It’s been a long time in the making, but the ACC may finally be getting close to what it has always wanted: an FSU-Miami ACC Championship Game.
It’s still early, but you know the suits in the ACC headquarters are pretty happy to see both the Hurricanes and Seminoles residing in the Top 10 of the national rankings.
ACC Commissioner Jim Philips, who made it to Charlottesville for the conclusion of the UVA-Stanford game in Week 3, watched the final minutes of the Miami win over Florida (ACC vs. SEC) in the Virginia press box and said, “They (Miami) took care of business, and this is Virginia’s best team under Coach Elliott.”
Yes indeed, a conference that was (and likely still is) on life support does show signs of a pulse.
The Hurricanes (3-0) are off this week, while FSU (3-0) has a Friday night contest at Virginia.
Miami travels to FSU on Oct. 4.
As expected, the ACC moving to nine-game conference schedule
The ACC is moving forward toward a nine-game conference schedule in football.
Monday, the conference ADs supported the addition of an extra league game. The move still requires formal approval by the conference’s athletics representatives, which is all but a formality.
The move comes about a month after the SEC announced it is expanding to a nine-game conference slate in 2026.
The Big Ten and Big 12 already play nine conference games.
Each member school in the ACC will also be required to play a minimum of 10 games against Power 4 opponents each year.
This could be interesting for the league, as Notre Dame plays five games per season against ACC teams.
One idea being tossed around is allowing schools facing ND to count that contest as an ACC game.
Nothing is as simple as it sounds.
Syracuse reprimanded for not playing fairly
The ACC fined Syracuse $25,000 and issued a public reprimand for “feigning” injuries by players following the Orange’s 34-21 victory over Clemson Saturday.
Wow, $25,000. I hope they were also forced to write an apology letter.
The conference cited actions by two Syracuse players in addition to the actions by head coach Fran Brown as a “clear attempt to gain an unmerited advantage by stopping the game to secure an injury timeout.”
Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who was obviously not faking his horrible performance, said after the game, “Props to them (Syracuse) for some big stops, but then they have an injury or something like that, when will we really get going?”
In fairness to the ACC, college football has made an effort to crack down on fake injuries this season.
In the past, it wasn’t unusual to see teams use a questionable injury to stop the opposing team’s momentum or to stop the game clock to preserve or gain an extra timeout.
Is the NIL the ACC’s salvation?
There’s no debating the fact that NIL has changed the landscape of college football.
And the ACC is apparently reaping the rewards.
For years, the conference has been downplayed as one of the weaker of the Power 5, now Power 4 conferences, except for Clemson.
This year, things are looking a bit differently.
Down in Miami, the Hurricanes appear to be a serious national championship contender, thanks to a significant NIL boost.
Miami brought in some of the best talent in the nation, including quarterback Carson Beck from Georgia in the SEC.
Beck reportedly got a $4 million NIL deal to take his talents to South Beach.
Across the state at FSU, which went from 13-0 in 2023 to 2-10 in 2024, is an overnight NIL success story.
The Seminoles brought in Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos and made massive coaching changes, firing both the offensive and defensive coordinators.
FSU hired high-profile coaches, Gus Malzahn and Tony White, to lead the offense and defense.
Malzhan will earn $1.5 million this year, while White has a contract of a similar value.
Virginia received a massive financial boost in the offseason, and so far, the Cavaliers appear to be reaping the benefits.
Who knows, money may be able to buy success.
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