Behold the mighty ACC, ascendant just in time for its purported demise
So, to recap the Labor Day weekend that was for the ACC: On Friday the conference sold what was left of its soul — not much, to be sure — to ESPN, chasing the equivalent of college athletics couch cushion change with the future additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU.
On Saturday, North Carolina, long known as college football’s sleepiest sleeping giant, awoke ever so slightly with an impressive victory in Charlotte against South Carolina. On Sunday, Florida State — the poorest, most disadvantaged school in the land, its supporters will have you believe — somehow overcame years (decades? centuries?) of poverty (“poverty”) to defeat LSU in Orlando. And then Monday, Duke may well have ended Clemson’s reign as Clemson As We’ve Known It.
It’s hard to know which of the weekend’s results were most surprising. We know, at least, what was least surprising — that being what happened Friday. For if there’s a dollar for any conference to chase these days, there’s no limit to the degradation a league’s commissioner and presidents and chancellors will embrace in pursuit of it.
What’s that? A little more money, you say? Sure, we’ll send our labor force — ahem, our student-athletes, we mean — on cross-country flights on the regular to appease ESPN. Why, yes, dear Television Gods, we’d love to prop up a zombie version of Pac-12-after-dark.
The ACC’s leadership knows adding Cal, Stanford and SMU makes no sense. That’s why it took almost a month of meetings, and more meetings, and more meetings on top of those meetings, for it to happen (and note: if you have to think about any major life decision that long without saying yes, then it should be clear it’s a no). And yet it happened, because it’s impossible for very wealthy people, and schools, to say no to even more money.
It’d be one thing if what happened Friday was followed by even the slightest bit of evidence of its necessity. It’d be one thing if, during college football’s opening weekend, we saw the proof of this poor, declining league — one in such dire shape it had no choice but to do something drastic, like aligning with schools that make zero sense in any way for a few more bucks.
But the exact opposite happened.
UNC dominated South Carolina. Florida State beat down LSU to an even greater degree. And then Duke on Monday night upended what’d long been the natural order of things in the ACC. This was exactly the kind of statement opening weekend the league has needed for so long — and it came in this moment of such doom surrounding the conference, this perception (held by some) that it had to do ... “something” ... in order to save itself.
If anything, what happened Saturday, Sunday and Monday — in three primetime, nationally-televised games — underscored why what happened Friday was such a mistake. The league’s best hope, long term, has always been to produce on the field and stay together long enough for its make-up and demographics (its footprint is full of states that are growing, with strong economies) to become a clear advantage. And in the meantime the ACC can compete, despite the growing revenue gap with richer leagues. (Ask the New York Mets, 27.5 games out of first place in the NL East, how having the highest payroll in Major League Baseball history worked out for them. Heck, ask Clemson, which spends a ton on football, how all that money helped Monday night.)
It’s only one weekend and it’s probably an overreaction but it’s worth thinking about, anyway: The ACC could be in store for its best football season in a long, long time. The league appears to have a lot of good teams. The conference race appears to be wide open. Just in time for the conference to have made the most nonsensical decision in the history of its existence.
ONE BIG THING
Do we start in Charlotte or Durham? In Charlotte, the Tar Heels delivered their strongest top-to-bottom, team victory in ... how long? Since 2015? UNC beat South Carolina by two touchdowns without Drake Maye needing to set records for yards and touchdowns. The Tar Heels won with defense, and that’s a scary thought, or should be, for the rest of the ACC.
In Durham, Duke dealt Clemson a loss unlike any the Tigers had experienced in a very long time. I was told these “basketball schools” who “don’t care about football” and “don’t invest” shouldn’t have a seat with the big boys. What’s that? It was always a myth that Duke and UNC don’t invest in football? OK, then.
REALIGNMENT RUMBLINGS
OK, hear me out. Instead of adding two California schools and another in Texas, the ACC gets to work on brokering a trade or two. You have to at least ask the Big 12 if they’d be willing to part with West Virginia for Louisville, don’t you? And hey, the ACC can throw in some future considerations. There’s a school in Dallas that’d be perfect for the Big 12.
THREE TO LIKE
1. The UNC defense was arguably the most made-fun-of, maligned unit in college football a season ago — some of it for good reason; some of it over-the-top, and reflective of the everything’s-a-joke nature of social media and College Football Twitter. There were few jokes Saturday night about that defense, but a fair amount of reckoning. The Tar Heels played, defensively, as though they wanted to release more than a season’s-worth of pent-up frustration. Point taken.
