Sports, just like events in everyday life, go through cycles of superiority.
There have been several examples of this in the NBA.
The Detroit Pistons passing the Boston Celtics in the 1980s. The Chicago Bulls passing the Pistons in the 1990s. The Indiana Pacers passing my beloved New York Knicks in the late 90s. The Los Angeles Lakers passing the San Antonio Spurs (and vice versa) in the 2000s.
Same thing happens in the NFL.
The San Francisco 49ers replaced the Cowboys in the 80s. The Cowboys returned the favor in the 90s. The Baltimore Ravens overcame my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers a few seasons ago.
Honorable mention: Marlo Stansfield supplanting Avon Barksdale as the drug-kingpin in Baltimore (what, you didn’t think I was going to add “The Wire” to this?).
I say all of those things to say the following: the Atlantic Coast Conference has passed the Southeastern Conference as the best in college football.
Now I know what y’all are thinking: has this negro lost his ever-loving mind?
Nope (at least not THIS time), there is no being the prisoner of the moment here. I’m just employing a technique called “going with the facts”.
With Clemson’s thrilling 35-31 win in the College Football Playoff national championship game, the ACC has a 10-4 record against the SEC, the longtime bully in college football. Some of those contests were not even close (Clemson over South Carolina, Florida State over Florida, Georgia Tech over Vanderbilt AND Kentucky, NC State over Vanderbilt)!
And look at both conferences during bowl season. The ACC is now 9-3 in bowl games, while the big bad SEC finished 5-6?!
And here is the kicker: the ACC went 4-1 against the SEC in those bowls, including the national championship game.
Now I know this may be fleeting. A lot ACC QBs have declared early for the 2017 NFL Draft. And let’s face it, the stellar QB play was what set the ACC apart from not only from the SEC, but other “Power 5” conferences.
But after seeing the SEC and its fans beat their chests over how great it has been the last million years, the time as Coke for some new blood to do the same. So allow me to close by saying:
“A-C-C! A-C-C!! A-C-C!!!!”
Categories: college football
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