2008 ACC Discussion

[Gatorubet]

2. Tampa to lower ticket prices:
The ACC championship game had mixed results in its first three years in Jacksonville. The first game between Florida State and Virginia Tech in 2005 drew 72,749. The second game between Georgia Tech and Wake Forest drew a crowd that was generously estimated at 62,850. Last year’s game between Boston College and Virginia Tech drew 53,212. So the ACC is going to give Tampa the game for the next two seasons followed by Charlotte in 2010 and 2011. The first thing Tampa got the opportunity to do is cut ticket prices. An upper deck seat to this season’s championship game on Dec. 6 will be only $25. For non-students, the cheapest seat to the three games in Jacksonville was $70. Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium seats 65,857. The ACC will also be more involved in marketing the game. The league has decided that it will be willing to make a little less money in order to get the game to a sellout or near a sellout. That’s a smart decision.
Why can't ACC play championship in ATL? | Mr. College Football | ajc.com

 

[HailToMichigan]

Quite a lot of interesting news in that article, actually.

Unfortunately I don't think lowering ticket prices will help attendance. Tampa? That's even further than Jacksonville from ACC country. The reduced ticket price should just about cover the extra tank of gas it'll take to get there. The only really logical place for the game is Charlotte. Central location. No more than a 4 hour drive from 8 of 12 ACC schools and their alumni population centers.

 

[MaxBuck]

The only really logical place for the game is Charlotte.

Gosh, do I hate to agree with a Wolverine fan. But you could not be more correct.

 

[HailToMichigan]

Gosh, do I hate to agree with a Wolverine fan. But you could not be more correct.

When it comes to the ACC you can just tell yourself you're agreeing with a Virginia fan instead

 

[MD Buckeye]

Suspended Clemson LB Vincent won't play in '08 - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com

Suspended Clemson LB Vincent won't play in '08

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Suspended Clemson linebacker Cortney Vincent will not return for the 2008 season.

Vincent was suspended for spring practice for an unspecified violation of team rules.

Coach Tommy Bowden said in a news release Monday that Vincent would have been academically eligible to compete in the fall, but did not meet goals set by the team for the spring.

Vincent started 12 games last season and had 68 tackles and two sacks.
He would have been a fifth-year senior in the fall and will have to transfer to a Division II or Division III school to play this season.

Clemson also announced that wide receiver Jeff Ogren will transfer to another school. Ogren played in four games last year and had one reception for eight yards.

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Running back McElrathbey leaving Clemson for Howard - College Football

Running back McElrathbey leaving Clemson for Howard

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Clemson's Ray Ray McElrathbey says he's transferring to Howard.

McElrathbey is the football player who earned accolades for taking custody of his younger brother while going to college. In an e-mail to The Associated Press on Monday, he said he's decided to head to the Washington, D.C., school.

McElrathbey's mother told The (Charleston) Post and Courier that McElrathbey chose Howard because of its academics. Her son was expected to take his 13-year-old brother along.

Clemson said in March that McElrathbey would not play for the football team. The athletic department had offered McElrathbey a graduate assistant position with the football team if he wanted to remain with the Tigers.

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Dillard, expected to figure in offense, will miss '08 season - College Football

Dillard, expected to figure in offense, will miss '08 season

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Brandon Dillard, a redshirt junior wide receiver expected to contend for significant playing time for Virginia Tech this season, will instead miss the season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon in player-organized offseason workouts.

The school said Wednesday that Dillard was hurt Tuesday night.

Hokies head trainer Mike Goforth said the Martinsville native will have surgery next week at Montgomery Regional Hospital, with four to six months of rehabilitation to follow.

One of the fastest players in school history, Dillard was expected to help the Hokies alleviate the loss of their top four receivers to graduation after last season.

He gave a glimpse of his potential in the team's Maroon and White spring game with a 49-yard run on a reverse and a 25-yard touchdown reception.

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - Source: Blood clot to sideline starting left guard Bellamy - College Football

Source: Blood clot to sideline starting left guard Bellamy

Florida State starting left guard Evan Bellamy will miss the entire season because of a blood clot in his leg, a source within the program told ESPN.com. Bellamy, a redshirt sophomore, is expected to miss six months.

Bellamy played in all 10 games last season, including the first start of his career in the Music City Bowl, and he wasn't called for one penalty. His backup on the spring depth chart is Jacob Stanley, who doesn't have any game experience.

Contd....

 

[Gatorubet]

Their O line was the continuing suspect part of the offense...this hurts!

Plus, I have a feeling that the NCAA investigations and the punishments (FSU self imposed suspensions that may be increased or accepted) will wind up being worse for FSU than what is thought right now.

Sorry to see the kid have these kinds of medical problems. I hope that he fully recovers.

 

[MD Buckeye]

ESPN - QBs Marve, Harris to both see playing time at Miami - College Football

QBs Marve, Harris to both see playing time at Miami

TAMPA, Fla. -- When choosing between quarterbacks Robert Marve and Jacory Harris, Miami coach Randy Shannon found there was only one solution that made sense.

