Paul Johnson on the ACC and its image
The ACC has been viewed as one of the weak sisters in the BCS for the past few years because it has yet to place more than one team in any of the five games in one year. Nor has it had a team in the national championship game.
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said on Tuesday at the Pigskin Preview in Macon that there are two ways the league can improve its image:
1. The media can recognize that while the league may not have had a top-rated team, it has had depth. He points to the fact that five teams will likely be in the various preseason top 25 polls: Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, and FSU, with Clemson perhaps breaking in. That’s more than any other conference will have.
“We’ve had good depth in the league but no marquee teams,” he said. “Some leagues have had marquee teams but no depth.”
He wouldn’t say which leagues those were, but USC in the Pac-10, Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 come to mind.
There is other evidence, including the fact that 31 players were selected in the NFL draft in April. It was third among the conferences.
2. “Eventually we’ve got to get a team in the national championship game,” he said. This could be the year for that. The ACC’s Coastal Division could be the toughest of any in any conference. The Yellow Jackets, Hurricanes, Tar Heels and the Hokies will be in the top 25. Tech has to play two of those teams — Virginia Tech and North Carolina — on the road. Flipping to the Atlantic, Tech has to go to Clemson as well. If it can run the table, it should have enough BCS points accumulated to make it to the title game.
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100 comments Add your comment
Delbert D.
June 9th, 2010
5:06 pm
There’s a person on these blogs that has one of the most unusual fetishes, fixated on one person.
CrackDaddy
June 9th, 2010
5:35 pm
I think UNC’s defense did show up last year. If I’m not mistaken, they finished as the 6th best D in the NCAA. How do you rationalize that as not showing up? Especially when they were on the field most of the time.
GT Alum
June 9th, 2010
5:40 pm
In a somewhat related note, ESPN is reporting that Nebraska has agreed to move to the Big 10 and that ND is seriously considering joining the Big 10. Depending on how the dominoes fall, this could change the complexion of college sports. What will the ACC look like when this is all over? What happens if a BCS conference (or 2) completely disappear?
Greg
June 9th, 2010
5:52 pm
Mark it down
VT beats Boise
Unc beats lsu
and fsu beats ok making that steele guy look like an even bigger fool.
only loss will be miami to osu
Fast
June 9th, 2010
5:57 pm
Neb is going to the big 10. Miss will be next. The big 12 will be done. Pac 10 will take texas, tt, tam, ok, ok st and colorado. big 10 will likely add cuse, rutgers, etc. what happens to gt. hope we don’t get stuck in a fsu, vt, miami-less acc.
GT is a football school
June 9th, 2010
5:57 pm
I heard on ESPN radio Nebraska is joining the Big 10 and could be sooner than 2012
Towel Boy
June 9th, 2010
5:58 pm
The ACC: The SEC’s junior varsity.
UGA – ACC Champs!!
30-24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CrackDaddy
June 9th, 2010
5:58 pm
Fast, leave asap. Don’t let the door hit you in the arse.
GT Alum
June 9th, 2010
6:20 pm
Yeah, according to another report, half the Big 12 is going to the PAC 10, making the PAC 10 the first super-conference. Other conferences have to respond in kind, right? I hope Radakovich and Dr. Peterson are proactive about this to make sure they don’t get left in a castrated ACC.
Eddie
June 9th, 2010
6:39 pm
I told you poeple several weeks ago the reason gt and bama cancelled their games was bc of expansion. Gt is going back to the sec. The sec wants more aau univ to boost it academic wise
Beast from the East
June 9th, 2010
6:41 pm
The ACC needs to start with winning their one BCS game each year. Losing every year does not bode well for getting an at large bid. It has to be taken into consideration by the pollsters and the bowls themselves. That’s one thing that has really taken the SEC to the top in many folks opinions.
This could be a strong year for the ACC with VT, UM, FSU, UNC and GT expected to field strong teams. We’ll see how it all shakes out in a couple of months.
