The Daily Nole

Where Would ACC Football Be Without FSU?

Ross Obley/FSU athletics

Florida State’s football success often comes with a caveat from fans who pull for a school in another conference: the Seminoles play in the ACC.

For anyone paying attention, there’s no doubt that FSU can play with anyone. Over the past decade, the Seminoles have knocked off Alabama, BYU (twice), Oklahoma State, Notre Dame (twice), Florida (five times), Auburn and Wisconsin, just to name a few.

With that said, it is worth pondering where the ACC might be as a football conference had the Seminoles not joined in 1992. There’s no question that FSU has not only been the class of the ACC since joining, but all-time, it’s the conference’s golden child.

In 24 years in the ACC, Florida State has claimed the conference’s crown 15 times. That’s tied for the most with Clemson, who was a charter member of the conference which formed in 1953.

Since joining the conference, Florida State has also claimed three national championships, winning titles in 1993, 1999 and most recently, 2013. That’s as many as the rest of the conference combined. Maryland won a title in the ACC’s inaugural year of 1953, Clemson claimed a national championship in 1981 and in 1990, Georgia Tech shared the national title with Colorado.

Since 1992 when Florida State joined the ACC, the conference has managed to go just 12-17 in major bowl games. That includes alliance, BCS and New Year’s Six bowls. Eight of those 12 victories belong to Florida State.

Upon FSU’s entrance into the conference, the ACC has only had 12 conference match-ups of top-10 schools with last season’s ACC Championship between Clemson and North Carolina being most recent. Eight of those contests however, have featured the Seminoles and FSU is 7-1 in those games.

That’s not to say there aren’t other good football teams in the ACC. Clemson has won the Orange Bowl twice since 2013 and might hold the claim of reigning national champions had it not been for two miscues against Alabama on kickoffs in the National Championship.

In 2014, Georgia Tech took down both Georgia and then Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl to finish ranked seventh nationally. That same year, a Virginia Tech squad that finished 7-6, handed eventual national champion Ohio State its only loss.

Still, there’s no denying that the ACC is a better conference because of Florida State. Since adding the Seminoles, the conference has managed to pick up six other schools — all with at least some football tradition — while losing only Maryland. That number goes to seven if you include partial member, Notre Dame.

While that’s happened in the ACC, the Big XII has suffered a net loss of two schools. The Big East, which was once considered one of the six major conferences, has been greatly reshuffled, changed its name and lost its automatic tie-in to a major bowl.

Had it not been for Florida State deciding to join the ACC more than two decades ago, it may find itself in a similar situation as a football conference. Without FSU, the ACC may never get around to adding Miami and five other former Big East schools.

Without FSU, the ACC may have lost its automatic major bowl berth. It may have become defunct as a football conference. It may have had to wait more than quarter century to see one of its schools win a national title. It certainly wouldn’t be getting a network.

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