The halcyon days
Remember back when the ACC had respect on the national college-football scene?
That was, oh, only about a month ago.
Back then, I asked three ACC coaches to weigh in on the idea that one of the reasons that the conference has had a hard time fielding a legitimate national-championship contender in recent years has to do with the depth of quality play in the league.
Seems kind of ridiculous now, doesn't it?
Anyway, here's what our coaching trio had to say about this when I asked them the question last month"
- Boston College coach Tom O'Brien: "That could happen. But you look at Texas last year and Oklahoma, both have done it in the Big 12 where they've gone through a year and gone through a championship game undefeated. I'm sure that what happens in a lot of conferences is going to happen in ours - where everybody beats each other up. But if you're deserving of being the national champion, you're going to find a way to be undefeated and win the championship game. And if you do that in the ACC, then you're going to be in the national-championship game. And we're going to have people there more years than not, I would think."
- Clemson coach Tommy Bowden: "I think the draft was a good indication. We had 51 players drafted, which is more than any other conference - just about 20 more than the SEC. So every Saturday in this league, you're going to line up against quality competition. The road games are just going to make it that much more difficult. So you're going to have to be pretty lucky with injuries, you're going to have to not turn the ball over, and be at your highest level from an emotional standpoint every week just to have a chance.
"I think it's good for the conference. It's tough to win it, and makes it tough from a BCS standpoint - because there's several games a year that you're going to lose or have a chance to lose in the conference if you don't show up with your A game. But it's a credit to the conference and what John Swofford has done with the addition of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. But it sures make the road a lot tougher."
- Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe: "You've got a couple of teams at the very top who you always expect to be there - Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech is in that group. But there are a lot of talented football teams in this league - a lot of really, really good football teams. And you've got to play well every Saturday in this league.
"I think the hardest thing as a coach is knowing that you can't ever have a week where your kids aren't sky-high and have a chance. If you go out flat, you're going to get your tail end beat. That's the hardest thing in coaching - getting your kids motivated every week. Most people feel like you can really get your kids sky-high three or four times a season, and the rest of the time you've got to play with ability. But here we've got to have our kids playing at a high level every Saturday to have a chance.
"But I think that's a possibility - and the neat thing is that with the division play now, you don't have to be the top guy in the ACC at the end of the year. You've got to be the top guy in your division. And I think that gives everybody a chance to play in that championship game - and if you can get enough wins in your division to get into that championship game, then anything can happen."
- Chris Graham