Whopper Dawg
June 9th, 2010
7:39 pm
I don’t think the ACC has a rightful place in college football and if it does it is a mid tier conference. I do know that if you can’t remotely sell out your championship game and your are typically relegated to the least desirable match up in the BCS bowls, that clearly spells lack of interest in your conference.
Besides, with the events of today, the ACC will soon be something else entirely with the poaching the SEC will soon do.
Urban Meyer
June 9th, 2010
8:02 pm
Obama is going to tax those 4 tickets, 4 drinks and 4 hotdogs and slap Paul Johnson in the face!
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:09 pm
Until GT takes BIG brother off of their schedule, they have as much chance of running the table as PB&J & Al Groh have at getting the 12 and under discount at the local golden corral..
CrackDaddy
June 9th, 2010
8:10 pm
Whopper Dawg, I agree. And likewise for SEC basketball.
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:12 pm
Urban are you joking? Obama doesn’t even know that tech plays football, let alone that they can trick more than 1.000 fans into watching them lose for cokes and hot dogs. Let’s get to the real issue at hand here, when is the FCC going to mandate that PB&J wear a decent bra those two games he’s in front of national tv. My goodness, the kids are watching, you know..
Delbert D.
June 9th, 2010
8:15 pm
From the NY Times:
Filed at 7:06 p.m. ET
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska could be on its way to the Big Ten by Friday.
The university’s Board of Regents on Wednesday evening amended the agenda for its previously scheduled Friday meeting to include a briefing from chancellor Harvey Perlman and athletic director Tom Osborne on conference alignment. The regents could then vote to leave the Big 12.
Osborne said a decision has not been finalized, and he declined comment when asked whether the Big Ten had formally invited Nebraska to join the league.
The Cornhusker football team’s offensive coordinator, Shawn Watson, said Osborne hasn’t given the athletic department staff an indication which way Nebraska will go.
Watson said Osborne met with the staff last Friday to tell them about last week’s Big 12 meetings and to ”get a feel” for what the staff thinks about the Big 12 and Big Ten.
Since then, Watson said, Osborne hasn’t updated the staff on developments.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:17 pm
He will be long gone before tech has another chance to make rings commemorating an OOC win, albeit by three points, but i guarantee you, until then (maybe 2017??) im sure there will be techies still romping around about 08. One win a decade, and all of the sudden, you think you have a football program.. Also funny how the best QB in GA high school this year, would rather be a Dawg on Defense, than to play for your silly school. You know that hurts. ohhhh it hurts so good..
CrackDaddy
June 9th, 2010
8:23 pm
I remember when UGa played UVa and the UGa fans were shouting “SEC” and the UVa fans were shouting “SAT”. Those teams would not mix in the same conference.
Delbert D.
June 9th, 2010
8:24 pm
Who makes the next move? ACC and SEC merge, discarding the West except for Alabama and Auburn, and downsizing the current ACC? Merged conference footprint extends from Alabama through D.C. & Maryland.
ACC pro-actively adds fellow AAU members UConn, Rutgers, Syracuse and also highly ranked Pitt (USN&WR #56)?
Big Ten offers Ga. Tech (fellow AAU member), as has been rumored?
Tom
June 9th, 2010
8:30 pm
Just remember dog fans, uf can say the same thing about you. So you look stupid when you say what you do. Of course you are suppose to dominate. You let uneducated thugs, rapists and hoodlums play football for your school. GT doesn’t.
The ACC is a league that is
June 9th, 2010
8:36 pm
The ACC should compete on a regularbasis with teams like Citadel and College of Charleston ( if they have a football team ) and Furman. App State is another fine example of the ACC’s caliber. These are good lil clubs …………that on a given day can compete with Delta State or Millsaps College, or even with SMU of Dallas or Lipscob College of Nasville.
ACC is a good lil league.
Hi Tom
June 9th, 2010
8:38 pm
Tech is the home of safety Tarrant # 37 and Eddie Lee Ivory and the guys that whipped up on that little girl wasy back in the Bobby Ross era. Man, that cost GT some dough!!