He'll play both.

Shannon still hasn't selected a starter, but announced Thursday that both highly touted freshmen will see playing time this season for the Hurricanes, who don't have a single quarterback on the roster with any collegiate snaps on their resume. Marve is a redshirt freshman, Harris a true freshman, and both were Florida high school record-setters before enrolling at Miami.

"Whichever quarterback that we name, we're going to play the other one," Shannon said at the Florida Sports Writers Association College Football Media Days. "We need depth at every position on the field and that's the one position that we don't have depth at because they're young. They're good quarterbacks, but they're young."

Contd....

 

[jlb1705]

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10904466

Forget subtraction by addition, ACC troubles deeper
July 21, 2008
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com National Columnist

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- The food is free. The drinks are free. So are the cigars. They're big, they're stinky, and they're everywhere, these cigars. If you're lucky enough to attend the 2008 ACC Football Kickoff, even the golf is free -- and the golf is fabulous.

A typical round on the Rees Jones-designed Oconee Course at Reynolds Plantation costs $260. More than 130 people signed up to play Monday, all on the ACC's dime. That's about 338,000 dimes, but then, the ACC is flush with money.

What the ACC isn't flush with is great football.

Gregg Doyel is wrong in this article on a couple counts. The ACC on the whole is weak. He is correct on that. The ACC is by no means weaker than the Big East. The Big East is just smarter when it comes to perception. What they've done in backloading the schedules of the conference's best football teams has allowed them to have their best teams tear through weak non-conference schedules and a weak first half of the Big East schedule before playing a series of "big" games in what amounts to a round robin November. West Virginia these days can play with about anyone on any given day. The rest of the teams in the Big East - if you put any of them in the "down" ACC I would not bet on a single one of them to finish with a conference record above .500.

He puts an awful lot of blame on the "fall" of the ACC on teams that aren't located in Florida. The reality is, the ACC has always been a weak football conference on the whole. How do you think FSU dominated for so long (coincidentally, much like Miami did when they were in the Big East)? I look across the board in the ACC and don't see too many teams that aren't FSU or Miami that aren't performing at or near their recent historical level of success.

 

[HailToMichigan]

Forget subtraction by addition, ACC troubles deeper - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com Live Scores, Standings, Stats



Gregg Doyel is wrong in this article on a couple counts. The ACC on the whole is weak. He is correct on that. The ACC is by no means weaker than the Big East. The Big East is just smarter when it comes to perception. What they've done in backloading the schedules of the conference's best football teams has allowed them to have their best teams tear through weak non-conference schedules and a weak first half of the Big East schedule before playing a series of "big" games in what amounts to a round robin November. West Virginia these days can play with about anyone on any given day. The rest of the teams in the Big East - if you put any of them in the "down" ACC I would not bet on a single one of them to finish with a conference record above .500.

He puts an awful lot of blame on the "fall" of the ACC on teams that aren't located in Florida. The reality is, the ACC has always been a weak football conference on the whole. How do you think FSU dominated for so long (coincidentally, much like Miami did when they were in the Big East)? I look across the board in the ACC and don't see too many teams that aren't FSU or Miami that aren't performing at or near their recent historical level of success.

Hmmm. There's a lot to like about that article and a lot not to like.

The right: The notion that expansion is not the cause of the problems. A lot of fans of old-school ACC teams blame expansion, but 2 of the last four champions and 3 of the 6 ACC CG participants are expansion teams. Clearly, they're among the strongest, not the weakest, parts of the conference.

Also, FSU's fall from grace. Let's face it: was the ACC really that much better five or six years ago when Florida State was a national power? Not really. But the conference had a face, and that face was FSU, and they were very, very, very good. So people thought the conference must be good too. It really wasn't. Miami happened to be undergoing a transition and a little turmoil right around the time they joined, so, that's just unlucky timing. (For the conference's rep. Not for the rest of the league.)

However: here are a couple really puzzling tidbits:

In the four years before expansion, league teams went 14-10 in bowl games. In the four years since, the ACC has had seven extra bowl bids -- and lost all seven. ACC teams are 14-17 in expansion-era bowls.

What he's saying is (as best I can tell) is that the worst of ACC bowl teams are losing in the bowls. First off, I dunno how he defines this. It boggles the mind. Take 2005: the ACC sent eight teams to bowls. In other words the eighth best team in the conference went. There was definitely an "extra" bowl that year, because UVA was invited to the Music City Bowl when the SEC, the mighty mighty SEC, couldn't fill their obligations. Only six bowl-eligible teams. Clearly he's not counting this because we won that game. So if that's not an "extra bowl bid", what is? I guess statistics can be made to say anything.

Speaking of statistics can say anything, since ACC expansion, 3 BCS conferences have won or tied for the "Bowl Challenge Cup" (best bowl record): ACC, Big East, and Big 12. Hmm. No SEC.

