Barry Jacobs On 20-Win Seasons!

Contemporary seasons start earlier than ever. We tend to think they include more games too, although in fact they do not. The eight teams in the ACC averaged 34.3 games in 1990. In 2008, nearly two decades later, the ACC's dozen teams averaged 33.4 games. Subtract postseason appearances, and conference clubs played virtually as many contests in 1990 (31.6) as in 2008 (31.8).

League teams averaged 33.8 outings in 2007, 31.8 when postseason is excluded.

So, given the average number of opportunities, reaching 20 victories usually means a squad triumphs more than 62 percent of the time. That's impressive efficiency. Yet, breaking the 20-win mark, once a notable benchmark, is now largely ignored.

Perhaps the achievement has been devalued by seeing at least one squad from every ACC school except Wake Forest win 20 or more games in the past two seasons. Ten of 12 league teams won at least 20 in 2007 alone.

The Demon Deacons already have broken the 20-win barrier this season. So have Clemson, Duke, Florida State, and North Carolina. Boston College stands one shy with at least five games left to play following Saturday's loss at Miami.

Assuming BC gets another win, that would mean at least half the ACC's members reached 20 victories in nine of the past 20 seasons. But it would be only the fourth time since 1998, a 12-year span, and only the second time since the conference's most recent expansion in 2005.