Clemson football has yet to play and in some ways they’re already fighting the ACCs reputation after a weekend of not great results.
Who knows what would have happened if Florida State didn’t block that extra point, but I am sure if the Seminoles lost that game last night the ACCs reputation was done for the year.
Sure, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest took care of business on Thursday and Duke looked much improved on Friday, but there was Virginia Tech losing in the last minute to freshly minted Sun Belt Conference member Old Dominion, followed by North Carolina State and North Carolina barely escaping against G5 in-state rivals.
Then Boston College lost to Rutgers and Louisville, who many expected to be much improved, getting demolished by Syracuse. Go Orange!?
But hey, Miami crushed Bethune-Cookman and Virginia handled Richmond.
The lesson here is play a big named team or a patsy, not somewhere in between, because you get absolutely nothing from playing a Group of 5 team that can beat you and even if you win you were “supposed to”.
If you flipped on a TV in the last 72 hours you’ve no doubt heard the talking heads wonder why the ACC teams are playing these games on the road. Me, I’m not surprised that teams that belong to a conference on a budget would do these type of things.
This is a conference that’s been known to put it’s only current program of national prominence on an obscure channel on a Friday night, because that’s the only reason ESPN would agree to build out a “network”.
By the time the Clemson football takes the field Monday the die will have largely been cast for the 2022 perception of the ACC and the first impression has been less than stellar
Yet, despite the Friday and Saturday results, Florida State gave the conference some semblance of respectability despite almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory down the stretch. Despite it’s own woes, the LSU name carries some cache and the victory gives the ACC a win over the SEC SEC SEC.
It could certainly be viewed as a no win situation for Clemson this evening in Atlanta – win and you were supposed to and if it’s closer than expected, well, we know what happens then.
Week 1 results tell us the die has largely been cast for the 2022 perception of the ACC and the first impression has been less than stellar.
First impressions are often hard to shake, whether in real life or the perception of a college football conference.
What can the ACC do to improve it’s reputation? Don’t lose to Old Dominion and Rutgers.