Coastal>>Atlantic

[redmule]

Clemson is 1-1 against Coastal. FSU is 1-1 against Coastal. Louisville is a roughing the kicker penalty from maybe losing to Duke at home. The Coastal is tough top to bottom.

 

[FightWinDrink]

UL needed some last minute heroics to beat UVA too

 

[4shotB]

I think it is great to see what is going on in the ACC football wise. No easy Saturday's anymore. I saw something recently that ranked all the divisions in college FB. The SEC west was #1 (the East 9th) while the Atlantic and Coastal were the 2nd and 4th ranked. Forgot who was 3rd. I think Uga and UT were lucky to get VT and UNC so early in the year.

 

[FightWinDrink]

I think it is great to see what is going on in the ACC football wise. No easy Saturday's anymore. I saw something recently that ranked all the divisions in college FB. The SEC west was #1 (the East 9th) while the Atlantic and Coastal were the 2nd and 4th ranked. Forgot who was 3rd. I think Uga and UT were lucky to get VT and UNC so early in the year.

Probably Big 10 east was #3. It's built like the Atlantic with 3 very strong teams and then 4 teams that just kind of exist

 

[GTsuperfan]

ACC was 2nd and 3rd actually

 

[takethepoints]

I think that what's interesting about this season is how evenly matched the teams are nationally. Last weekend, seven of the top 10 ranked teams in the country lost to unranked opponents. And many others lower down suffered a similar fate, including one team up in Virginia that we know about.

What all this tells me is that the constant whine we hear at this site about how "The ACC has gotten much better then Tech while we've sat still! Obviously the universe is against us!" is, not to put too fine a point on it, horse-puckey. What has happened is that the entire conference (and many others too boot) has gotten more competitive. My guess is that, with a few exceptions that are characterized by the most blatant kinds of athlete exploitation and outright cheating (I'm looking at you, Nick), the entire NCAA has gotten more competitive.

Query: why has this shown up this year? For the ACC, I have an answer: almost every team in the conference has a difference maker or two that, with the right luck, can shift games in their direction. I don't know if this is what's happened everywhere else, but, from what I've seen on tv recently, it sure looks like it. So why has that happened? <Train whistle in the distance … wind blowing through the pines … crickets calling> Search me.

 

[Boomergump]

I'm not sure if the coastal is better, but I would say confidently that there is balance in the league. Is there a crappy team? Maybe one crappy offensive team. Give me the ACC top to bottom over any conference in the land. Rivalry weekend approacheth.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

No bad teams in the acc. Duke has a bad record but they dang sure aren't a bad team.

 

[augustabuzz]

I think that what's interesting about this season is how evenly matched the teams are nationally. Last weekend, seven of the top 10 ranked teams in the country lost to unranked opponents. And many others lower down suffered a similar fate, including one team up in Virginia that we know about.

What all this tells me is that the constant whine we hear at this site about how "The ACC has gotten much better then Tech while we've sat still! Obviously the universe is against us!" is, not to put too fine a point on it, horse-puckey. What has happened is that the entire conference (and many others too boot) has gotten more competitive. My guess is that, with a few exceptions that are characterized by the most blatant kinds of athlete exploitation and outright cheating (I'm looking at you, Nick), the entire NCAA has gotten more competitive.

Query: why has this shown up this year? For the ACC, I have an answer: almost every team in the conference has a difference maker or two that, with the right luck, can shift games in their direction. I don't know if this is what's happened everywhere else, but, from what I've seen on tv recently, it sure looks like it. So why has that happened? <Train whistle in the distance … wind blowing through the pines … crickets calling> Search me.

The ACC is unusually deep at QB. The 2nd best conference at qb isn't very close to the ACC.

 

[Techster]

ACC has always had a LOT of talent. I believe the ACC sends the 2nd most players to the NFL after the SEC. Don't forget, ACC footprint overlaps with a lot of the SEC, so ACC region is a hotbed of talent. Our conference is no longer just a basketball league.

What's changed is the hiring of good coaches. ACC schools have finally taken the football business seriously and are putting money into their football programs. Coaches, facilities, staff, recruiting...most ACC schools are now pouring money into the things you need for successful program. The results are starting to show now in college football polls.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

But...but...but....that dispels the narrative that the ACC is number 5.

In all seriousness, the only thing lacking for most teams in the ACC is the defensive line.

 

[Vespidae]

Hard to say.

Year in, year out ... the SEC remains the top football conference in my view. The schools take football, not academics, seriously and put major money and boosters behind it. Many stadiums routinely fill 80,000 fans or more for a game. The pageantry is altogether different.

The ACC is improving, but not there yet. I'm not sure it will ever get to the SEC's level, just due to academics. I looked into it and couldn't find one SEC school that tracked admissions scores ... all issued the same "we don't track that" statement.

There's no data behind my view. Just cursed for having grown up with the SEC.

 

[jeffgt14]

Atlantic is 7-4 vs the Coastal right now with 3 cross divisional games left. The Coastal can at best be even with the Atlantic.

 

[tech_wreck47]

Imo sec it the top with the acc following and the big 10 after that.

 

[UgaBlows]

The SEC is really bad on head coach talent behind Saban

 

[BuzzStone]

I don't understand the love for the SEC. With Alabama being the only top 10 and LSU the next best team then the talent falls sharply.

 

[Vespidae]

I don't understand the love for the SEC. With Alabama being the only top 10 and LSU the next best team then the talent falls sharply.

I'm not sure I'd agree with this. The SEC has extremely good talent, it's largely can the coach and the program get the most out of it.

Overall, the SEC tends to lose more to other SEC schools than non-conference opponents. For example, of all losses by SEC schools, only 9 were to non conference. ACC by contrast, is 14.

You could argue that, for example, LSU is not very good due to its record. But, the Tigers would probably beat the snot out of a nonconference opponent.

I could be wrong, but that's the usual argument. I'll look up the stats later today.

 

[Bennett]

I'm not sure I'd agree with this. The SEC has extremely good talent, it's largely can the coach and the program get the most out of it.

Overall, the SEC tends to lose more to other SEC schools than non-conference opponents. For example, of all losses by SEC schools, only 9 were to non conference. ACC by contrast, is 14.

You could argue that, for example, LSU is not very good due to its record. But, the Tigers would probably beat the snot out of a nonconference opponent.

I could be wrong, but that's the usual argument. I'll look up the stats later today.

Except the ACC actually plays quality non conference opponents while the SEC does not (excluding LSU).

 

[Vespidae]

No debate there. Part of the conference strategy.

 

[tech_wreck47]

Bama, LSU, ole miss, Texas a&m, and auburn are all good teams that have only lost to each other or other really good teams for the most part. Then you have Tennessee and Florida who are both above average teams and UGA (most year). The sec is a pretty stacked conference from their upper to mid level teams, I do however believe the acc has better bottom feeder teams than the sec so from top to bottom the acc is more competitive, but if you go by who has the most talented teams I think the sec wins that, but I also believe the acc has closed that gap the past two years and could be pretty even writhing the next 2 or 3 years.