Al Baird is a sports fanatic who recently pursued his passion for writing. His work often pursues the humorous side of a story and he enjoys using satire too. Baird is also an avid saltwater fisherman and has written on that subject as well. If you want to check out some of his web sites put Roadkillal in any web browser and enjoy. Do you think people in Boston, Miami and Blacksburg are asking themselves, "What was I thinking?"
Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami went to dance with the ACC only to find no dancing partners. The promise of a football conference that would rival any in the nation, even the SEC, seems so laughable now.
The conference is being defended as just having a "down" year. Excuse me. If this is a down year, when did they have an up year?
The ACC has always been soft when it comes to football. Florida State -- and Florida State alone -- made the conference respectable for so many years. Sure, there was the occasional flash of brilliance from Clemson, Maryland or one of Carolina teams, but their brilliance faded faster then Michele Wie does in a PGA event.
In comes the three teams from the Big East and the PR machines were working overtime. Everyone bought into the hype. The ACC would now have as many teams as the SEC. The ACC now would have conference championship game just like the SEC. And, the ACC would even be better than the SEC because now it would have two teams from Florida and everyone likes to recruit in Florida.
Everyone associated with the ACC saw this as positive. The ACC would now be -- dare I say it – respectable in football. On the other hand, the Big East added some Conference USA teams and is became a "basketball conference." Wasn't that the ACC label?
The bowls bought into it too. The ACC now has eight bowl affiliations for their 12 teams, so, now even Duke has a realistic shot at going. Imagine how pleased the Meineke Car Care Bowl is going to be to get a 6-6 NC State squad that lost to Akron this year and beat Division 1-AA Appalachian State. I bet they would rather have App State.
As the majority of conference play starts next week, the ACC might have multiple 6-6 teams going to a bowl. Even worse they might have to disappoint one of bowls because they do not have eight teams that are bowl eligible. So that bid will have to elsewhere, like, maybe the MAC.
There are too many bowl games and this year they added a couple more. This ensures that even more 6-6 teams will have a post season event.
Meanwhile, how is the Big East doing? Just fine, thank you very much for asking. Louisville and West Virginia are two of the nation's most exciting teams, and both are in the top 10 in the polls.
Louisville made it thanks to an impressive win over Miami, even after they lost their starting quarterback, Brian Brohm early in the second half. Miami came out and stomped on the Cardinal emblem at Louisville's Pappa John Stadium. Then the Cardinals stomped on Miami (31-7) sending them home out of the top 25.
Rutgers will make it into the top 25 any week now, and anyone that has seen them play comes away impressed. Pitt, Connecticut and South Florida are solid and all could make it into the top 25 before bowl season.
The ACC… well, they don't have anyone in top 10, but Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Boston College are ranked in the top 20.
Do you think the Big East will want their prodigal children back? Not unless their basketball programs improve.