ACC Football: A Conference Still Trying To Find Its Identity in Football

When most people think of the Atlantic Coast Conference, they think basketball, and for good reasons.

However, conference commissioner John Swafford has made every effort to change how the ACC is viewed nationally. The hope is that the conference will not just simply be seen as a basketball conference, but one also known for playing high-level, quality football.

That process began with the annexation of former Big East schools Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College, each with a solid background in football. The goal was to add to and strengthen the conference anchored by Florida State.

Any casual observer can tell you that things haven't worked out as planned. Miami and Florida State have been underwhelming in recent years. Boston College has been solid although they don't have much appeal to the majority of the markets in the ACC.

Virginia Tech has held the torch and carried the banner for the ACC getting help along the way from an occasionally successful Clemson and current ACC Champs Georgia Tech.

Factor in a conference championship game that can't draw a full stadium and it appears the ACC just can't catch up to the likes of the SEC or Big 10.

In the years since the conference expanded, the ACC has been noted for beating itself up in a conference full of parity, but lacking one or two nationally prominent teams. The headline schools have still been there, but haven't produced.

In fact, since the BCS began, the ACC has only won two BCS bowl games and the last National Champion out of the ACC was Florida State in 1999.

This year's season is one that starting opening weekend, features many risks, but potentially offers great rewards. The conference boasts one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.

It starts with Virginia Tech taking on Boise State in a match up that could potentially crush the losers' national title aspirations. North Carolina, who has its highest ranking since Mack Brown was coach, takes on SEC powerhouse, LSU.

Both of those teams come in with many question marks. LSU coach Les Miles is feeling the pressure since failing to maintain a standard set by the 2007 National Title team. As for North Carolina, they still don't know the results of the NCAA investigation into several key players who may see their eligibility stripped from them.

Miami joins in on the fun as well by going to Columbus to take on Big 10 favorite Ohio State. Florida State will match up with Oklahoma, and Clemson will tangle with Auburn, a dark horse to play in the SEC championship game.

So in a matter of a few short weeks, the ACC's fate for 2010 could be much the same as it has been—short of expectations.

For the ACC to stop being the running joke it has become, the aforementioned teams are going to have to win those games or at least the majority of them. And those games still don't figure in the late season grudge matches between Georgia Tech and Georgia, Florida State and Florida, and Clemson and South Carolina.

No one expects a team like Duke to beat a team like Alabama. And even though Blue Devil coach David Cutcliffe doesn't believe in moral victories, keeping it close for even a couple quarters could be a major victory for the conference.

ACC teams don't have to win every game, but at least one if not two teams need to make a serious run at BCS bowls to make people sit up and take notice. But it isn't just the big games that matter. The little ones count too.

At least in the court of public opinion. Losing to lesser opponents doesn't help a conference's reputation.

The days of losing to FCS schools must come to an end, even for the lower tier teams. As much as a conference depends on its champions, it is always good to have a solid basement.

Fortunately, things are looking up in that respect with the improvements being made at Duke and Virginia. 

Ultimately, all the ACC has to do is win its non-conference games and have at least one program get through the conference slate unscathed. Then and only then can the ACC starting staking a claim as a football conference.

Of course it would help if one of those teams includes Florida State, Miami, or Virginia Tech.