2. Duke gets its due. It’s like the old saying goes: You can’t win coach of the year in Week 1, but you can probably lose it. Let’s just say that Mike Elko did not lose it. To consider where Duke football was about 18 months ago and where it is now is a staggering thought. And the Blue Devils have undergone this transformation without the benefit of so-called “blue chip” players, and with a home stadium that not long ago had a track that bordered the field. Is it possible that coaching and culture matter a lot more than TV money, or ratings? Nah, this is college football. Never mind.
3. The Carolina vs. Carolina debate has been settled. Well, the rivalry between the Carolinas lasted about 311 years, since the colony of Carolina split into North and South in 1712. It was a good lively battle between the two, a spirited competition, but it is over now, after what happened in Charlotte and Durham. South Carolina had its worst college football weekend in a very long time (the despair stretching beyond the Gamecocks and Tigers), while North Carolina proved it’s more than just a hoops state. We’d say at least South Carolina has its barbecue, but that’s not true, either.
THREE TO ... NOT LIKE AS MUCH
1. The Pac-12, like the ACC, also turned in a strong opening weekend. In fact, every Pac-12 team won its opening game in what’s essentially that conference’s final season. It’s almost like there are healthy, competitive conferences that are being torn apart by greed, ego and mismanagement by supposed leaders who should know better — and who do know better, but don’t care.
2. The Tez Walker situation continues to embody everything that’s wrong with the NCAA and its role in college athletics. We have conferences being ripped apart, commissioners making terrible decisions, every other sport at the mercy of football, and suffering for it ... and what does the NCAA care about? Enforcing an arcane two-time transfer rule, one that shouldn’t even apply to Walker, the UNC receiver, given his circumstances and story.
3. The enduring perception, among some fans (we’re looking at you, Florida State) that there’s still a thing as “football schools” and “basketball schools.” There’s not a major-conference school in the country that doesn’t understand the significance of football. Look at the facilities. Look at what’s being spent on coaching salaries and everything else. Are there schools where fans care much more about basketball? Absolutely. But please be serious: Every school aspires to be relevant, and good, in the sport driving the money. Look at what happened in Durham Monday night.
THIS WEEK’S BEST PROGRAM IN THE STATE
It’s a tie! For the first time ever, This Week’s Best Program in the State is a tie, between two schools separated by eight miles of pine trees and two shades of blue (or however that old melodramatic ESPN promo went). That’s right, those two basketball schools who barely know football exists — according to the perceptions of some (see above) — both have the best programs in the state, after dispatching the best programs from South Carolina. Little old Duke and North Carolina — which had to have last-minute bake sales just to afford practice equipment, the fans of football schools would have you believe — taking down mighty Clemson and South Carolina. How ‘bout that?
CAROLINAS RANKING
1. Duke (this is not a basketball preseason poll; repeat: this is not a basketball preseason poll); 1. North Carolina (wait, are we sure this is not a basketball preseason poll!?); 3. N.C. State (if this is a basketball preseason poll, it’s from the mid-80s); 4. Clemson; 5. Wake Forest; 6. South Carolina; 7. Appalachian State; 8. ECU; 9. Coastal Carolina; 10. Charlotte.
FINAL THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
-I think it’d be a very ACC Thing if, after football schools Clemson and Florida State pushed for unequal revenue sharing, Duke and North Carolina wind up benefiting most from it this season. A very ACC Thing, and also very funny.
-I think Clemson’s 28-7 loss at Duke Monday night reminded me of Florida State’s 41-9 loss at UNC in 2001. Looking back, that loss pretty much signified the official end of the Seminoles’ dynasty. Fair to wonder if, in time, Monday will be looked upon the same way for Clemson.
-I think the better Deion Sanders does in his first season at Colorado, the better it will be for N.C. Central. Central, you’ll remember, handed Sanders a loss on his way out the door last season in the Celebration Bowl, and Sanders wasn’t exactly a good sportsman in defeat. No matter. The more he wins, the more impressive Central’s HBCU national championship becomes in hindsight — and it was already one of the most memorable victories in school history.
-I think this weekend is setting up nicely for some potential N.C. State stuff — but the good kind. The Wolfpack were pretty ho-hum in an underwhelming victory at Connecticut. Everyone now is talking about State’s Triangle neighbors. And now here comes Notre Dame to Carter-Finley Stadium. State seems to thrive in these off-the-radar, low-expectation moments.
-I think anyone would pencil Florida State into the ACC championship game, and rightfully so, after what it did to LSU. But who will the Seminoles play? Feels like about half a dozen teams, maybe more, have hope of getting there, including Duke and UNC and maybe even State, if it plays well this weekend. Not bad for a league so supposedly doomed to be so deep.
