ACC Postseason Football Review: The Conference Has Been Lousy

ACC teams have played 10 postseasn games through December 28, and Syracuse was the only winner from the conference

Syracuse's Alijah Clark was named the most valuable defensive player in the Holiday Bowl / Abe Arredondo-Imagn Images

The ACC has not showered itself in glory in college football's postseason. To put it simply, no conference has performed worse so far.

It's true that with all the opt-outs, transfers and coach departures, teams in bowl games only vaguely resemble what they were during the regular season. And despite what some people suggest, postseason results do not reflect the relative strength of a conference as a whole. But by any standard the ACC postseason performance has been lousy.

The ACC tied the SEC for the most teams in postseason games with 13 apiece, and through games played on December 28, 10 ACC teams have played in postseason games. The ACC has won only one of those 10 games. Its 1-9 pstseason record is by far the worst of any conference (unless you consider the two-team Pac-12, which lost its only bowl game).

The ACC is the only Power Four conference with no teams in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, and it has one fewer team in the quarterfinals than the Mountain West.

The only ACC team with a postseason victory is Syracuse, which had its star quarterback Kyle McCord on the field for the Holiday Bowl, while Washingtn State was playing without its head coach, its offensive cooordinator, its defensive coordinator and 27 players who were in the transfer portal, including quarterback John Mateer.

We present the postseason results of ACC teams (ACC teams in bold), followed by the three bowl games ACC teams have yet to play, followed by the won-loss postseason records of all conferences in games played through December 28.

LA Bowl -- No. 24 UNLV 24, Cal 13 -- Cal started the game with its third-string quarterback and finished with its fourth-string quarterback.

College Football Playoff first round -- No. 10 Penn State 38, No. 10 SMU 10 -- Mustangs didn't put up much of a fight.

College Football Playoff first round -- No. 3 Texas 38, No. 16 Clemson 24 -- This looked like a bowout for most of the game, but Clemson QB Cade Klubnik made it competitive at the end.

GameAbove Sports Bowl -- Toldeo 48, Pitt 46 (6OT) --Pitt, playing without its top two quarterbacks, faced a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line trailing by three points in the second overtime. But instead of going for a touchdown and the win, Pitt kicked a field goal to send the game into a third overtime and the Panthers eventually lost.

Birmingham Bowl -- Vanderbilt 35, Georgia Tech 27 -- Georgia Tech had its quarterback, Haynes King, but Vanderbilt won to complete its first winning seasn in 11 years.

Holiday Bowl -- No. 21 Syracuse 52, Washington State 35 --WSU started as a 5.5-point underdog but after all the departures, Syracuse was favored by as much as 18.0 points at game time.

Fenway Bowl -- UConn 27, North Carolina 14 -- Bill Belichick takes over a team that lost its final three games and finished with a losing record

Pinstripe Bowl -- Nebraska 20, Boston College 15 -- Boston College scored two tuchdowns in the final three minutes to make it exciting.

Pop-Tarts Bowl -- No. 18 Iowa State 42, No. 13 Miami-Fla. 41 -- Miami QB Cam Ward took the unusual route of playing the first half and opting out of the second half.

Military Bowl -- East Carolina 26, North Carolina State 21 -- The teams were involved in a brawl on the field in the final minute, and they face each other in next season's opener.

Sun Bowl -- Louisville vs. Washington, Tuesday, December 31

Gator Bowl -- Duke vs Mississippi, Thursday, January 2

Duke's May Bowl -- Virginia Tech vs. Minnesota, Friday, January 3.

Conference postseason records through December 28 (with the number of pstseasoon teams in parentheses) listed best t worst:

Independents (2) -- 2-0

American (8) -- 6-1

Big Ten (12) -- 4-2

Big 12 (9) -- 4-2

MAC (7) -- 4-2

SEC (13) -- 4-3

Sun Belt (7) -- 3-3

Mountain West (5) -- 1-3

Conference-USA (5) -- 1-3

ACC (13) -- 1-9

Pac-12 (1) -- 0-1