I saw this discussion on my twitter timeline @TalkinACCSports since expansion which ACC division was the worst top to bottom? It seems the comparison was between the 2006 Atlantic and this year’s ACC Coastal.
So I checked the the ACC year by year since expansion… This goes back to 2005 and frankly I’m not even sure it’s close. Every single year each division had at least 1 ranked team and at least 2 teams with 8 wins or more. This season in the ACC Coastal Division, there is not 1 team that is ranked. No ACC Coastal team even has a single point in this week’s AP poll.
Duke has 16 in the Coaches, no other team has a single point. The ACC Championship has never had a division champion with less than 8 wins, this year could be a first in that regard. Virginia Tech who started in the year in the top 20, and Georgia Tech a fringe top 25 team have been tremendous disappointments. Virginia expected to be better has been flat out awful since beating Penn State early in the year.
With Duke playing at Florida State which is going to be tall order, the Blue Devils may fall to 6-3 ( 3-2) leaving the Coastal with even fewer top 25 points that even this week. 8 games into the season and I don’t there is any question this is the worst top to bottom division since expansion in the ACC. To the credit of the Duke Blue Devils, they’ve seized the opportunity in a down 2012 Coastal to give themselves a legitimate shot at a Coastal Division title. If you haven’t noticed they’ve been all over ESPN this week too. That’s certainly good for their program.
On the other hand the ACC Atlantic could be the ACC’s best division ever.
2009 was the only season an ACC division finished with 2 top 15 teams. That year Virginia Tech finished ranked 10th and Georgia Tech finished 13th. Miami also finished 19th. This season FSU is ranked at 11 (AP) and 10 (Coaches) and Clemson is 14 (AP) and 13 (Coaches). Also NC State is currently 5-2 with a chance to finish the year ranked.
In 2012 ACC Coastal could be the worst ever. ACC Atlantic could be the best ever, but they are quite there yet. Certainly the ACC Coastal being the worst division in the ACC since expansion seems likely.
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