The ACC And Super Bowl Sunday

A few ACC traditions endure. We’ve still got an ACC game on Super Bowl Sunday, an historic pairing that receives scant attention from the conference and its TV partners.

Maybe that will change this month, as a clash of clubs vying to slip into NCAA consideration, Miami at Pitt, will be televised on the in-house ACC Network on Feb. 2.

ACCN has a golden opportunity to celebrate the rich link between the conference and America’s football holiday, a bond dating to mid-January 1973, when an undefeated NC State squad led by David Thompson edged a comparably gifted Maryland team 87-85. A late score by Thompson, the ACC’s greatest player — a tip-in of a missed shot at the buzzer — sealed the outcome in a rare national telecast of college ball matching No.3 and No.2 in that pre-cable, pre-dunk era.

Given the formidable stature of the opponent, the Wolfpack’s win at Maryland also marked a crucial step in maintaining the second and last unblemished season in conference history. (On probation in 1972-73, NC State was banned from amplifying its 27-0 mark in postseason play.)

The ACC contest brimmed with drama, in sharp contrast with the lackluster 14-7 Super Bowl that followed. The Miami Dolphins handily won despite the close final score, concluding the only undefeated NFL season (17-0) since the 1967 advent of the Game Of Multimillion Dollar Commercials.

The most memorable, and comic, play in Super Bowl VII was a 41-yard field goal attempt that was blocked late in the game. The Dolphins’ left-footed kicker, Garabed “Garo” Yepremian, recovered and tried to pass the ball, only to have it intercepted and run back for a touchdown.

That was it for scoring by Washington, among eight teams that failed to reach double digits in the first LIII Super Bowls. Among that group — the LA Rams, a supposed new sort of offensive force who tallied a field goal and were decisively outplayed by New England in 2019.

Last season, in the ACC prelim Clemson secured its first win in four tries on Super Bowl Sunday. The Tigers crushed Wake Forest 64-37, the puniest offensive output by a Clemson opponent last season. The victory lifted the ACC’s premier 21^st century football school to a .250 winning percentage on the big day, still worst among all ACC participants.

Wake dropped to 3-7, a .300 success rate that matches Georgia Tech among the ACC’s worst Main Event appetizers. Only three league teams have played more often on Super Bowl Sunday. Strangely, Duke with its competitive pedigree is not among them.

The Blue Devils have appeared prior to fewer Super Bowls (7) than NC State (15), North Carolina (14), Maryland (11 while in the league), Florida State (10), Georgia Tech (10), Wake Forest (10) and Virginia (9).

Then again, why expend one of your premium viewership draws on a day devoted to another sport?

NC State, at 10-5, remains the most successful and prolific ACC team playing in tandem with the Largest Halftime Show on Earth, although it last appeared as a Super accouterment in 2008. (Miami has an identical winning percentage in three appearances.)

Boston College’s 2018 inclusion reduced the number of former Big East teams to four that have yet to participate as ACC members in pre-Super festivities (Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech). BC, Miami and Virginia Tech have been in the ACC since the mid-2000s, the Irish, Panthers and Orange since 2014. Louisville came aboard in 2015. When Pitt played – and lost – prior to the Super Bowl in 2014, its sole doubleheader opener as an ACC member, the NFC’s Seattle Seahawks won handily.

Panthers head coach Jeff Capel played twice for Duke on Super Sundays, splitting with Maryland in 1996 and 1997. NFC teams won both times.

Miami’s three appearances yielded one win each for the NFL’s two divisions. An original AFC team, New England, won when the Hurricanes lost in the prelude basketball contest.

The Super Bowl is at Miami in 2020 for the 11^th time. This is the first chance for UM to play basketball prior to a Miami Super Bowl as an ACC member. The Canes will be at Pittsburgh.