Monday, December 03, 2007

ACC Fever: Catch It!

Want to know why Georgia fans were so blah about the possibility of playing Boston College or Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl? Because this is the excitement that those two teams generated in Jacksonville this weekend:

10 comments:

Fox said...

Ouch.

To defend the ACC's fans, the decision to have the championship game in Jacksonville was a terrible one. I assume they did it on the assumption that Miami and/or FSU would always be in the game but it hasn't turned out that way. And since the Gator Bowl is also there, VT fans are sick of going to Jacksonville so typically save their money/time for the bowl game. It's just awfully far for most ACC fans. They really should have the game in Charlotte or something.

And yes, I know that wouldn't stop SEC fans but VT fans, which was your point, but I felt I should say something.

Fox said...

Sorry for the sentence fragment--I meant to say "VT fans are generally pretty rabid, even if a bit on the poor side."

BC fans suck.

Michael said...

Agree on Jax being a terrible choice for the game; it's moving to Charlotte next year. Agree on VT having a good fan base that will travel, although not on the scale of SEC fans. Point that I would add: BC and VT just aren't very interesting teams to watch, so neutrals in the city had no reason to attend. I would go to pretty much any SECCG if tickets were available because the games are fun to watch. VT and BC just aren't interesting for someone without a connection to either school.

Can you imagine what the crowd would have been for UVA and BC?

peacedog said...

Really, really snobby?

Fox said...

Peace--that was awfully clever.

Agreed re the matchup, but it could have been worse. The ACC is definitely down right now and will be unless and until the Florida schools regain their top 10 status or some one (UNC under Butch) catches up. This VT team was pretty bad offensively until Beamer figured out this 2 QB wrinkle and nobody really made them pay for it.

The only schools who travel at all are VT and Clemson and I guess FSU. Even Miami fans won't go unless teh game is in Miami.

LD said...

Got a hunch (without factual basis) that NC State fans would travel if they ever got their act together. If there's going to be a football school in NC, that'll be the one.

Conference title games need to be within driving distance to be well attended (since so many of the fans of the participating schools already know they'll be going to a bowl, too many of them won't fly twice). Jacksonville isn't within reasonable driving distance of 8 of 12 schools. Charlotte will be within driving distance of at least 8 of 12 schools, so it should be much better (but, as always, compelling teams could help a lot).

Michael said...

The ACC is hamstrung by the fact that it does not have schools with traveling fan bases. Fox, I'd knock FSU off the list, as they were not traveling for major bowls by the end of the Bowden dynasty. Knowing that their fan bases suck, the ACC put its title game in the state of Florida because it figured it would have a lot of Miami-FSU games. That hasn't turned out to be the case. Charlotte is a natural pick for a change, especially because it's an airline hub. The amusing turn of events would be if Miami and FSU suddenly starting making the title game and played in a half-empty Bank of America Stadium.

In conclusion: hahahahahahaha.

peacedog said...

Don't get me wrong, if it's snobby, it's the right kind of snobby. As opposed to the pretentious Techie faux-snobbiness that we get in these parts.

Anonymous said...

Conference Championship Football: It's ACCiting!

Smitty said...

Yeah nothing like Charlotte in December! I'm sure that will sell them out for sure! VT has a big traveling fan base and Clem too. But GT can't sell out there own home stadium, neither can Miami, WF, BC and......