This weekend is your shot at gaining some national credibility, ACC. Don’t blow it
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The ACC’s flirtation with Stanford, California and SMU is more than just a short-term money grab.
It’s also a desperate attempt to keep the league viable for at least the next few years while positioning it to have at least a fighting chance at long-term survival.
Only time will tell if it’s a winning strategy.
In the meantime, here’s one thing the ACC can do beyond going bicoastal that is guaranteed to strengthen its standing in the college sports hierarchy.
In the words of the late Al Davis: Just win, baby.
Not those throwaway guarantee games against FCS opponents or matchups against plucky Group of 5 programs. Although it would be a good idea not to lose any of those, as some of the league’s bottom feeders have recently.
It’s those 25 games against Power 5 teams that commissioner Jim Phillips bragged about at the league’s preseason kickoff event in Charlotte this summer.
Beating opponents from the SEC and Big Ten, along with Notre Dame every now and then, won’t immediately create the kind of cash flow the ACC needs to close its growing revenue gap with college football’s Big 2.
But it would help end a 2-year Playoff drought. It would also go a long way toward changing the national perception of the conference by showing that despite lagging far behind financially, it’s at least the equal of the big boys on Saturday.
That’s why this opening week is one of the most important 5-day stretches in the league’s 70-year history. Both for the present and future of the ACC as we know it.
It starts with a pair of Thursday night games, followed by a Friday matchup interesting only because of the oddity of both teams being named Miami.
But barring an unexpected stumble by NC State or Wake Forest, or another Middle Tennessee State disaster by Miami against its “Confusion Bowl” namesake from Ohio, the ACC’s place on the college football food chain for the rest of the season will be determined by the outcomes of 3 marquee matchups later in the weekend.
North Carolina vs. South Carolina in Charlotte on Saturday. Florida State vs. LSU in Orlando on Sunday. And Clemson at Duke on Monday.
Of the 3, the Seminoles are in a position to make the loudest statement.
And not only because a 2nd straight victory against a top SEC contender would validate all the preseason hype they’ve been generating.
The game could also be viewed as a referendum on claims by FSU’s Board of Trustees and others in Tallahassee that their school’s brand is more valuable than others around the ACC. And as such, deserving of a larger percentage of the league’s revenue as an incentive to stay.
That claim will hold more weight if coach Mike Norvell’s team can back it up against the defending SEC West champion. Otherwise, it comes off as little more than bluster from a bunch of bureaucrats with an overstated view of their own worth.
Tune to put up or shut up.
The stakes are nearly as high for UNC and Clemson.
The Tar Heels’ border battle with the Gamecocks is an opportunity for coach Mack Brown’s team to raise its own national profile, along with that of its perception-challenged conference. It could also serve as a measuring stick for how serious a Heisman Trophy candidate Drake Maye will be moving forward.
And then there’s the Tigers.
They’re the 1 ACC team that gets taken seriously nationally because of a resume that includes 4 national title game appearances and 2 championships since 2015. And they gained even more credibility during the offseason by luring Garrett Riley from Playoff runner-up TCU to inject some explosiveness into their offense.
But the script would change dramatically with an opening night loss at Duke in a nationally televised prime time window.
While a loss to a veteran Blue Devils team coming off a 9-win season wouldn’t kill the Tigers’ chances at winning the league or getting into the Playoff, it would deprive the ACC of a golden public relations opportunity in Week 4 when Clemson and FSU meet at Death Valley.
As much of a dream scenario as it would be to have 2 undefeated brand-name programs facing each other in a top-10 showdown, it can only happen if both teams get off to a winning start this weekend.
You only get 1 chance to make a first impression. And this is it for 2023.
Fair or not, the national narrative surrounding the league for the rest of the season will be based on the outcomes of the 2 monumental nonconference matchups against SEC opponents and a tricky conference road opener for the preseason league favorite.
No pressure or anything. But this is your shot at credibility, ACC.
Don’t blow it.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
