The "media" ACC narrative vs the facts...

Oct 20, 2019, 11:38 AM

Based on the extreme negativity towards the ACC from most of the sports media, I decided to see if anything stands out regarding the ACC vs other Power 5 conferences. The most obvious stat to compare is the number of winning teams and losing teams. So... here are the rankings of the conferences based on percentage of winning and losing teams:

All games played:
Overall Number of Winning Teams (most to least):
1. PAC 12
T2. ACC
T2. Big 10
4. Big 12
5. SEC

Overall Number of Losing Teams (most to least):
1. SEC
T2. Big 10
T2. ACC
4. PAC 12
5. Big 12

Same Stats for non-conference games only:
Overall Number of Winning Teams (most to least):
1. Big 12
2. Big 10
T3. ACC
T3. SEC
5. PAC 12

Overall Number of Losing Teams (most to least):
1. PAC 12
2. SEC
3. ACC
4. Big 10
5. Big 12

Based on these stats, I think the criticism of the ACC is unwarranted. The facts bear out that in both all games played and non-conference games, the ACC is an upper tier to middle of the pack kind of conference. What does come out is that the SEC is way over-valued and hyped. Half of their teams (7 teams) have overall losing records and the SEC has the second most losing teams in non-conference play when compared to the other Power 5 conferences.

Nothing in the number of winning and losing teams should account for why the media is so negative on the ACC.

So after looking at this I dug even further to see if there was another reason the ACC gets such a bad wrap and I believe I have found it. In strictly Power 5 vs Power 5 out of conference games, the ACC is absolutely abysmal. Here are the wins and loss records for Power 5 vs Power 5 out of conference matchups:

ACC: 11 games played; 3 wins, 8 losses
Big 12: 9 games played; 5 wins, 4 Losses
Big 10: 8 games played; 4 wins, 4 losses
PAC 12: 9 games played: 5 wins, 4 losses
SEC: 11 games played; 6 wins, 5 losses

At the end of the day, I think this is what the media is consciously or sub-consciously considering when they are trashing the ACC. At the end of the day, the ACC has got to do a better job in the out of conference Power 5 games.

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the AP top 25?

15. Texas
19. Michigan
20. Iowa
23. Iowa State
24. Arizona State

Do you think Pitt (5-2) or Virginia (5-2) could beat any or all of these teams? I do...

Iowa, Iowa State, and Michigan are all in a "do loop" with the AP rankings - they all lost or beat one another while "ranked" which is used as justification to keep them in the rankings over other schools. Big 10 bias at its best.

Texas lost to LSU and Oklahoma and somehow this means something to the AP to justify their 15 ranking over other teams with better win records. If winning matters then what is Texas' best win? A barely above average Oklahoma State? Texas doesn't really have any better wins than Pitt or Virginia. What Texas does have is a huge fan base and lots of money and a willing media to buy into the Texas hype because of their fan base and money.

Back to Michigan, Iowa, or Iowa State - when have any of these teams beaten a ranked team that wasn't part of the AP "do loop" above? Say what you will, but Pitt has a better win than any of these teams - at least they beat an "AP ranked" (at the time) UCF.

While the ACC is not great - it is not the bottom dweller the media is touting. Ranking both Pitt and Virginia can be justified just as much as ranking Texas, Iowa, Iowa State, or Michigan but because the media is set on an "ACC=bad" narrative they don't get any benefit of the doubt or (in my opinion) proper consideration.

The "media" ACC narrative vs the facts...

So the other conference's losses were to non-P5s...? I see..***

Re: The "media" ACC narrative vs the facts...

Re: The "media" ACC narrative vs the facts...

It's actually very simple .....

Hmmm... what do you think about all the 5-2 teams in

Re: Hmmm... what do you think about all the 5-2 teams in

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