ACC Has Reached a Pinnacle It May Never See Again

With four Top 10 teams, ACC football is on the upswing, but it could be short lived.

The moment is here, John Swofford.

Enjoy it. 

Bask in the feeling of warmth and satisfaction it gives you for all the work you put in to achieve it.

Remember it, because it's never going to be this good again.

Swofford is the outgoing (soon to be retired) commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

He has spent a good working portion of the last 15 years of his life making decisions on how to make the ACC as competitive for national honors in college football as it has been in college basketball.

Swofford latest and perhaps final move was to entice Notre Dame to spend a year as a full-time member in college football.

He like all his conference commissioner brethren have also worked to put together any kind of football season in a COVID-19 dominated world.

And as of now, going into Saturday's games, it has worked—beyond almost anyone's expectations.

If you checked the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings, ACC teams occupied the No. 1 (Clemson) No. 5 (Notre Dame), No. 7 (Miami) and No. 8 (North Carolina) slots.

That has NEVER happened.  

And with conference teams knocking each other off—beginning on Saturday—and continuing to do so for the remainder of the season, as well as the arrival of the Big Ten and perhaps a few weeks later the Pac-12, that will never happen again this season.

Nor is it likely to ever happen again at any time in the immediate future.

As good as the ACC might think it is, the culture to produce four Top 10 teams from one conference only exists in the Southeastern Conference, which currently holds the No. 2 (Alabama), No. 3 (Georgia) and No. 4 (Florida) spots, a situation which is so common that it is hardly even worthy of a note.

Adding to the ACC's sense of entitlement this week is that Prime time this week will be filed by a pair of conference games—Miami at Clemson on ABC/ESPN and Florida State at Notre Dame on NBC.

There are, of course, asterisks to these achievements.  

This is not a normal football season, nor will it be.  

Rankings are meaningless because the talent pool is so thin.

Having said all of that, however, it does not diminish for an instant the success achieved almost across the board in the ACC.

There are good teams that stretch far beyond Clemson, which has now won 32 straight conference games.

The Tigers are still a favorite to win the national championship and quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a Heisman front runner and a presumed No. 1 pick in next spring's National Football League draft.

The irony of it all is that FSU, which was once an ACC anchor is now a bottom-feeder in the 15 team conference. 

Where the ACC goes beyond Saturday is equally hard to ascertain. 

Clemson should beat Miami, but the question being asked by Miami and its fans is whether the Canes' will be competitive. 

The boys in Vegas have made Clemson a 15-point favorite which is a pretty big gap for a No. 1  vs. No. 7 match up.

FSU also must answer a basic question. Are the Seminoles really as bad as they have shown in a season in which the Seminoles only victory is a come from behind  win over FCS opponent Jacksonville State.

There are other intriguing match ups in the ACC on Saturday beyond the Saturday Night Prime Time shows.

Virginia Tech has a meeting at North Carolina and Pitt is coming to Boston College in what should be an entertaining game between a pair of decent ACC teams.

In previous seasons, the ACC profile has basically been Clemson and the Dwarfs, with no serious challengers.

Notre Dame's inclusion this season has increased the quality, as well as the emergence of North Carolina and the resurgence of Virginia Tech and Miami.

All good signs.

But one fact seems clear.

This moment is the ACC's pinnacle.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Commissioner Swofford.