Besides …………….stick em up !!!
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:40 pm
Hey tom, since you want to run your mouth, name even ONE rapist that has played football for UGA in the last ten years. And you want to run it about getting convicted criminals? Look at our arrest record, which in numbers , you will also see that they are averaged about the same, and the ONE , and i mean ONE difference is? Ours are 89% misdameanors, and your beloved gators are 42%FELONIES. So i think you should probably be sticking your foot in your very wide open mouth right about now. Besides, you just lost two of the MOST meaningful parts of your team. 1. Charlie Strong and many starters, and 2. Mr. 3rd and short himself, Tebow. Crow now silly gator, the momentum is shifting.
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:41 pm
If you are a gator fan, that is. If you’re not, why are you hiding behind another team? P U $ $ Y
I'm Tom, the techie, with a teeny weeny pecky..
June 9th, 2010
8:44 pm
My school breeds future TERRORISTS!!!! I sure do wish we could recruit players from our own state, but those pesky dawgs always *steal* em first..
The new league because tech will be left out
June 9th, 2010
8:44 pm
Millsaps, Ark State, Delta State, Tulane, NE. LA U. SE LA U. and Christian College of Memphis in the West.
In the East you have Tech, Ga State, U of Chattanooga and N Ga College and SE KY U and App State, along with Furman.
The two divisional winners can compete in the Krystal Hambuger Bowl in downtown Chattanooga for free gift certificates. It can be played on 3rd of December, near the Fish Tank in downtown Chattanooga, it will be fabulous. Why folks from Dalton, Huntsville and Dahlonega and even Knoxville might come to the game.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA Tech is gonna get dumped in any new league.
UGA owns you tasty bees..
June 9th, 2010
8:47 pm
maybe then GT could come up with a “legitimite” reason to dump that big L off of their schedule at the end of Nov. every year..
UT -Mike
June 9th, 2010
8:53 pm
Check this out Tom
http://loserswithsocks.com/2009/06/15/uga-has-30-arrests-wow/
CrackDaddy
June 9th, 2010
9:12 pm
I think UGa fans should just go “play with themselves”, since no one else is worthy.
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Rock On......
June 9th, 2010
10:10 pm
The rumors are already flying. Most projections(herbstreit etc on espn) indicate that Clemson, FSU, GT, and VT will eventually move to the SEC in a natural fit once the dominos start falling. Texas is the king pin and any move by them sets everything in motion.
All 4 teams listed will have their big rivalries intensified and more meaningful too. Tennessee and VT will be an instant rivalry. Throw in the upgrade academics-wise and all the college presidents in the SEC will be happy. Things are going to get very interesting and if the words from Paul Johnson and Rad are any indication it wouldn’t surprise me to see all this martriculate by summer.
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gtfanfrom1951
June 10th, 2010
8:36 am
UGA fans can only talk about beating Tech because they lose FLA,LSU,Tenn., Kentucky,OSU, USC…… sorry USC is this year
shadoline
June 10th, 2010
10:13 am
I know this sounds crazy but I think it will come true. I think Clemson is the best team in the ACC. I think Clemson was the best team last year too. I think a Gimmick Offense of Gtech was just a weak spot and per say if Clemson had the time to prepare for it like Iowa they would have shut it down too. That’s Gtech’s problem is if a team has time to prepare. G-Tech is good don’t get me wrong, but they will be less effective without the monster receiver & deep threat.I think the ACC comes down to what Clemson, Vtech, & Miami does this year. I mean Clemson isn’t really going to be that down CJ’s back-ups looked better than most rb’s in the country in fact Ellington looked so much like spiller it confused the CJ’s mother & all Clemson fans when we first saw him. Clemson’s Defense is scary I think once again if you kill the media and look at film Clemson’s Defense looks to be the best in ACC, not likely a team will be real eager to try to throw the ball deep on them…..However, teams like Vtech/Miami that can run and pass make a hard to beat opponent.
