10 reasons why ACC's on the rise
While the SEC was winning a national championship, producing the NFL's top draft pick and sending two teams to BCS games, the ACC was suffering a fumble-filled 2006.
But there are reasons to believe Georgia Tech's league could return to the level of Georgia's this fall.
Among them:
1. New blood at FSU
Bobby Bowden turns 78 in November and concedes the next few years will present his last shot to win a third national championship at Florida State. So he opened up the checkbook to bring in five new assistants, including Jimbo Fisher (offensive coordinator), line coach Rick Trickett (offensive line) and former N.C. State head man Chuck Amato (linebackers).
The buzz out of Tallahassee is that the Seminoles will be good enough to win the Atlantic Division in 2007 and be back among the national title contenders in 2008. "There is a whole new energy in the program," Seminoles running back Antone Smith said. "The guys are excited about how good this offense can be. I just don't think we're far off."
2. Butch is back
North Carolina, ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation a decade ago under Mack Brown, slipped to 3-9 last season, John Bunting's last as coach.
Enter Butch Davis, who knows a thing or two about reclamation projects from his Miami days. He already has the Tar Heels beating the big boys for five-star recruits.
The ACC can't become the football conference it wants to be until the flagship university in a state with four conference teams is consistently in the Top 25.
"Nobody doubts that we'll be good again because Coach Davis is going to get good players to come here," senior wide receiver Joe Dailey said. "We have everything we need here to be successful. It's just a matter of time. I wish I was going to be here to see it."
3. Winning Wake
Picked to finish in the Atlantic Division cellar last year, Wake Forest went on to win its first ACC title since 1970.
Monday, the Demon Deacons were picked to finish fourth by media covering the league. More motivation for a team that lost seven starters on defense but welcomes back a lot of key offensive talent.
"People didn't believe we could do it the first time and we proved them wrong," defensive end Jeremy Thompson said. "But Coach [Jim] Grobe has been building this program for five years and now we're in a position to keep it going for a while."
We'll know before long. Wake opens at Boston College, then hosts Nebraska.
"I could be wrong," Grobe said, "but if a couple of pieces fall into place I think we just may have a shot [to repeat]."
4. Pride matters
Miami hasn't won 10 games since the 2003 season. New coach Randy Shannon was brought in to change that — among other things.
"There is a lot of pride here and what you saw last season was not Miami football," star defensive end Calais Campbell said of a 7-6 debacle. "Nobody is going to pick us to win anything. That's OK. We know we have the makings of a good team."
5. Tigers tandem
SEC fans will tell you Arkansas' Darren McFadden and Felix Jones make up college football's best running back tandem. But Clemson may have an argument.
Tigers junior James Davis is Thunder: The Atlanta native rolled through defenses for 1,187 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, averaging 5.8 yards a carry.
Sophomore running mate C.J. Spiller is Lightning: He amassed 938 yards a year ago, many of them after finding little creases in the defense.
The question: Can they do the same behind a less-experienced offensive line?
6. Running men
What the ACC lacks in big-name quarterbacks, it more than makes up for on the ground. Back this fall are 17 players who combined to rush for 100 or more yards 53 times. Topping the charts: Georgia Tech's Tashard Choice, who had nine 100-yard efforts a year ago.
"I learned a long time ago that you have to throw the ball to get points on the board," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "But then you have to run the ball to win."
7. Big games
The ACC will have ample opportunities to show it can play with anyone anywhere.
Virginia Tech plays at LSU. Wake hosts Nebraska. Georgia Tech gets Notre Dame in South Bend. Maryland takes on Big East favorites Rutgers and West Virginia. Miami meets the Big 12's Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
"I think these big non-conference game are very important for our league," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "Adding a game like that makes for a tough schedule but it also gives you an opportunity to prove something about your team and about your conference."
8. Comeback Cavs
In 2007, the ACC qualified eight teams for bowls, the second straight season that's happened. All eight are projected to be back in the postseason picture this fall, along with Virginia, which returns 19 starters from a squad that went 5-7 last season with a freshman quarterback and a baby-faced offensive line.
"People look at the top of our league and think we're struggling because we don't have a team competing for the national championship," said ACC commissioner John Swofford, a former North Carolina quarterback. "But last season we were deeper as a league than we've ever been. When you look at the teams we have returning, we have a chance to be even deeper this year."
9. Grade A 'D'
The ACC placed seven defenses in the top 34 in the final NCAA statistics last year: Virginia Tech (first), Miami (seventh), Clemson (13th), Virginia (17th), Florida State (18th), Georgia Tech (27th) and Boston College (34th). Those seven teams combined return 57 of 77 defensive starters from a year ago. None of the teams has fewer than seven starters returning on that side of the ball.
"This is going to be a better league this season because of all the great defenses," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. "You look at the top seven or eight teams in our league and they all have great athletes on that side of the ball. That's how you win consistently."
10. Bottom's up
Conferences are not only judged by what they have on top but also what's at the bottom. And they don't come any worse than Duke, which rides a Division I-A-worst 20-game losing streak into the season.
"It's a number that we have to live with every single day. It's what people want to talk about," said senior safety Chris Davis of Stone Mountain. "This program is getting ready to turn around but everything starts with one game."
Duke's best bet at a win might come in week 1: at home against UConn. ACC coaches insist the Blue Devils remain a tough out, despite the fact they haven't beaten a I-A team in more than two seasons.
"All I know is that we had to block a field goal on the last play of the game to beat them [13-12]," Wake's Grobe said.
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