As Virginia enters the heart of its conference schedule, the national perception of the ACC and its standard bearing schools has suffered.
Ever since Florida State's decade-and-a-half dominance of both the ACC and the nation petered out in the early 2000s, the conference's football division has lagged behind other BCS automatic qualifiers and failed to produce any legitimate national championship contenders. At the onset of the 2011 season, the ACC's own commissioner recognized that his league lagged behind other conferences.
"Obviously, we need to win more of our high-profile games against non-conference opponents," John Swofford said at ACC Media Days. "For us to gain the kind of respect we want for Atlantic Coast Conference football, those are the kind of games we need to win going forward."
Unfortunately for the commissioner, those wins have been few and far between. The triumvirate expected to carry the ACC to national relevance - Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State - have fallen during the conference's big-game in recent seasons. Although Virginia Tech's streak of seven consecutive 10-win seasons is the longest in the country, the Hokies are a paltry 1-3 in BCS bowls since entering the ACC and have squandered opportunities to bolster the conference's reputation with recent early-season losses against LSU, Alabama and Boise State. Miami, meanwhile, has wobbled as a program since its national championship in 2002 and is currently the subject of a massive NCAA investigation for alleged illicit benefits bestowed on players.
And although Florida State entered 2011 as the ACC preseason favorite, the Seminoles' 23-13 home loss against top-ranked Oklahoma in September wasted what Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher had called a "great opportunity" to restore Florida State - and the ACC - to its former pigskin glory. Now for the first time since Dec. 6, 1982, none of the big three Florida schools - Florida State, Miami and Florida - are ranked among the AP Top 25 in the most recently released rankings.
But when the Cavaliers face Georgia Tech Saturday, none of that matters.
While the perennial conference powers may be struggling, the Yellow Jackets are part of a new wave of ACC teams that are making noise nationally. Undefeated Georgia Tech is fourth in the country in total offense, averages 553.5 yards per game and is not even the top-ranked team in the ACC. After an underwhelming campaign in 2010, Clemson (6-0) has already matched its win total from last season and ranks eighth in the nation. North Carolina (5-1) and Wake Forest (4-1) have also surged in the standings and have received votes in the AP poll.
"The conference, people talk about it - up, down, whatever it may be," Virginia coach Mike London said. "But to have those teams
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