"Rise of the Big East": Whatever. ACC vs. Big East bowl games since expansion:
Florida State 30, West Virginia 18
Boston College 37, North Carolina 24 (oops but BC is in the ACC now)
Georgia Tech 51, Syracuse 14
Virginia Tech 35, Louisville 24
NC State 14, South Florida 0
Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13
West Virginia 38, Georgia Tech 35
Wake Forest 24, UConn 10
By my count that's ACC 5, Big East 3, except that one of those winning Big East teams is now in the ACC.

ACC football is not particularly excellent, but I say the "downfall" of the ACC is directly tied to the downfall of Florida State. And IMO, it's much more enjoyable this way. FSU ruled the '90s. Between '92 and '00 they never failed to win the ACC championship and shared it only twice. Then Maryland got in there for a year, then FSU for two more. This is not fun. It sucks. It sucks equally watching VT win them a title, but it's certainly nice to go into a season knowing that FSU will be one of 12 instead of lording it over the conference. If people would rather see one dominant (and very unlikeable) program having their way then see upstarts like Wake Forest get a chance to sniff the Orange Bowl, and call that better football....well.....I can't understand that.

I may just get lazy tomorrow and copy and paste this post into my blog

 

[jlb1705]

Hmmm. There's a lot to like about that article and a lot not to like.

The right: The notion that expansion is not the cause of the problems. A lot of fans of old-school ACC teams blame expansion, but 2 of the last four champions and 3 of the 6 ACC CG participants are expansion teams. Clearly, they're among the strongest, not the weakest, parts of the conference.

Also, FSU's fall from grace. Let's face it: was the ACC really that much better five or six years ago when Florida State was a national power? Not really. But the conference had a face, and that face was FSU, and they were very, very, very good. So people thought the conference must be good too. It really wasn't. Miami happened to be undergoing a transition and a little turmoil right around the time they joined, so, that's just unlucky timing. (For the conference's rep. Not for the rest of the league.)

However: here are a couple really puzzling tidbits:


What he's saying is (as best I can tell) is that the worst of ACC bowl teams are losing in the bowls. First off, I dunno how he defines this. It boggles the mind. Take 2005: the ACC sent eight teams to bowls. In other words the eighth best team in the conference went. There was definitely an "extra" bowl that year, because UVA was invited to the Music City Bowl when the SEC, the mighty mighty SEC, couldn't fill their obligations. Only six bowl-eligible teams. Clearly he's not counting this because we won that game. So if that's not an "extra bowl bid", what is? I guess statistics can be made to say anything.

Speaking of statistics can say anything, since ACC expansion, 3 BCS conferences have won or tied for the "Bowl Challenge Cup" (best bowl record): ACC, Big East, and Big 12. Hmm. No SEC.

"Rise of the Big East": Whatever. ACC vs. Big East bowl games since expansion:
Florida State 30, West Virginia 18
Boston College 37, North Carolina 24 (oops but BC is in the ACC now)
Georgia Tech 51, Syracuse 14
Virginia Tech 35, Louisville 24
NC State 14, South Florida 0
Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13
West Virginia 38, Georgia Tech 35
Wake Forest 24, UConn 10
By my count that's ACC 5, Big East 3, except that one of those winning Big East teams is now in the ACC.

ACC football is not particularly excellent, but I say the "downfall" of the ACC is directly tied to the downfall of Florida State. And IMO, it's much more enjoyable this way. FSU ruled the '90s. Between '92 and '00 they never failed to win the ACC championship and shared it only twice. Then Maryland got in there for a year, then FSU for two more. This is not fun. It sucks. It sucks equally watching VT win them a title, but it's certainly nice to go into a season knowing that FSU will be one of 12 instead of lording it over the conference. If people would rather see one dominant (and very unlikeable) program having their way then see upstarts like Wake Forest get a chance to sniff the Orange Bowl, and call that better football....well.....I can't understand that.

I may just get lazy tomorrow and copy and paste this post into my blog

I agree about FSU coming back to the pack being a good thing. The problem for the ACC is that they need 2-3 teams to all fill that vacuum, and right now it's only Virginia Tech and a handful of pretenders. Boston College could be another to step into that spot if Jagodzinski can sustain last year's success. Clemson could fill that role if they ever live up to what people say about them before each season. UNC could fill that role if Butch Davis can build anything even close to what he built at Miami. FSU and Miami will always have the potential to be giants again just based on the natural advantages they have. They won't be good or even great again though as long as Bowden is at FSU and Randy Shannon is at Miami

 

[GoodLifeSean]

I had to laugh... Don't get me wrong, the BT had a down year a bit last year, but on one of the comments to Doyle's article someone actually said the ACC is better than the Big Ten... What are they smokin and where can I get some its been a rough day.

 

[jlb1705]

I had to laugh... Don't get me wrong, the BT had a down year a bit last year, but on one of the comments to Doyle's article someone actually said the ACC is better than the Big Ten... What are they smokin and where can I get some its been a rough day.

Well, Dook Blew Devils did beat the Northworstern Mildcats.