Work Interferes With Blogging DiscussionThread: BCS, John Swofford, etc Thoughts?

Because knowing how these things go, I’m expecting that either Oregon or Auburn will lose before January comes, meaning they won’t be in the national championship. I don’t know to who, or what kind of black magic will make it happen, but I just have a feeling that one of them will. At that point, it’s looking like it’s TCU’s shot at the second spot in the game, meaning they’ll get their one shot to completely disprove anything the BCS still has going for it. And the thing I worry about is that they’ll lose, maybe only by a touchdown or 10 pts, but regardless of how minimal the margin, everyone will start jabbering about how Oregon/Auburn TOTALLY LIT UP TCU AND ALL THOSE NON-AQ CONFERENCE LOSERS BRAH. And we’ll be back to square one, where Boise, TCU, Hawaii, Utah, etc, all have something to prove again, and ESPN will never shut up about it, and the BCS will still be in existence for another 3 decades.

As far as Nesbitt’s future in the NFL, I can see him playing positions like linebacker or tight end, where he could use his skill set and big body frame to his advantage, while not needing a sniper-type arm or All-American speed (because who are we kidding, he doesn’t run some 4.29 40-yard dash….tack on another 3 or 4 tenths of a second, at least). As far as coaching or announcing though….no. Just no. Haha.

I’ve debated with myself for some time about what will happen to Joshua Nesbitt when his career ends at Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, I just don’t see him making out any better (in terms of playing time/ability) than Tim Tebow has received this season. I don’t expect him to go in the first round…even Tebow didn’t deserve to go in the first round. But I see Nesbitt as a TE guy, maybe run some wildcat/goaline stuff. He won’t be a true quarterback in the NFL.

As far as the NFL is concerned though, it’s difficult to commit one of seven (on average) draft picks and one of 53 roster spots on a situational player that may see the ball once a game or so. Even at that, there are only 45 players active on gameday, so he may never see the ball. It may just be too much to ask an NFL GM to commit. On the other hand, there’s the CFL and UFL that would accept him with open arms.

The ACC will not improve until its perception improves. We could have all the great teams, gaudy records, etc. that we want, but if the perception doesn’t improve, it doesn’t mean anything. To that end, we have to start winning the games we should win. That’s where the SEC has been marvelous – they win the games they should win, and some of the ones they shouldn’t. The only other thing I have to say is that Miami or FSU has to win the conference, and soon, or the perception just gets worse.

It is not that we need to have the Miami/FSU ‘glory days’ back, it is simply that in the offseason, no matter who is actually looking good, those two teams get the bulk of the attention. They get 50% or so, VT gets a static 10% or so, the preseason favorite (if not one of those three teams) gets 15% or so, and everyone else shares that other 25%. To the rest of the country, FSU and Miami are the ACC. In this game, perception is reality.

The ACC is not as bad as the perception, if you take the empirical evidence. Two teams have lost to OOC teams they shouldn’t have – teams that ordinarily don’t do that sort of thing (that’d be GT and VT). The other OOC losses are to be expected.

OSU, OU, Stanford, Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Boise. All of those teams are probably top 15-20 in the country, and some of them played our worst members. Thats 7 of our 15 OOC losses to date. Another one was UVA v. USC. Wake v. Navy. Those are all games the ACC team WAS SUPPOSED TO LOSE. People forget that stuff when it happens to everyone in a conference. 9 of the 15 OOC losses to date were against GOOD TEAMS – teams that were favored.

But people forget that. We, as a conference, live in SEC country, and that conference’s accomplishments will always be trumpeted loudly. They have bigger fanbases, and thus are bigger audiences. They have managed to create a mystique about the conference that isn’t there about any other conference. Until we start beating them head-to-head, we’re going to be second fiddle, because we always get second choice in recruiting. Oddly enough, I think that’s the reason Virginia Tech has been so successful – they play second fiddle to NO ONE in their state. Sure, we get the vast majority of NC talent – but its split among a number of schools. Clemson has done a poor job of marketing themselves in South Carolina, it seems (since they own the gamecocks of late – excluding last year – but don’t get their pick in the recruiting game).