The ACC, the NFL, and more discussion
by BirdGT on Apr 14, 2010 8:00 AM EDT
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PrintLet's look at some interesting numbers beyond Georgia Tech's impact and into the ACC's very underrated impact on the NFL. The ACC has led the NFL Pro Bowl in selections the past two seasons. The ACC has definitely been successful since expansion in producing top notch NFL talent. The ACC actually had the third most alum starting for 2009-2010 NFL playoff teams this past season (only one short of 2nd most Big 10). The ACC had 33 Draft picks in the 2009 NFL Draft, which was second most in 2009.
And ultimately, we get dumped on because we can't win the BCS games. We are officially dead last as a conference in BCS game winning percentage just ahead of Notre Dame (who is 0-3 in BCS games). We are "weak" because we cannot produce the elite team. We can produce elite talent and send a majority of the conference to bowl games but we can't win the big one.
I think the recent coaching moves in the ACC have definitely improved the overall credibility of the conference. The moves are ultimately the key to the conference's future. Looking at every team, top to bottom, here's my opinion of whether or not teams have improved at the HC position since basically the Gailey Era:
GT - Gailey to Johnson - Improvement
FSU - Bowden to Fisher - Improvement
Duke - Roof to Cutcliffe - Improvement
Clemson - Bowden to Swinney - Improvement
Miami - Coker to Shannon - Improvement
UNC - Bunting to Davis - Improvement
UVA - Groh to London - Unknown
VT - Beamer - Wash
Wake - Grobe - Wash
BC - O'Brien - Jags - Spaziani - Wash
NCSU - Amato - O'Brien - Wash
MD - Friedgen - Decline
So over the past 6-7 years, 6 teams have increased their HC talent, 5 have stayed about on par, and Maryland has just lost it. I think this is a step in the right direction for the ACC. It definitely won't hurt that next season is looking for massive improvements on the defensive front at FSU, NCSU, and GT. Any thoughts out there on ACC football in general? What do you think about my assessment of HC talent in the ACC?
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Bowden to Swinney
Still too early to tell IMO. Swinney got Bowden’s team to the Championship Game. It will be interesting to see if Swinney can maintain it.
The others I agree with.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Same with Bowden to Fisher
Still too early to tell.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Improvements
I agree almost completely and co-sign the “too early” for Swinney and Fisher.
I’ve been arguing for awhile now that the top end talent in the ACC is every bit as good as the SEC. Since expansion the draft numbers are comparable and we’ve had several years where certain teams were just crazy with top end talent (UNC 02 draft, NCSU 05 draft, GT this draft).
Our problem lies in the depth and talent development. Our 2’s and 3’s aren’t as good as SEC 2’s and 3’s and thus its tougher for us to “reload” as a conference.
The other problem as a league has been QB play, which I believe is a direct result of coaching. We went from having guys like Weinke, Hamilton, Schaub, Whitehurst to the, for lack of a better term, garbage of the mid-expansion years. Players like Reggie Ball, Chris Rix, Xavier Lee, Kyle Wright, Marcus Vick etc were underdeveloped due to poor coaching. Trading Richt for Jeff Bowden is the most obvious example.
With qb play trending up, coaching trending up, talent development trending up I think we’re slowly starting to see what expansion is all about. Add that to the ACC title game in its perfect home and we’ve really got a lot to look forward to.
Yeah BoYeeEEeeE
by InTheBleachers on Apr 15, 2010 7:38 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
The QB issue is the same in the SEC
Just look at the guy playing the position on the current national champions. There is nothing about him that sets the college world on fire, and you could pretty much say the same thing about most of them in the SEC. Snead dropped off last year. Mallett looks like a good pro prospect, but he didn’t exactly destroy the SEC last year. Crompton had a decent year but TN has no one to follow up. Brantley is expected to be great, but he hasn’t had to play a full season yet so who knows there. Miss St, haha. Etc, etc.
Imo, the problem hasn’t been QB play specifically, but skill position play in general as well as an overall lack of talent at schools such as Maryland, NC St, Wake, & Duke. To me it has always seemed like the ACC has had less overall top tier talent at the skill positions while being about equal on the defensive side. But those schools I mentioned consistently lack the talent level of the other teams in the conference and at times I think that drags down the conferences perception nationally.
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
I think it's actually OL/DL
I’ve always noticed a big dropoff when comparing the SEC to the ACC in OL and DL draftees. The ACC has the guys at linebacker, DB, RB, WR, QB, etc. that the SEC does. We just don’t have the monster freaks they do in the SEC. Look at these charts for last season’s NFL playoffs:
The only place the ACC is lacking in NFL talent is in the defensive and offensive fronts.
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