The ACC came into the opening weekend of the 2017 season talking about how great they were – and left it with a big piece of humble pie.
It was all there for the taking for the member schools of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC had all 12 teams in action during the the first three days of the college football season – including games against other Power Five conferences (FSU football facing Alabama, N.C. State taking on South Carolina while North Carolina hosted Cal and Louisville faced Purdue) after all the early talk about how great the conference was after a magical 2016 season.
Three days into the season, the conference is having a lot of explaining to do after a weekend that proved to be anything but magical.
Yes, the Seminoles’ loss to the Crimson Tide was the marquee game and those who didn’t watch the game are going to look at the 17 point loss and think it was a blowout (when we all know the real story). But it’s more than what took place in Atlanta that has the ACC taking a step back.
The Wolfpack went over to Charlotte as a team who some experts were saying could beat Florida State or Clemson this season – and left with a loss to Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks. Their rivals, the Tar Heels, lost at home to a Golden Bears team that went 5-7 last year while the Cardinals – led by the defending Heisman winner – had to come back to beat a Boilermakers team that was 3-9 last year.
Add to that the fact that Pittsburgh had to go to overtime to beat FCS foe Youngstown State plus Boston College beating MAC member Northern Illinois by three points and you have a set of games that is not what the brass in the ACC wanted. In fact, five of the conference’s nine wins during the first three days were against FCS opponents.
Sunday night, Virginia Tech tried their hardest to continue the negative momentum – as the Hokies kept giving West Virginia from the defense optional Big 12 every chance to upset them, scoring a late fourth quarter touchdown to get out of Landover, MD with a win.
The worst part is that the ACC might not be able to salvage the weekend if Georgia Tech is able to pull off an upset win over Tennessee in Atlanta on Monday night. The Volunteers have become a team that people expect to have a let down, so a loss will just be seen as another one.
The conference will have a chance to come back in the coming weeks as Clemson faces Auburn while Pittsburgh has games against Penn State and Oklahoma State over the next two weeks – in addition to the conference being in the spotlight come September 16th when Florida State host Miami and Clemson travels to Louisville.
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But, at least for one week, the ACC is back to being one step back in the eyes of many when it comes to the power football conferences – which, after all the talk before the season everywhere from Jimbo Fisher to Dabo Swinney and even us here at Chop Chat, is further ammunition for those that have never given the conference the respect they have deserved.