The Atlantic Coast Conference has changed drastically since 1994 when I got my Hardee’s collectible ACC basketball. The nine logos on the ball have swelled to 14. We’ve gained divisions and lost Maryland. We’ve added Boston College, Miami, VA Tech, Pitt, and Syracuse. And now the ACC welcomes Louisville.
Maryland, a founding member of the conference in 1953, has left for the Big Ten. They now have 14 teams. The B1G has also dropped their Leaders and Legends division names in favor of East and West; much to the delight of its fans I’ll bet.
I played many a game of hoops in my back yard as a youngster, dribbling in grass until the ball was peach-colored instead of bright orange. Those nine logos on my old basketball have faded away.
It’s an appropriate metaphor for how that ACC is no more and we are all entering uncharted territory with the conference, and college football as a whole.
Welcome to the New ACC
The upcoming football season will be our first encounter with the new-look ACC. It’ll be the first season in 61 years to not feature Maryland in the conference. Six of the initial eight teams from 1953 remain. Expansion has taken a break, and we can all get our footing in a new college football landscape.
The ACC morphed several times between 1953 and 1994, the last big change being the addition of Florida State in 1991. My formative years and foundation of sports fandom were the decade between 1994 and 2004. In 2004 the conference re-alignment domino effect began. The destruction of the Big East as a football conference started with the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech, two storied programs who brought in tons of clout.
This was my first big sports change (outside of NFL and MLB expansion teams) and it took a lot of getting used to. To just change the teams you played each year in conference was unheard of to me. I was used to the schedule we had in the ACC, and it was thrown into upheaval.
In the last decade I’ve become numb to conference flip-flopping. I wasn’t sure where Boise State played for a few years in the early 2010’s, and the Big East did go extinct in football. I’ve grown used to change, but that first wave that sent us towards super-conferences was a big one.
The ACC split into two divisions with the addition of Boston College in 2005. The Atlantic and Coastal were born, as was the ACC Championship Game. The division alignment gives fans a nice balance and keeps competition dispersed evenly. The sanctity of rivalries is upheld with each team having a yearly matchup with an opposing divisional foe. The UNC-NC State game and FSU vs. Miami happens each year, as they should. Throw in the possibility of rivals meeting again in the championship game and the growth of the conference has added more drama and life to the game.
Growth in college football is a necessity. If you’re not evolving, others are, and the sport itself has become a behemoth. Competing with the Southeastern Conference in championships, recruiting, and revenue has forced the ACC to ramp up their presence. Given the SEC’s dominance of the BCS era, all other conferences are playing catch-up perception-wise with the media and fans.
The SEC hosted a title game starting in 1992 and the fandom of that game has never let up. It’s taken on Super Bowl level anticipation for southern football fans. The ACC title game has sprung up recently, as has the B1G and Pac-12 title games. Given the proximity of markets for both conferences, the ACC has to throw just as big a party in Charlotte as the SEC throws in Atlanta. Charlotte’s hosting has sufficed, as the ACC signed a deal to have the game in Bank of American Stadium for the next six years.
The new incarnation of the ACC coincides with the inception of the College Football Playoff, and the separation of the Power Five and the Group of Five. The game is being reinvented and four conferences out of the Power Five have championship games and hopes of putting a team in the inaugural CFP. The Big 12 has an old-school round robin schedule, with Oklahoma a trendy pick to be in the four-team playoff come January.
Florida State is a common preseason pick to represent the ACC in the CFP. Along with Alabama, they are given the best shots to reach the Rose or Sugar. The ACC has been top-heavy with the Seminoles and Clemson separating themselves the past few seasons. While in the same division, FSU and Clemson have a big circle around each other on their respective schedules. As with division rivalries like Alabama/LSU, The Iron Bowl, Oregon/Stanford, or OSU/Michigan, in a two-team division race, one game can make or break the season.
The Coastal Division has seen a wider variety of potential champions emerge. Miami has built itself back into contention post-sanctions, Duke surprised the nation last year with a 10-4 season, and UNC is right in the mix this year with Top 25 preseason rankings.
FSU has given a glimpse of a return to their 90s dominance. They have a chance to repeat this year and plant the seeds for a new dynasty if the talent keeps rolling into Tallahassee. One title does not a dynasty make, so Jimbo and company better ride their momentum and Jameis Winston to as much success as possible before he’s a top 5 draft pick.
Change is revered by some and abhorred by others. In college football, it’s become necessary. The outcry for a “true national champion” gave birth to the BCS. The lingering taste of split national champions has propelled us into the land of the playoff in college football. We’re all sailing into new seas as fans and players. Let’s hope the tides are smooth and we get an entertaining New Year’s Six.
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