I'm gonna go ahead and count my chickens before they're hatched and call Clemson the Atlantic winner. I don't care if it jinxes them into another Tommy Bowden-esque loss because it's really not my loss... I think there's a great deal of excitement leading up to this ACCCG. We finally have two regionally proximate teams going into the ACCCG. Looking at past ACCCG, we see a steady decline in attendance:
2005 - 74,749
2006 - 62,850
2007 - 53,212
2008 - 53,927.
Now, we've got two teams within an 8 hour drive of Tampa with season finales that SHOULD (knock on wood) invigorate their respective fan bases' fervor. I know Swofford's semi-happy that BC is 90% out of his ACC Title Game pie. He's only semi-happy though 'cause his Miami-FSU dream matchup punched him in the throat after both teams shot their proverbial wads on Labor Day. He and the rest of the Atlantic Coast will have to deal with two older members of the conference playing for it all on December 2.
I don't mind playing Clemson, if it means drawing more attention to ACC football. I think we're better than we were when the season started and I think Clemson has played at about the same level all season.
I think the cherry on top would be if the ACCCG was played by two teams that went a collective 4-0 against SEC opponents this season (albeit four mediocre to average SEC teams).
Also, I'd like to check back on some preseason guarantees I made. Four of the five have come true so far. They weren't really that bold of predictions but I think it's slick to look back on stuff like that. I've also found that my methodology for predicting the ACC Champions based on media predictions semi-worked this season. I predicted a Clemson-Wake tie for the Atlantic. Note the Margin of Excellence for GT is gonna go up this year along with Duke's. What are your thoughts?
2005 - 74,749
2006 - 62,850
2007 - 53,212
2008 - 53,927.
Now, we've got two teams within an 8 hour drive of Tampa with season finales that SHOULD (knock on wood) invigorate their respective fan bases' fervor. I know Swofford's semi-happy that BC is 90% out of his ACC Title Game pie. He's only semi-happy though 'cause his Miami-FSU dream matchup punched him in the throat after both teams shot their proverbial wads on Labor Day. He and the rest of the Atlantic Coast will have to deal with two older members of the conference playing for it all on December 2.
I don't mind playing Clemson, if it means drawing more attention to ACC football. I think we're better than we were when the season started and I think Clemson has played at about the same level all season.
I think the cherry on top would be if the ACCCG was played by two teams that went a collective 4-0 against SEC opponents this season (albeit four mediocre to average SEC teams).
Also, I'd like to check back on some preseason guarantees I made. Four of the five have come true so far. They weren't really that bold of predictions but I think it's slick to look back on stuff like that. I've also found that my methodology for predicting the ACC Champions based on media predictions semi-worked this season. I predicted a Clemson-Wake tie for the Atlantic. Note the Margin of Excellence for GT is gonna go up this year along with Duke's. What are your thoughts?