If the SEC Media Days conference is a week-long circus that would make Barnum & Bailey proud, then the ACC event is more like the two-day carnival at your neighborhood church. The attractions won’t make your hair stand straight up with thrills, but the carnival will have just enough impact to keep you talking for a day or two.
With the SEC now having a kinship with ESPN, its events are big and bold. Conversely, the ACC Media Days are carried only on the ACC Digital Network. The ACC media event starts in the middle of the day on a Sunday and lasts for a day-and-a-half. The assembled media still gets to ask questions of players (on Sunday) and coaches, (Monday), but only in 15 minute intervals. The coaches do not make opening remarks or test out their Friar’s Club material. They go straight to the questions, (clearly this is no place for Spurrier or Miles), and stay on point. This carnival has short rides and quick booth games.
Since, like at most college football media events, teams bring one offensive and one defensive player, that 15 minute question and answer period equates to about 7 minutes per player, and that is when there actually is a Q&A. As we discovered this week, some of the media had a tough time coming up with any questions for some of the young student athletes, (undoubtedly awaiting the arrival of Florida State’s Jameis Winston), and got dutifully bailed out by the moderator who was prepared for just such a stalled ride.
When Winston did get there, he was personable and erudite, perhaps because in only 7 ½ minutes there was not enough time for the media to really get at questions about his off-field indiscretions. Without being specific, Winston said he “fixed everything,” and that he understands that he has teammates counting on him and that accountability is important to him. FSU Head Coach Jimbo Fisher later said that Winston is a person, “of great character, who never makes the same mistake twice,” (insert your own crab legs joke here). The ACC certainly takes it deserved jabs for relatively weak non-conference schedules, but credit to Florida State for opening the season at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX against Oklahoma State. Or as Winston put it, “Let me tell you something dog, it ain’t about playing in ‘Jerry World.’ It’s about winning a game and representing the ACC.”
Thanks to a new ACC arrangement with Notre Dame, several teams will be exchanging a cream puff game for a match up against the Irish.
Virginia will not be playing Notre Dame this season, but Cavaliers Head Coach is one of the few in the region who openly welcomes tougher schedules. London, whose team will face UCLA, Kent State, BYU and Richmond, (ok, two decent games out of four is above average here), said teams, “should have tough schedules and players should embrace the opportunity.”
North Carolina State Head Coach Dave Doeren talked about how Wolfpack fans expect success at the quarterback position, thanks to three alums now playing in the NFL. I am guessing the QB position will see a lot of healthy stats this season with non-conference games against Georgia Southern, South Florida and Presbyterian. Yes, that Presbyterian. I thought maybe his assistant had actually mixed up his Sunday church schedule with the football schedule, but NC State is, in fact, playing Presbyterian. Contrary to rumors, Episcopal and Methodist were not asked to be on the schedule next season.
The Miami Hurricanes’ Al Golden was one of the happier coaches in attendance. As he put it, it was the first time he had an opportunity to start the event without having to discuss NCAA investigations or sanctions. As a result, one of the first orders of business for the players, according to Golden, is getting “The U” back; the standard of excellence, the swagger, with, he said, respect for the past success of the past.
Once you have gone to the game booths and the smaller rides at the carnival, you still need at least one spin on something fast and lively like the Tilt-A-Whirl. Enter Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. He was asked about the infamous exchange with Syracuse’s Scott Shafer last season. Clemson was up by 28 late in the first half and went for it on fourth down. Syracuse stopped them, but Shafer had plenty of colorful language for Swinney later on. Swinney joked that just before the ACC press event this week, Shafer was still “M-F-ing me.” He later admitted that the two have taken pictures together, family included, to show they are friends. Swinney has to replace Tigers record holder Tajh Boyd at quarterback, but we should all be looking forward to the play of Senior Cole Stoudt this season. Why? Because Swinney said he looks like Gumby when he runs. Throw Pokey in there as a running back, (everyone under the age of 25, please check with your parents for appropriate references), and Clemson should have a flexible offense.
The only person who got more than 15 minutes of microphone time over the day-and-a-half event was ACC Commissioner John Swofford. He gave opening remarks at the beginning of the event and injected himself in at the midway point in Day 2, discussing Big 5 conference autonomy, the renewed NCAA investigation into the University of North Carolina and the new playoff system, where strength of schedule will be a determining factor, (memo to all schools scheduling Presbyterian). Hey, when you are the carnival barker, you get the megaphone whenever you want.
So the quaint neighborhood carnival that is the ACC Media Days 2014 is wrapped up nice and tight for another year. Coaches didn’t throw funnel cake at each other. No one fell off a carousel horse. Seems to be just enough time left to force down one more candy apple before the season starts.
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