Is Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest good for the ACC?

If the media had done its homework a little more thoroughly, perhaps the ACC football title game Saturday afternoon wouldn’t be such a surprise. At least that is Woody Durham’s take.

As it is, Georgia Tech was picked in the preseason to finish third in the ACC’s Coastal Conference, while Wake Forest was selected dead last in the Atlantic Division. Now those two teams will square off in Jacksonville, Fla., for the championship of the conference.

“The media should be a bit red-faced about this matchup …” Durham, the legendary play-by-play voice of the North Carolina Tar Heels told ACC Nation this week. “Had the media taken the time to study the preseason info, those who voted would have discovered that Georgia Tech and Wake Forest had more returning experience than any other ACC team.”

Even with that being the case, neither school is considered an elite team in ACC football. Tech did share a national championship with Colorado in 1990, but it’s been 36 years since Wake has won even an ACC title.

Lately neither team has been in sniffing distance of a conference title. Instead, Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech have been looked at as the football powers of the conference, even if two of the three are relative newcomers.

“Most people thought the Labor Day matchup between FSU and Miami was a preview of the ACC championship,” said Rick “Doc” Walker, the ACC football color analyst for Lincoln Financial Sports. “Wrong. It was just the start of a very exciting 2006 season.”

Exciting, yes. But is a Georgia Tech-Wake Forest matchup good for the ACC?

“Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are good for the conference because they kicked most of the conference in the rear end,” Walker told ACC Nation. “You earn your way into the ACC championship game. You’re not voted in.”

Still, there’s concern among some that, without the traditional big names, the game will struggle to sell tickets and, maybe more importantly, garner good television ratings.

Bill Roth, the voice of the Virginia Tech Hokies, said the football title game isn’t like the ACC basketball tournament yet. No matter who plays for the hoops title, the coliseum will be packed and other fans will be watching on TV. That’s not necessarily the case for the ACC football championship game.

“There is a reason Fox wants the Yankees in the World Series and similarly, the ideal situation for the ACC would be to have a pair of traditionally big name teams who would pack the stadium as well as boost the TV numbers nationally,” Roth said. “Fair or unfair, each year, the ACC championship game will be compared to the SEC championship game.”

This year that SEC title game will feature two highly ranked teams in Florida and Arkansas. Roth pointed out that, since the first SEC championship game in 1992, either Florida, Tennessee, or Georgia has played in the game.

“You haven't seen Vandy or Mississippi State in that game,” Roth said, “and I wonder if those teams played against each other, could they sell 75,000 seats at the Georgia Dome?”

Durham isn’t sure how ticket sales will go this year in Jacksonville, but he believes that having Georgia Tech and Wake Forest in the title game will be good in the long run for the ACC, if only because it will raise expectations at other schools not traditionally known as football powers.

“It might put a little more heat on the coaches at the other schools,” Durham said. “Now every school will believe its team can be a contender, and why not?”

Durham said other schools may have never believed they could compete for a title with the likes of FSU and Miami dominating the conference, but the success of Georgia Tech and Wake Forest has changed that.

“The other teams are no longer intimidated by these bullies,” Durham said. “They have recruited to compete against them. I realize Clemson folded up at mid-season like a cheap suit, but at the outset the Tigers, overall, were the best team in the league. To me, that’s just as big a story as Wake Forest getting to the championship game.”

Walker agreed with Durham that other teams now have confidence they can compete in the ACC year in and year out. And that’s a good thing, he said.

“ACC fans should be proud that this conference is not viewed as a two-headed monster,” Walker said. “FSU and Miami will return with great teams, but the new ACC will never be the same.”

- Patrick Hite