankly, the Confidential sees some logic in it, but questions the choice of schools. How about this instead:
Atlantic: FSU, Miami, Va Tech, Clemson, Georgia Tech, NC State, Louisville
Coastal, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Virginia
If anyone runs the table in the Atlantic, they should be sitting pretty from a strength-of-schedule standpoint.
Of course, if anyone runs the table in the ACC in any format, will they be excluded from a strength-of-schedule standpoint anyway? That seems to be a fabricated issue. It is not strength of schedule that harms the ACC schools, it is losing to teams that one should not lose to.
Moreover, playing all those games may help the strength of schedule, but wouldn’t it increase the chances of a bunch of 4-3 teams.
The Confidential’s perspective is that the ACC has a poor image because it is not top-heavy enough. The B1G is Michigan and Ohio State usually. The Big XII is Texas and Oklahoma usually. The Pac-12 is USC or Oregon usually. Exceptions happen obviously, but that is what we can expect. The SEC is great because there are 5 teams that have the ability to run the table–and one or two of them usually do. The ACC may have a couple of schools that “can,” but they always falter along the way to middling schools. Bunching up the great teams is not going to help. However, the idea of ignoring competitive balance has merit. One can never get it straight anyway.
Otherwise, the suggestions over there involve a re-assortment of the current system. Swap Miami for Florida State, or Clemson for Georgia Tech.
Nobody suggested this one… organize by number of words it takes to state the school:
Atlantic (1 word): Clemson, Miami, Pitt, Louisville, Virginia, Duke, Syracuse
Coastal (2 words): Georgia Tech, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Wake Forest
Actually, that is not bad competitive balance for football. Hmmmm.
From the Confidential’s perspective, the priority of the conference should be as follows:
What do you think–what is THE most important thing that the ACC must consider if/when rearranging the divisions for football? What is your proposal?
Several months ago, the ACC and Notre Dame announced a football partnership, with Notre Dame agreeing to play 5 games against ACC opponents each year. With these games set to begin in 2014, the parties have now announced the games that will be played during the first three years.
Without further ado, here is the schedule for the first three years:
2014
Notre Dame at Florida State
Louisville at Notre Dame
North Carolina at Notre Dame
Notre Dame at Syracuse
Wake Forest at Notre Dame
2015
Boston College at Notre Dame
Notre Dame at Clemson
Georgia Tech at Notre Dame
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
Notre Dame at Virginia
2016
Duke at Notre Dame
Miami at Notre Dame
Notre Dame at NC State
Notre Dame at Syracuse
Virginia Tech at Notre Dame
All those who thought Syracuse would be the team to get two games with Notre Dame in the first three-year period, raise your hands! Of course, Syracuse had games slated for all three years, so it was a logical plan to keep in place.
Notably, Notre Dame visits three of the more football-oriented programs each year, with trips to Florida State, Clemson, and North Carolina State scheduled. The following three years will involve travels to Louisville, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Miami.
On Thursday, Notre Dame announced an extension of its television deal with NBC. The ten-year extension is reported to be worth $15 million a year.
The Confidential 