College Football Rankings 2011: 7 Reasons the ACC Is Undervalued

It's no secret the SEC is the top dog of NCAA football conferences.

The last five BCS National Championship teams came out of the SEC—a result of great recruiting classes and great coaching, both of which stem from the national prominence of being in the SEC.

Due to its prodigious prestige, some good football teams from other conferences are often largely ignored, as the media fix their headlights upon the SEC.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, for those of you that choose to ignore conferences other than the SEC, has quietly been a very good conference in recent years, and could find itself back in the limelight of college football in the not-so-distant future.

Though the SEC is the king of college football conferences, the ACC really isn't too far behind them, and deserves more recognition for the many great things they bring to the NCAA.

Here are 7 reasons the ACC is undervalued in college football.

2011 Draft Prominence

As a whole, the ACC had 35 players selected in the 2011 NFL Draft.

This puts them second only to the SEC, which had a total of 38 players drafted.

This also makes the ACC only the second team to have 30 or more players drafted in the last seven consecutive years. Again, second only to the SEC.

One aspect that the ACC actually topped the SEC in this year is that, out of the top 60 players picked in the draft, 15 of them came from the ACC while only 10 came out of the SEC. This means that while the SEC had a few more players drafted, the ACC had more quality players drafted.

Overall, the ACC is second only to the SEC in producing quality players for the NFL.

Their prominence in recent draft classes, however, is a testament to how truly undervalued the conference is.

ACC Top 25 Polls

Every year the ACC is well-represented is represented in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

This year, the ACC has two teams in the Top 15, led by Florida State at No. 6.

Even though only two made the Top 25, three others also received votes to be included in the preseason poll.

Though the conference isn't as well-represented at the SEC (which has eight), the fact that they had a team in the Top 10 would seemingly run counter to critics who say the conference is well-past its prime.

If the ACC continues to put teams up into the top 25, they should be able to get a little bit more recognition on a national level.

Lack of True Bottom-Feeders in the Conference

One thing that the ACC consistently can boast is a pretty even keel of solid teams.

With the exception of Duke, just about any team in the ACC can push for supremacy in the conference.

This isn't due to a lack of talent in the conference, but rather a reflection of the level of competition.

No, the ACC doesn't usually get the nation's top recruits (other than Miami and a resurfacing Florida State), but they do raise local talent to a point where they can become studs in their conference and even gain some national attention.

Take, for example, Julius Peppers.

Peppers grew up in North Carolina, played his college ball at UNC and was then drafted by the Carolina Panthers. At the height of his career, he was (and still is) considered one of the best defensive ends in the game. The Chicago Bears certainly thought so in 2010, when they bestowed a six-year, $91.5m contract ($42m guaranteed.)

The ACC is able to hold on to talent from within their own borders and coach up some really solid talent.

This is what makes the conference as a whole so solid, given that any team could challenge with a strong year, and make a bowl game.

North Carolina's Resiliency in 2010

In 2010, the North Carolina Tar Heels began their season without 13 players, including eight starters—to suspension.

They opened their season against a No. 21 LSU team that was heavily favored to win, and they did.

The final score was 30-24 and the Tar Heels obviously came up short, but this was without those 13 suspended players. This shouldn't really be considered any kind of feat, but the fact that they were able to keep the score so close against a very good LSU team is somewhat impressive.

As the season came and went, the Tar Heels only played one other SEC team, and it was in the Music City Bowl against Tennessee. After two overtimes, UNC was able to overcome their SEC foe by a score of 30-27, truly showing the resiliency of the program, representing the ACC well against a strong SEC program.

Florida State's Upset of Florida in 2010

In 2010, the Florida State Seminoles upset their in-state rivals from the SEC, the Florida Gators by a score of 31-7.

This was considered a huge upset considering the Seminoles were an ACC team playing against traditionally one of the toughest SEC teams.

Because the game was such a blowout, the ACC made a statement that they could compete with SEC teams.

Florida State continued to show their worth by, as previously mentioned, earning a spot in the top 10 teams in all of college football in 2011.

Florida State/Miami/Florida Rivalry

The rivalry between the Florida State Seminoles and the Miami Hurricanes is not only one of the best in-state rivalries in Florida, it is one of the best in the ACC and perhaps in the Top 10 rivalries in college football.

While it may not match the intensity of Florida-Florida State, who have been going at it since the early 1970's, this exciting ACC match-up thrills fans every year because of the buzz surrounding these two teams.

Miami and Florida State are consistently two of the top teams (but not the top two teams) in the ACC. Because these two teams have such a rich history, the rivalry is that much more exciting to watch.

The rivalries that Florida State has with not only the University of Florida, but with Miami University as well, make the ACC definitely worth more than the media's face value.

The University of Miami as a Pro-Factory

You can argue all you want that USC and Ohio State are the biggest pro-factories among all college football programs, but you would be wrong.

Yes, the Miami Hurricanes are in a bit of trouble with the NCAA right now (aren't they always) regarding incentives received by their players.

That doesn't change the fact that "the U" consistently puts out quality athletes that succeed at the professional level.

Miami is one of the most well known programs for producing players like Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Andre Johnson, Frank Gore and so, so many others. Honestly the list of great players from the U could go on and on. At one point this decade, Miami had produced at least one NFL first round pick for 14 years running.

14 years.

The point is that even though the SEC can claim to some of the best college football programs in existence, they can't even hold a candle to the number of superstar athletes to come out of Miami.

College football wouldn't be the same without Miami football, and that is something that no other conference can lay claim to.

For more on the top Hurricanes players, check out my article on the Top 10 Miami Hurricanes with the most swag of all time.

Thanks for reading.

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