Three of the ACC’s highest-profile programs end their regular seasons against in-state SEC rivals. And as of late, each of them -- Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech -- have been on a bit of a skid.
It’s never positive for the perception of the league when one of its powers goes into a game against a team that’s generally considered a power from another league and then loses. But since 2008, that’s been the trend. Georgia Tech and Clemson are 1-4 against their in-state rivals (Georgia and South Carolina, respectively) over that stretch. Florida State has fared a bit better at 2-3 against Florida, but lost last year when the Seminoles were just a win away from perhaps a higher-profile BCS bowl.
The BCS, the pollsters and the powers that be always remember the last thing that you do. And if the last thing you do is lose -- even if it’s against one of the better teams in the country -- your postseason chances are likely to be severely limited. That’s not to mention the fans getting antsy, particularly in Atlanta and Clemson, about losing to an in-state rival.
The SEC has obviously been the dominant league, and all three of the aforementioned SEC programs the ACC faces annually -- South Carolina, Georgia and Florida -- have been national powers in the not-too-recent past, or in the present. So it’s not like the ACC programs have gone out there as favorites, but they were generally plenty capable of winning the game.
They just haven’t.
So, the ACC programs decided to change the way they were doing things a bit.
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have each played an FCS team or a lower-tier FBS team the week prior to their matchup with their ACC rivals in nine of the combined 15 meetings dating back to 2008. Georgia even enjoyed a bye before facing Georgia Tech two of the past five years and faced an FCS team once in the week leading up ... so, essentially, three byes. This season, South Carolina beat Coastal Carolina soundly, Florida lost to Georgia Southern (as we all know) and Georgia won an emotional game against Kentucky.
Not to dismiss the worthiness of any FCS school, particularly seeing as Florida just lost at home to one, but it’s a build-up that has allowed the head coaches as the SEC schools a bit of extra time to prepare. Their teams can play a real game against real competition, but there is little to no doubt in the outcome.
The ACC, on the other hand, had set up its schedule so that Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson were each coming off of conferences games the week leading into their SEC season-ending matchups. There were varying degrees of difficulty in those conference games -- for instance, Clemson closed its ACC schedule with N.C. State the past two seasons while Georgia Tech played a previously underwhelming Duke for four straight years -- but it was still an emotional, hard-fought contest that those ACC coaches had to prepare for in earnest.
But this year, Clemson, Georgia Tech and FSU all played an FCS or lower-tier FBS opponent in the week leading up to their big rivalry games.
Clemson beat the Citadel convincingly last week, while Florida State pounded Idaho and Georgia Tech routed Alabama A&M. None of the ACC coaches would ever admit it, but since there’s so much riding on all three games, they probably looked ahead, at least a little bit, to their upcoming SEC opponent while “preparing” for the FBS team.
Now, there’s a completely even field from a preparation standpoint. A de facto bye week gives the ACC schools’ coaches as much time to prepare as their SEC counterparts.
Will it work?
It’s hard to say. Florida State is certainly in great shape to beat Florida soundly, although it’s worth noting that Will Muschamp and his staff likely spent at least a portion of last week to prepping for the second-ranked Seminoles. It likely won’t matter, though. Georgia Tech has its best shot to beat Georgia in years as the Bulldogs lost starting quarterback Aaron Murray last week.
Then there's the biggest question mark: Clemson at South Carolina. It’s the first time the two teams have met as top-10 opponents, and both are coming off of games against FCS teams last week. Both got their stars considerable rest (Tajh Boyd sat out most of the second half; Jadeveon Clowney didn’t play at all).
There are other questions to ponder with these rivalry games, too. For instance: Would it be better for both schools if the games were played earlier in the year, like, say a Florida State-Miami, so that the loser isn’t punished as much in the BCS standings? FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher said the idea has been tossed around.
“I brought that up when I was in my first year as a head coach. The only reason you would think about (moving it) is because it’s a rivalry game, but it’s a non-conference game. ... I think that’s the difference in all the other leagues. All their rivalry games are within the league and they determine a conference championship.
“If you think about it, there is merit if you think about the ultimate thing which is to win a national championship. Say you played that game in the beginning of the year, and you won it. Now, that puts you immediately in the national title hunt. And if you were ranked high and you lost it, there’s still time to recover form an early loss as you battle back through the season in a game of that significance.”
There is something very unique and very cool about the high stakes that we know these teams are playing for simply because the games are so late in the year. And the games are almost always interesting and filled with juicy storylines that might be lacking if the matchup were earlier in the season. So really, all the ACC could do is level the playing field.
As Fisher pointed out astutely, tradition is one of the most powerful aspects of college football and not one likely to change without a fight.
“Do you want to mess with tradition and all that?” he said when running through the possible scenarios, looking off into the distance as if he was actively pondering the idea himself.
Probably best not to.
