Is ACC football underrated? Yes and no

AMELIA ISLAND — A consistent theme hummed around The Ritz-Carlton during the Atlantic Coast Conference’s spring meetings: ACC football is underrated.

Commissioner Jim Phillips said his conference “sometimes doesn’t get the attention that it deserves.” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi used the word “disrespect.”

If the league had a better reputation, it’s fair to wonder whether 13-0 Florida State still would have missed the playoff.

“What happened last year is tragic and spoke volumes of the perception, I believe, of this league when it comes to football specifically,” Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford said.

Alford and his peers believe that perception is worse than reality. Are they right?

Why ACC football might be underrated

The ACC led major conferences with 11 bowl teams last season. That stat reinforces FSU coach Mike Norvell’s belief that the ACC is deeper than most people think.

“When you look at the ACC against some of those other conferences the last few years — especially last year — it was very, very competitive,” Norvell said.

More competitive than anyone; the average margin of victory in ACC games was the lowest of any league.

Another way to look at it: FSU outscored its opponents by 136 points in ACC games, while Syracuse was outscored by 113. That’s a spread of 249 points from worst to first. That’s 100 points tighter than the SEC and 169 points closer than the Big Ten.

In the regular season, the ACC went 6-4 against the SEC and 4-3 against the Big Ten. FSU’s 21-point win over LSU held up as one of the best non-conference results of the season. Miami’s 15-point victory over Texas A&M was strong, too (advanced metrics viewed the Aggies as a top-25 team).

The ACC recorded three regular-season, non-conference victories against teams that finished ranked: FSU over LSU and wins…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/acc-football-underrated-yes-no-130000128.html

Author : Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Publish date : 2024-05-18 13:00:00

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