Can the ACC do it again?

The Clemson Tigers were not alone at dethroning the SEC in 2016. Their comrades in the ACC had plenty of success beating the big boys in the South Eastern Conference. Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Florida State took care of business against their SEC rivals at the end of the regular season. On top of that, the ACC went 8-3 during bowl season, which was the best win/loss record in the power five for college football and the most bowl wins in conference history. What does that mean for a conference known for so many years as a basketball league? I have the answer-opportunity!

Yes, the ACC has an opportunity to change perceptions on exactly who they are. For many years the ACC was the conference that always sent North Carolina and Duke to the Final Four-in basketball. That’s wonderful, but not if you’re a football fan. Not if you have been the laughing stock of college football. Not if you were known to choke in the big games or get killed by your rival school. I’m not saying the ACC has been awful in football, more like mediocre. They have been more of a tease, toying with your emotions and presenting a false narrative about who they are. Grant it, Florida State has carried the torch for this conference for a long time(can I get a amen?) but somewhere down the line, someone else has to do it too and not just one team but many teams.

The ACC use to be known as “Florida State and the seven dwarfs”. It was a joke that was told at most bars, parties, and at Steve Spurrier’s lake house. For majority of the 1990’s, Florida State owned this league. Then in 2004, Miami and Virginia Tech came in to crash the party. The thought was when the canes and hokies came in it would bring some much needed football balance and stability to this conference. But on the contrary, it only created parity and more separation between the haves and have not’s. Yet, the torch was handed off. Teams started winning more and coaches started to get more love and recognition for what they did on and off the field. Yes, coaches do leave and players do graduate but new coaches come in and new players suit up. It’s a new era for the “basketball conference” and it’s starting to look more like a football conference.

Since 2013, the ACC has won two National Championships thanks to FSU and Clemson. You add some great coaches in Paul Johnson, David Cutcliff, and Bobby Petrino, you have some of the best minds in the game right here in the ACC. But this success has to be sustained. This cannot be a one time fluke if the ACC wants perception to change. It’s a new season, one with many opportunities for this conference to make another jump; to make that next step as an elite football conference. For that to happen, you just have to do one thing: win.