No, this is really our year -- I mean it this time. I know we talked a big game in the past but this is the year we finally put it all together and people will actually take us seriously.

That is the cry from everyone involved in the ACC this year. Over the last several years, they have been the little brother, not just to the SEC, but to the Big 10, Pac-10, Big 12 and some years even the Big East, trying to compete with college football’s elite, and year after year, they have come up woefully short.

Being the rabid ACC man that I am, I have fallen prey to recent cries of "This is the year," only to be disappointed and mocked by my SEC and Big 10 friends.

Everything is in place this year for a huge year in the conference: as many as six teams in the preseason top 25, the best QB play in the country (yes, that includes you, Pac-10) and more than a dozen high-profile out-of-conference games. It’s all there for the taking if you can grab it.

As much as I want to believe in the conference and pound my chest about it, I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. The fact is, the problem over the last several years has not been the talent level; the ACC doesn’t take a back seat to many as far as putting players in the NFL. It’s been the coaching -- it hasn't been nearly good enough. Several years ago, the league looked loaded on the sidelines: Bowdens Bobby and Tommy, Frank Beamer, Al Groh, Chan Gailey, Chuck Amato, Ralph Friedgen, Tom O’Brien etc … but they were either getting too old, mired in mediocrity or all-in-all a bust.

As I look at the coaching landscape right now, there aren’t too many sure things. Beamer, Paul Johnson and Jim Grobe are the three best but the rest have major question marks. Randy Shannon? Butch Davis? Dabo Swinney? Jimbo Fisher? Frank Spaziani? Mike London? All these guys have a lot to prove, and that’s why I’m holding off on my enthusiasm that the conference can take the next step. And by next step, I mean win your share of those big out of conference games (UNC/LSU, Va. Tech/Boise St., Miami/OSU, FSU/Oklahoma etc ...) have a couple teams in the top-10 (preferably the top-5), be in the conversation for a national championship and hold a championship game between two really good teams with gaudy records in front of a packed house.

 

Is that too much to ask for?