Because the ACC is not the SEC or Big Ten (meaning, nearly all Flagship or Land Grant schools with huge football fan bases), ACC football suffers in reputation, which harms TV deals, when its division races are likely to produce a CCG that has no meaning to CFB fans who are not ACC fans.
UNC should have been the team that by this point in the season had CFB fans thinking about a Coastal champ not merely able to win the ACC CG but perhaps sneaking into the playoffs, and certainly able to win a New Year's 6 bowl. Clemson was universally assumed to remain the team able to finish the regular season with no more than 1 loss and ranked highest among ACC teams.
At the midway point, what would be the best ACC CG in terms of promoting ACC football?
That's not easy to answer. Wake is the only undefeated team, which means, this season, that the only ACC team with any shot at the playoffs is Wake. A 13-0 Wake team is unlikely to reach the playoffs, because the ACC is seen as so weak that those 10 Ws against ACC teams (8 league games plus UNC as an OOC plus the CCG) will harm almost as much as they will help. But still, an undefeated team has a shot that no 2 loss ACC team can have.
Wake closes the season at UNC, vs. Moo, at Clemson, at BC. If Wake goes to the CCG 12-0, Dave Clawson should be national Coach of the Year.
2-loss Clemson would be good for the league. But that means Clemson must beat Wake the week before Thanksgiving and see MooU drop at least one other league game.
As much as I hate to acknowledge it, an 11-1 Wuffie team in the CCG would be good for the ACC, because Moo already has a W over Clemson and a 14 point road win over Mississippi State.
As has become the pattern, there is only 1 team in the Coastal whose presence in the CCG will not harm the league's reputation. This year that honor goes to 5-1 Pitt. The Panther L was by 3, at Heinz, to Western Michigan, which is not like losing in triple OT to a Top 10 Penn ST or even at Tennessee (Pitt stomped the Vols in Neyland). But Pitt has been gaining national press interest, much of that focused on Kenny Pickett who has become a dark horse Heisman possibility. An 11-1 Pitt team facing either a 12-0 Wake or 11-1 Moo is the best that ACC CG can be this season.
Pitt hosts Clemson on Saturday, and a win would prevent Clemson from getting 10 regular season Ws. The rest of Pitt's schedule is: Miami, at Dook, UNC, UVA, at Cuse.
The second best option for the ACC out of the Coastal is 9-3 UNC, on a 6 game winning streak.
UNC should have been the team that by this point in the season had CFB fans thinking about a Coastal champ not merely able to win the ACC CG but perhaps sneaking into the playoffs, and certainly able to win a New Year's 6 bowl. Clemson was universally assumed to remain the team able to finish the regular season with no more than 1 loss and ranked highest among ACC teams.
At the midway point, what would be the best ACC CG in terms of promoting ACC football?
That's not easy to answer. Wake is the only undefeated team, which means, this season, that the only ACC team with any shot at the playoffs is Wake. A 13-0 Wake team is unlikely to reach the playoffs, because the ACC is seen as so weak that those 10 Ws against ACC teams (8 league games plus UNC as an OOC plus the CCG) will harm almost as much as they will help. But still, an undefeated team has a shot that no 2 loss ACC team can have.
Wake closes the season at UNC, vs. Moo, at Clemson, at BC. If Wake goes to the CCG 12-0, Dave Clawson should be national Coach of the Year.
2-loss Clemson would be good for the league. But that means Clemson must beat Wake the week before Thanksgiving and see MooU drop at least one other league game.
As much as I hate to acknowledge it, an 11-1 Wuffie team in the CCG would be good for the ACC, because Moo already has a W over Clemson and a 14 point road win over Mississippi State.
As has become the pattern, there is only 1 team in the Coastal whose presence in the CCG will not harm the league's reputation. This year that honor goes to 5-1 Pitt. The Panther L was by 3, at Heinz, to Western Michigan, which is not like losing in triple OT to a Top 10 Penn ST or even at Tennessee (Pitt stomped the Vols in Neyland). But Pitt has been gaining national press interest, much of that focused on Kenny Pickett who has become a dark horse Heisman possibility. An 11-1 Pitt team facing either a 12-0 Wake or 11-1 Moo is the best that ACC CG can be this season.
Pitt hosts Clemson on Saturday, and a win would prevent Clemson from getting 10 regular season Ws. The rest of Pitt's schedule is: Miami, at Dook, UNC, UVA, at Cuse.
The second best option for the ACC out of the Coastal is 9-3 UNC, on a 6 game winning streak.
