Nearly the entire BCS era was a disaster for ACC football. So much so, that it nearly broke the conference apart at the beginning of the decade. Then the upward football trend started during the 4-2 2012 Bowl season where Florida State won an Orange Bowl, Clemson beat a top 10 LSU team, and Georgia Tech as a heavy underdog knocked pre-season #1 USC.
The next several years were highlighted by National Championships by FSU in 2013, Clemson in 2016 and 2018. Georgia Tech won an Orange Bowl and beat a Mississippi State ranked for #1 several weeks in 2014. 2016 saw the conference’s team win 9 bowl games and go 10-4 against the SEC. It was the highwater mark of the decade for the conference.
Outside of Clemson, the conference has slipped into arguably the worst Power 5 football conference in the country. That’s what makes the 2019 bowl season so important, and I think the most important since 2012.
We gave your our predictions of the ACC Bowls earlier this month, and I have the ACC going 6-4.
| Jan. 2 | Birmingham Birmingham, Ala. |
3 p.m. (ESPN) | Boston College vs. Cincinnati |
| Dec. 31 | Belk Charlotte, N.C. |
Noon (ESPN) | Kentucky vs Virginia Tech |
| Dec. 31 | Tony the Tiger Sun El Paso, Texas |
2 p.m. (CBS) | Arizona State vs. Florida State |
| Dec. 30 | Music City Nashville, Tenn. |
4 p.m. (ESPN) | Louisville vs Mississippi State |
| Dec. 30 | Orange Miami Gardens, Fla. |
8 p.m. (ESPN) | Virginia vs Florida |
| Dec. 28 | Fiesta Glendale, Ariz. |
8:00 p.m. (ESPN) | (3) Clemson vs (2) Ohio State |
| Dec. 27 | Pinstripe New York |
3:20 p.m. (ESPN) | Michigan State vs Wake Forest |
| Dec. 27 | Military Annapolis, Md. |
Noon (ESPN) | North Carolina vs Temple |
| Dec. 26 | Quick Lane Detroit |
8 p.m. (ESPN) | Pittsburgh vs Eastern Michigan |
| Dec. 26 | Independence Shreveport, La. |
4 p.m. (ESPN) | Miami vs Louisiana Tech |
Miami, Pitt, UNC, Clemson, and Virginia Tech are all favored, and if the ACC goes worse than .500, the conference will dig itself a further football hole going into next year.
The opportunity is there for the ACC to get a measure of redemption for the past regular season. Virginia and Virginia Tech have the most realistic chance to finish the season ranked and could also end up with 10 win seasons. The ACC has to start rebuilding somewhere so why not this bowl season?
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