ACC Football: Why the ACC Is Better This Season Than You Think

When it comes to underachieving on the football field, the Big East Conference is the nation's poster boy.

Yet, to be fair, the ACC hasn't exactly lit the world on fire as a conference either. It has taken its share of criticism in the past and most of it is well deserved.

However, when making that criticism of the ACC this season, you need to step back and look at the conference as a whole. If you do, you would realize that the ACC is a lot better than most think.

Even after Florida State fell short on the big stage a week ago and Maryland turned in an embarrassing performance Saturday afternoon, here are five reasons why the ACC really is a pretty good football conference.

The Top Teams Are Very Good

Every good conference needs a couple of teams with the potential to dominate on the field.

While never to be confused with the SEC, the ACC certainly has talent at the top.

Virginia Tech and Florida State are worthy Top 10 teams, and even Miami has that potential if they would even get their act together and turn in consistent week to week performances..

Looking at Virginia Tech and Florida State though, both have national championship-type talent.

Quality Depth

Of course a good conference needs more than a pair of good teams at the top and the ACC has that.

Despite currently not having a team ranked in the Top 10 entering Week 4 of the season, five ACC members currently reside in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Not only that, but a sixth member (Miami), also nearly cracked the poll with an impressive performance against Ohio State a week ago.

Good depth is something the ACC hasn't really shown in the past couple of seasons.

There Are Way More Good Teams Than Bad Teams

In a 12 team league, there are going to be some bad football teams sprinkled in, and the ACC is no exception. They certainly have some bad programs.

But separating the good teams from the likes of Duke, Virginia, and Boston College and you have a high percentage of ACC teams that can realistically head to a bowl game in 2011.

Out of the nine other teams, there are a couple of average teams like North Carolina State and Wake Forest, but overall there are seven or eight teams that should have the opportunity to play in a bowl game.

Now that may not mean a whole lot these days with the large amount of bowl games, but it's still a large percentage of teams that play competitive football.

Opportunity

One thing ACC fans have been waiting for is a team or multiple teams to step up and become not only one of the elite teams in the conference, but in the nation as well.

The ACC has been basically Virginia Tech and Florida State followed by everyone else for far too long.

The opportunity is certainly there this year for the likes of Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, and North Carolina to step up and show that they belong.

That opportunity doesn't exist in every conference.

What that creates is meaningful football games inside the conference all season.

Slowly Earning Respect

As a whole, the ACC is starting to earn some respect. Through the season's first three weeks the conference played ten games against other BCS Conference members, going 5-5 in the process.

As we head into Week 4, which features seven more non-conference games, the ACC has a winning percentage of 73.1 (19-7) against non-conference opponents. Their breakdown against other BCS Conference teams looks like this:

1-0 vs. SEC
1-2 vs. Big East
2-1 vs. Big Ten
1-1 vs. Big 12
0-1 vs. Pac-12

Last weekend, the ACC defeated two ranked BCS opponents, as Clemson beat No. 21 Auburn and Miami upset No. 17 Ohio State.

Those two wins this past weekend gave the ACC some respect