It’s time for Florida State-Clemson, ACC’s marquee matchup
It’s Florida State-Clemson week, which means it’s the de facto ACC championship week.
The real ACC football title game won’t be played for more than another month and that’s when the actual trophy will be handed out. And it is a slight exaggeration to suggest this week’s winner is guaranteed to waltz to a championship; Georgia Tech, gave Florida State a good run in Charlotte just last year.
But the last four seasons have largely seen the creation of two tiers in the conference: Clemson (8-0, 5-0) and Florida State (7-1, 5-1) occupy one of them. The other dozen schools move up and down the other.
Occasionally, an N.C. State (2012) or Georgia Tech (2014 and 2015) pulls an upset. But not often; the Tigers and Seminoles are a combined 54-3 against the rest of the ACC since 2012. The last time two ranked ACC teams met and Clemson or Florida State wasn’t among them? Virginia Tech’s 38-0 rout of Virginia in 2011.
It’s the latest bit of evolution in a nearly quarter-century history of the ACC’s aspirations of true football glory. And it remains to be seen if it is the best the league can hope for.
A real commitment to football in some form began with expansion into the Sunshine State in 1992 and the Florida State and the Eight Dwarfs era. The Seminoles went 70-2 in league play in their first nine seasons, and even with the occasional well-built program (Mack Brown’s final teams at North Carolina) and Heisman candidates (Joe Hamilton at Georgia Tech), Florida State dominated.
Once the Bobby Bowden decline phase kicked in at Florida State and the league expanded to 11 and then to 12 schools, the Land of 8-4 Teams stretch began. From 2001 to 2011, only five ACC teams finished the year in the Associated Press poll’s top 10, none higher than No. 7 Virginia Tech in 2005. The league had good teams, but no great ones and virtually zero national profile.
The ability of Clemson and Florida State to finally take full advantage of their resources (some combination of proximity to talent, administrative commitment to the sport, fans who will fill the two largest stadiums in the league and, to a lesser degree, history) has erased that problem. Having two programs that are annual playoff threats is far better than having none.
But is this pseudo-duopoly what’s best for the league? No, only because two is good and three or four is better.
If a Coastal Division counterweight emerges, there would be some added oomph. Miami (nearby talent and NFL legacy) and especially Virginia Tech (university commitment and fan support) are the most logical candidates based on their best resources, which is why their coaching hires are the most significant in the league since Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher turned out to be inspired choices.
Those decisions could lead to the next era in ACC football. In the present one, the significance of Saturday’s game in Death Valley is as good as it’s going to get.
Trivia
A controversial loss to Miami knocked Duke out of the top 25 prior to its visit to No. 21 North Carolina. When was the last time two of the Triangle’s three schools met as ranked opponents in football?
Wake goes long
One of the highlights of Wake Forest’s 20-19 loss to Louisville was redshirt freshman Cortez Lewis’ 78-yard touchdown catch. It was the Demon Deacons’ longest play from scrimmage since Tanner Price connected with Chris Givens for a 79-yard play against Virginia Tech on Oct. 15, 2011.
That was also Wake Forest’s most recent play from scrimmage of at least 75 yards. The Demon Deacons became the sixth ACC team to have one this season, joining Duke, Florida State, N.C. State, Syracuse and Virginia.
With Wake’s four-year drought over, only one ACC team hasn’t had a rush or pass of at least 75 yards in the last three seasons. That would be Pittsburgh, which actually had two such plays on Sept. 22, 2012, against Gardner-Webb (a 78-yard Ray Graham run and Tino Sunseri’s 77-yard pass to Mike Shanahan) and hasn’t had one since.
Answer
The last time two of the Triangle’s three schools met as ranked opponents in football was 1993, when No. 18 North Carolina defeated No. 19 N.C. State 35-14. There are only two other prior meetings of ranked Triangle schools during the ACC era: 1957 (a 14-14 tie between No. 4 Duke and No. 11 N.C. State) and 1979 (No. 19 North Carolina’s 35-21 defeat of No. 15 N.C. State).
This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 4:55 PM with the headline "It’s time for Florida State-Clemson, ACC’s marquee matchup."