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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2337565, member: 488"] Props to you for doing this research. So the numbers look like this: ACC - 232 total, 16.6 per team PAC-12 - 243 total, 20.2 per team Big Ten - 253 total, 18.1 per team Overall, they're about what I expected - the ACC is slightly behind the other power conferences, with the gap being manageable but not entirely insignificant. I'm not under the illusion that the league isn't competitive. It's a power conference for a reason and at first glance the hierarchy seems to align with the norm. Swap teams like Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, UNC, and Louisville for whatever middle class exists for other conferences and I don't think much changes in the grand scheme. The difference between the ACC and other conferences still lies, though, in the power structure. At first glance it isn't particularly noteworthy - the difference between the upper class of the ACC and Big Ten/PAC 12 is about proportional to the overall numbers. What's different is the geography. The talent is distributed from south to north in a way that is almost entirely chronological, with the private schools predictably bringing up the rear. When Clemson, Florida State, and Miami are on, that's fine. But I don't know that they can cycle through reigns of dominance like the other conferences can and I'm not sure they can survive Florida State going in the tank the way the Big Ten navigated Michigan's struggles or the PAC-12 persisted through USC's slump. They have programs like Washington, Cal, Oregon, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska waiting in the wings to re-claim the torch in the event that the traditional powers stumble. That's the reason the ACC was on life support when they added - to get back to the point of the thread - Louisville. They are geographically in no man's land when compared to the other power conferences in the same way the Big East used to be. That might not matter if the Big 12 dissolves and they can poach them and add Notre Dame, but for now they're still a weird hybrid conference that doesn't really make any sense at all and has been able to hide behind a couple programs. [/QUOTE]

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