Sticking with the round ball

When the ACC and its Commissioner decided to go after the likes of Miami, Virginia Tech, and even Boston College, the thought was that by adding these storied football programs from the Big East, the ACC would become a top football conference in addition to its basketball prowess.

What has happened in the last few years, though, is that while most people have been reassured that the ACC is a basketball powerhouse, football is far from dominance.

Sure, programs like FSU, Miami, and Virginia Tech have had past success, but that has not translated to football greatness as a conference over the last few years.

Let's look at some of the questionable results from this year and see how far behind the ACC is when compared to other big time football conferences, and some not-so-big time conferences:

#2 LSU 48, #9 Va. Tech 7 - LSU is a great team, but the Hokies looked like they were overwhelmed.
#16 Nebraska 20, Wake Forest 17 - Not the same Wake team as last year, but Nebraska isn't great.
#5 Oklahoma 51, Miami 13 - It took a little while, but Oklahoma totally outplayed and dominated the Canes.
East Carolina 34, UNC 31 - I know UNC is rebuilding with Butch Davis, but East Carolina is still EAST CAROLINA!
FSU 34, UAB 24 - UAB lead for a good portion of the game and they only have 60 or so players on scholarship. Not a good performance or result for the Seminoles, even with a short practice week after the Clemson loss.
#9 Va. Tech 17, East Carolina 7 - See UNC answer above minus the rebuilding part...Va. Tech is supposed to be the class of the league and ACC Championship contenders...17-7 victories over ECU are a far cry from championship caliber.
Wyoming 23, Virginia 3 - Wyoming? They have a football team?
UCF 25, NC State 23 - NC State might be rebuilding under Tom O'Brien, but UCF was 4-8 against a C-USA schedule last year. Plus lyin', cheatin' George O'Leary is their coach so that drops them down another level.

That's not a pretty picture after 2 weeks of the 2007 college football season. Sure there are a couple of bright spots like Georgia Tech rolling over Notre Dame (although, as we've seen so far, Notre Dame is terrible this year), but the above results plus a mediocre 4-4 bowl record in 2006 and 5-3 in 2005 show that the ACC continues to be a basketball conference that is far from football dominance.