Since the ACC has come to its current existence (2005), the conference has had on average 3.5 teams ranked each preseason. This year, they had only 3, although all of them were ranked within the top 16 to begin the year. Now, a mere six weeks into the season, the ACC is sporting a pathetic 11-15 record against out-of-conference FBS teams. For comparison, the Big East which more often than not is mediocre (although consistently rated far worse) is 12-9 on the year.
This includes losses such as Preseason #16 Virginia Tech who lost handily to Pitt, only two weeks after Pitt lost to Youngstown State. If anything, Pitt is doing an excellent job of proving to everyone else that they will fit in the most overrated conference just fine next year. In addition, today we saw Boston College lost to Army, an Army program that was not beaten, but rather run over by Stony Brook University just last week.
The catch is, the ACC gets so overrated in the Preseason polls that when an upset does occur, it is magnified far too much. Props given to the North Carolina State Wolfpack tonight for defeating the Florida State Seminoles. However, make not mistake, these Seminoles were not the 3rd best team in the nation as their ranking this week would indicate. They merely took their exaggerated preseason ranking (7th), and passed the couple of top ten teams that have lost. However, now the voters will see NC State beat the #3 team in the nation this week, and they will likely be ranked close to 20th come Sunday afternoon.
Florida State is perhaps the epitome of being overrated in the college football world. I don't feel that people understand that what FSU did in the 1990s should have no baring on what they do two decades later. In fact, since the current ACC setup came around in 2005, the Seminoles have been ranked in the preseason AP poll every season but once (2008):
2005 - 14th
2006 - 11th
2007 - 19th
2009 - 18th
2010 - 20th
2011 - 6th
2012 - 7th
In only one of those seasons did they even manage to remain ranked as high as they began the season:
2005 - 23rd (8-5)
2006 - Unranked (7-6)
2007 - Unranked (7-6)
2009 - Unranked (7-6)
2010 - 17th (10-4)
2011 - 23rd (9-4)
2012 - ?????
Would it really be a big shock if they lost five games on the year and finished the season ranked in the low 20s? The only purpose Florida State has served in the ACC since 2005 is to inflate the rankings of the many teams who continue to beat them each season.
The ridiculousness that is the overrating of these teams doesn't end with Florida State, they are simply the most frequently occurring. Since 2005 (not including this year), the ACC has had 25 teams ranked in the preseason. Of those 25 teams, only 5 have seen their ranking improve over the course of a season, and 1 has stayed the same.
That leaves 19 of 25 (76%), including the five FSU examples above, that have finished the season ranked worse than where they began. Some programs included in this are four times by Virginia Tech, and likely a fifth this year. Miami has seen the preseason polls three times since 2005, losing 8 spots one year, and finding themselves unranked the two other seasons. Four appearances combined by North Carolina, Virginia, and Wake Forest during the preseason has never seen any of them hang around until the end of the year, and all of them lost no less than five games each.
It truly is a stale story at this point, but time and time again, the ACC has proven that it is nothing more than a mediocre conference. As a fan of a Big East team, I've never thought much of anything about the Big East itself. It is middle of the road at best. Nonetheless, despite the ACC's constant raids, and the Big East refueling with C-USA members, history has proven that the Big East consistently has been on par if not better than the ACC. Therefore, it would only make sense to conclude that the ACC is nothing more than a mediocre mid-major conference sporting "name" state schools over directional schools.
As an ACC fan, I'd really like to argue with your post, but I can't. Florida State has been overrated every year for seemingly the past decade, Miami suffers a blowout loss once a month, and Virginia Tech is no better than an automatic qualifying Orange Bowl team.
ReplyDeleteProps to the Big East - I see Cincy, Louisville, and Rutgers all ranked, plus former Big East team WVU in the top 5.
I won't lie. I'm still biased/bitter against the ACC. Raiding the Big East isn't a big deal to me. I know ESPN is behind the latest moves, and would prefer to see Rutgers in the ACC right now than the New Big East.
ReplyDeleteUntil then though, I feel that every year the preseason polls will be littered with ACC teams while the Big East is lucky if there is one ranked. Then, most every year, the Big East has a couple teams climb the ranks while the ACC teams are stagnant with 3-4 teams ranked regularly despite that they often win less.
I don't massively hate Virginia Tech as much as most outside of the Vick brothers, and feel they are generally the only consistently solid team in the conference. This year, even that isn't the case. As you said, FSU is overrated, beginning each year highly ranked, and given a couple months to fall out. Miami hasn't been relevant since they left the Big East. Otherwise, it seems one other random makes a run for a couple years (Clemson, previously Georgia Tech), and then for whatever North Carolina gets mentioned far more than it should.
Bitter much? I totally am.