Which Division is the best: ACC Atlantic or Coastal?

by BirdGT on Nov 14, 2011 9:16 AM EST in Georgia Tech Football

We've played 16 inter-division conference games in 2011 and the record is currently 8-8 for both divisions. A tie. There are two regular season match ups left along with the December 3rd ACC Championship Game. As a discussion point and means for passing time in mid-November, who do you think is the better division since 2005?

Let's start with the straight up head to head match ups. The Atlantic leads the Coastal all-time 67-63 including a 24-18 bowl berth lead. The Coastal, however, has won 4 ACC Titles to the Atlantic's two and features VPI and Georgia Tech, the only two ACC programs with greater than 70% winning percentages in interdivision play. A counterpoint to that statement is that the Atlantic has four teams with greater than 50% interdivision play while the Coastal's Duke, Miami, UNC, and UVA combine for a 28-54 record and none of the programs have a winning record against Atlantic teams.

If we're talking about talent, the best judge of talent are postseason accolades and the NFL Draft. ACC Coach of the Year favors the Coastal 4 times out of 6 years. ACC Player of the Year is split down the middle at 3 to 3. If we break down 1st and 2nd team all conference selections, draft picks, and pro bowlers, we see a lean towards the Coastal:

I'm glad Miami can produce talent 'cause that's about all they're good for. The final metric I want to look at is attendance. The Atlantic outdraws the Coastal by about 15% more fans per home game. Around 13 million people have been to Atlantic Division home games from 2005-2010 while only around 11 million have been to Coastal games. It definitely hurts having Duke and a floundering Miami program in our midst but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

So who is better? The talent rich, top heavy Coastal or the parity laden, metropolis-sized-stadium Atlantic?

Poll

Who do you choose?

Atlantic...bigger stadiums, better regular season record!

23 votes

Coastal...more titles and talent!

92 votes

I'm a pre-1996 CFB fan... It's a tie.

7 votes

122 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Tie

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by AParker on Nov 14, 2011 10:05 AM EST reply actions

Attendance is a hard one to compare with....

Maybe better to look at a stadium-filled percentage. For example, UVA has an official capacity of 61500, but the hill can pack more in. GT has an official capacity of 55000, but at times more can be packed in. Lane can officially hold 66233. So, an off-attendance game at UVA or VPI can still result in more attendance than is possible at GT.

by JacketInHooville on Nov 14, 2011 10:55 AM EST reply actions

Excellent Post, graphs and statistics!

It is hard to add anything comment-wise because these numbers pretty much speak for themselves.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 14, 2011 11:58 AM EST reply actions

I guess the only thing I would add would be that the Atlantic appears stronger in aggregate since it is not filled with bottom feeders. However, the power would definitely shift to the Coastal Division if any one of three teams (Miami, UNC or Virginia) had anything like the kind of season they are “supposed” to have.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 14, 2011 12:02 PM EST up reply actions

Coastal is better top-to-bottom

Georgia Tech, VPI, Miami, UNC, (this year) Virginia

Clemson, FSU, NC State, Wake Forest

Which lineup sounds better to you?

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by LilBroey700 on Nov 14, 2011 12:53 PM EST reply actions

It's kind of like the SEC's argument every year.

They have the best couple teams in the country and win it all. Who cares if they’re not as deep as other conferences. Going off that argument, you have to go with the Coastal. VPI and GT have pretty much been the two best teams these past five seasons.

Looking to the future of the conference, it’s going to get interesting as well. In the Coastal, GT and VPI are already on top, Miami looks to be improving under Al Golden and they continue to get great recruits, UVA is also headed in the right direction under Mike London. I don’t think they’ll ever beat out VPI in terms of in-state recruiting but they could be a solid, consistent team. UNC was well on their way but have obviously now had a huge setback.

In the Atlantic, Clemson is finally nationally relevant and boast one of the youngest teams in the country. FSU should actually/legitimately be in the NC discussion next year and have been getting top 5 recruiting classes. Wake is headed on the right path after some recent bad seasons, similar to UVA. It’s taking a while for NCSU, who knows if O’Brien will last there, and you have to figure BC will make it back up soon, they always seem to produce top tier NFL talent every other year.

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by PhenomenalSwag on Nov 14, 2011 1:20 PM EST reply actions

but

UNC and Miami might get wrecked by the NCAA within the next year or so.

Good article tho. Duke really just weighs the Coastal big time.

by VT1996 on Nov 14, 2011 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

True. UNC was definitely on the right track with Butch Davis before everything happened.

They were getting great recruits every year and should have knocked off LSU last year even with all their suspensions. I think their setback puts them about five years behind schedule. It will take them a while to get back up off the ground. They first need to find a coach to lead the program.

If nothing else happens with the Miami situation, I’d say Al Golden is in a great position to lead UM back to prominence. Great young coach and they’re still getting great recruiting classes every year.

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by PhenomenalSwag on Nov 14, 2011 11:29 PM EST up reply actions

It will be interesting to see if FSU backs up their inevitable high pre-season ranking for 2012-13.

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by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Nov 14, 2011 10:30 PM EST up reply actions

I'm assuming they'll be close to top 5 again next season.

They’re really young so they aren’t really losing anyone. I think next year really could be a huge year for them (I know that’s probably what I said before this season). Clemson is even younger and looks to finish strong this year. ACC should have at least two preseason top 10 teams to start the ‘12-’13 season. Who knows, maybe even VPI could sneak in there with Logan Thomas only getting better and a potential Heisman candidate in Wilson. GT should definitely be ranked somewhere in the top 25, and then you have a UVA or Miami that is improving that could get some votes for top 25 consideration.

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by PhenomenalSwag on Nov 14, 2011 11:26 PM EST up reply actions

Not so sure about the SEC comparison

Right now, there are 5 SEC teams ranked in the top 15. Last week, half of the league was ranked.

by first and thom on Nov 15, 2011 10:17 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah, but they don't all deserve that ranking.

Auburn is ranked. Are you kidding? They’re terrible. Opponents they’ve beat are 24-34…only 1 winning record among them.

South Carolina hasn’t played anybody since Lattimore went out – they’re not good without him.

Arkansas hasn’t beaten ANYONE. They’ve beaten 2 teams with a winning record – Auburn and SC – and only 1 team with a .500 record. The teams they beat are 28-41 combined (not including the 1-9 FCS team they beat).

I’ll grant that Alabama and LSU are at least among the top 5-8 teams in the country, but outside of that, the SEC is not good. They’re downright BAD. Like 90s ACC bad.

by mjacksongt on Nov 15, 2011 6:16 PM EST up reply actions