Overall the ACC Is Declining

[GTNavyNuke]

After watching Cincinnati take care of Miami and VT lose to ECU and ACC almost swept by SEC in the first few weeks, there isn't much question that overall the ACC is declining. Looks like the pundits who said that the ACC could be the P5 team left out of the playoffs were right.

Based on Power Rankings, the ACC currently is virtually tied for 4/5 with the Big 12 (or whatever they are). Looking at overall wins the ACC winning percentage is clearly the worst of the P5 at .673 this year. (Go to bottom of http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2015.htm for conference Power Rankings and records.)

I think only an undefeated ACC team will have a chance to make the playoffs. I'll really be rooting for Clemson to win all their games except against us ..... not that who I root for makes a damn bit of difference.

 

[Madison Grant]

Yep. We've had several opportunities the last few years to fill a power gap in the conference with Virginia Tech declining and Clemson, Miami and UNC playing the role of constant underachievers. But we haven't got it done. I'll be rooting for Clemson against Notre Name. Their skill talent is insane, but they always find a way to 'Clemson' it.

 

[MWBATL]

Yeah, I agree. The ACC really doesn't look all that strong to me this year. Having said that, we could still do well at the end of the year in the rivalry weekend. I think FSU and Clemson have solid shots at UF and USC and Louisville has a prayer against Kentucky...so we will be the swing factor. If we win the ACC regains a little respect, and the SEC loses a little shine.

But overall, not many teams in college football look all that great to me. Ohio State has been unimpressive after their opening win. Alabama has lost once and looks unlikely to run the table from here. I honestly was not that impressed with Notre Dame when I saw them live (I still maintain we were that bad, they weren't that good). Go on and on, and very few teams this year seem to be elite.......

 

[Captain killem]

Too early for me to say the ACC is down yeah we've had a Coupla ugly losses but it's still very early in the season. I think we still have a good season ahead of us and we shall see.

 

[Ggee87]

No conference has looked good thus far. All of the teams projected to do well are faltering or not looking impressive early on. I think the P5 conferences from top to bottom are fairly even this season. Nobody has stood out even a little bit as a complete football team.

 

[Skeptic]

After watching Cincinnati take care of Miami and VT lose to ECU and ACC almost swept by SEC in the first few weeks, there isn't much question that overall the ACC is declining. Looks like the pundits who said that the ACC could be the P5 team left out of the playoffs were right.

Based on Power Rankings, the ACC currently is virtually tied for 4/5 with the Big 12 (or whatever they are). Looking at overall wins the ACC winning percentage is clearly the worst of the P5 at .673 this year. (Go to bottom of http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2015.htm for conference Power Rankings and records.)

I think only an undefeated ACC team will have a chance to make the playoffs. I'll really be rooting for Clemson to win all their games except against us ..... not that who I root for makes a damn bit of difference.

Clemson coaches are confident without being cocky about ND. And they have one big advantage GT didn't: it is a home game with their crowd and Frank Howard's rock. I'm rooting for them too.

 

[Towaliga]

No conference has looked good thus far. All of the teams projected to do well are faltering or not looking impressive early on. I think the P5 conferences from top to bottom are fairly even this season. Nobody has stood out even a little bit as a complete football team.

I agree. As the season goes on, I think the SEC will come under more scrutiny and SEC teams won't have an automatic ranking just because they are playing other SEC teams. As a matter of fact, if you look at the possibilities, by the time we play UGHa, there is a chance that they will have not played a single team that will be ranked (at the time we play them) in the top 20. I base this on the fact that Alabama could lose to UGA and others, Florida could easily lose today and drop from the rankings, Tennessee showed last week that they aren't worthy of being ranked, and Missouri, Kentucky, and Auburn are the only SEC teams left on their schedule.

 

[GTrob21]

I agree, right now I would put the ACC as number 5. What hurts our perception is that teams that have "name" brands are the ones who are having these bad loses.

VT losing to ECU seems like a yearly occurrence...Somebody needs to put Beamer out to pasture at VT. I understand that situation and feel for them. He is a legend and built that program, you have to be real deliberate and honoring when removing a person like that, even when everybody knows that is the right thing to do.

Miami.... Holy Hell, how can a school with that much talent be so mediocre... And they have been like this for what 10 years now?!?! All you do is what what the kids say SMH...

North Carolina: Yeah I put them here, not because they have really done anything in football, but because they are always on ESPN, and their brand is known across the USA. We know North Carolina sucks, but the rest of the USA doesn't know their history. They simply hear North Carolina on ESPN throughout the year and then come football season, see them get their A$$'s handed to them in the SEC/ACC kick off games.

Georgia Tech: We need to man up and own our part as well. Georgia Tech is known and one of the top tier ACC football schools. We need to start making 10 win season the norm at the flats.

 

[ramblin_man]

Will be nice if VT ends up losing to Pitt. We need more teams in our division with a conference loss....

 

[dressedcheeseside]

After watching Cincinnati take care of Miami and VT lose to ECU and ACC almost swept by SEC in the first few weeks, there isn't much question that overall the ACC is declining. Looks like the pundits who said that the ACC could be the P5 team left out of the playoffs were right.

Based on Power Rankings, the ACC currently is virtually tied for 4/5 with the Big 12 (or whatever they are). Looking at overall wins the ACC winning percentage is clearly the worst of the P5 at .673 this year. (Go to bottom of http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2015.htm for conference Power Rankings and records.)

I think only an undefeated ACC team will have a chance to make the playoffs. I'll really be rooting for Clemson to win all their games except against us ..... not that who I root for makes a damn bit of difference.

All this says to me is there's more parity in football than ever before.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

All this says to me is there's more parity in football than ever before.

Not parity if you look at the % wins by conference, considering all the P5 play cupcakes to start the year:
Conference; Pct Wins
Big Ten; .750
Big 12; .735
Pac; .723
SEC; .709
ACC; .673

 

[a5ehren]

Winning % isn't a very good metric. The middle and bottom thirds of the B1G are dumpster fires, for example.

The Sagarin ratings have it more like this:
SEC
B12
P12
ACC
B1G
(Big gap here)
AAC
MWC
MAC
Missouri Valley (yes, the FCS conference)
CUSA
Sun Belt

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Winning % isn't a very good metric. The middle and bottom thirds of the B1G are dumpster fires, for example.

The Sagarin ratings have it more like this:
SEC
B12
P12
ACC
B1G
(Big gap here)
AAC
MWC
MAC
Missouri Valley (yes, the FCS conference)
CUSA
Sun Belt

Agree there is no perfect metric. I like just this year's winning percentage since it only takes into account this year and reflects how conferences have done against each other, cupcakes and all. The Sagarin and other Power Rankings have the problem of having to use last year's performance and assume it's the same this year until you get deeper into the season.

Either way, the ACC is 4th or 5th of the P5. Last year I think by most measures the ACC was 3rd and ended the year with a lot of high visibility wins over the SEC.

 

[alagold]

I don't like that the ACC is falling off but I HATE that we are falling faster--amazing that we had a chance to distinguish ourselves in another step up and we lay a t---