With Florida State and Miami apparently squeezing a game in between
Hurricanes Frances and Ivan, the
new ACC world is off to as stormy a start as the machinations which led to
expansion in the first place.
Wow. We're betting you never thought you'd see that sentence
here, huh? Now say it like Howard Cosell. C'mon, we dare you.
The ACC now offers FSU, Miami, two tacky Techs (it's just a joke, hold the
e-mail), Clemson, N.C. State, UVa, and Maryland as legitimate football
schools. That leaves three of the Big Four out, even though Wake is a
pocket power, a team capable of challenging teams which are much better on
paper. Duke is a work in progress, though the university has made a larger
commitment to football, and Ted Roof seems like a rising star in the coaching
profession.
What about UNC?
The Heels are widely seen as a sleeping giant, but if there is any truth to
Steve Spurrier's interest in the job after Jon Bunting is punted after this
season, imagine Florida uprooted and dropped into Chappa Heeyah, and then,
without question, the ACC would not only be the best footbal conference in the
land, it would also be the most dazzling and imaginative. Think about it:
great offensive minds in Tallahassee, College Park, Miami and Chapel Hill, and
solid offenses in Clemson, Raleigh, and Charlottesville.
If you are marketing the ACC, that Spurrier rumor is going to put some pep in
your step. UNC fans will still have to overcome their hatred of the man,
though: they haven't forgotten the wipeout his Duke team put on UNC, nor have
they forgotten that he posed the team under the scoreboard. There was some
residual anger when the Heels hired Roy Williams, but he was a member of
the family, and he did replace a bonehead, and he is going to win
big and soon..but the rationalizations to come if they do hire Spurrier are
going to be hilarious. The ultimate one: at least we have him and Duke
doesn't.