shadoline
June 10th, 2010
10:34 am
wait a sec UGA fan didn’t Gtech put a pretty bad hurting on UGA in 2008. I don’t know about the L every year comment. I wish Clemson and BAMA would play again it’s such a good measuring stick for a collegiate program. I going to talk crap a second…….I think that Ohio State should come to the acc coastal I doubt if they don’t get through that schedule like the pansy through the big-10. I wished so bad that Clemson not BC had got a chance to thump USC……I want to see that game or Vtech and Texas because well as we saw in the title game that well Vtech put up a better game against bama than texas did. I think Texas is down, Florida will be down, Bamma is up, Miami is up, Vtech is Up, Gtech is down, Clemson is moving up, FSU should be up a bit from last year, Tenn down, LSU should be better, Georgia’s Mark Ritchd is on hot seat, SC spurrier has his best team to date at SC, but sorry it won’t be enough, Arkansas is drastically improved still on the bubble.
Top 5 Defenses ACC & SEC
1.UNC- 50% top tier nfl products
2.Clemson- unproven the most talented/fastest D
3.Alabama- lost a lot on d
4.LSU- should be turning the corner
5.Vtech- Year in and out top 25 defense
honorable mention
Florida- greatest recruiting class all time
Florida State- Jeff Luc enough said
Miami- Should be putting it together
Georgia- I really hope they get their act together this year cause the talents there!!
swimdawg68
June 10th, 2010
11:23 am
Paul Johnson stating that 5 teams from the ACC will likely be in the pre-season Top 25 is more than any other conference. I suppose he has never heard of the SEC. How about their 5 teams, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn and possibly South Carolina (6). Johnson continues to demonstrate a serious lack of inteligence with his stupid statements.
HokieinGA
June 10th, 2010
1:26 pm
shadoline just for clarification, the number 1 defense between the ACC and SEC is Alabama, and number 2 is VT. You say that VT has a top 25 defense year in and year out…why don’t you try saying VT has a top 10 defense year in and year out. UNC’s defense is only listed as good because it is returning most of its starters, but VT has maintained one of the best defenses in the country for far longer than one class of seniors.
I would love to see the ACC get raided by the SEC. And I hope that VT goes. We have a natural border rivalry with Tennessee, and are closer to most of the teams in the SEC East than the teams in the ACC Coastal.
ga_hokie
June 10th, 2010
1:41 pm
sick em Hokieinga.
LEO
June 10th, 2010
1:50 pm
UM will win the ACC this year too much fire power on offense and defense will finally get back in the nations top 10 where it belings.
Michael
June 10th, 2010
2:04 pm
Shadoline said “I think Clemson was the best team last year too. I think a Gimmick Offense of Gtech was just a weak spot and per say if Clemson had the time to prepare for it like Iowa they would have shut it down too. That’s Gtech’s problem is if a team has time to prepare. ”
I do agree that without some wrinkles in the triple-option, it appears to get shut down with many weeks of preparation (no SEC school has shut it down yet though, something to ponder). Clemson however played Tech THREE times last year and lost all three games. They did have some success in shutting down the offense though a few big plays did them in (and the Triple Option is ALL about big plays, so nothing new there).
I am a bit perplexed, because at GSU Coach Johnson had far more wrinkles in his offense than he is showing at Tech. They do need to include a package where the A-backs and WRs go out in coverage, but it has to be fairly quick passes, because the O-line isn’t made for sustained pass protection. That is the main weakness I see in Techs offense, when they need to pass, they just can’t give the QB enough quality protection (always someone on DL shooting a gap nearly untouched). The OL coach needs to work on this hard in preseason. The WRs and QB are capable of passing and doing it quite well, but a QB evading a diving lineman throws off all routes and quick hits and it becomes a free-for-all (not good).
Tech’s biggest problem the past decade and a half, has been very inconsistent defense, not the offense and it is still the problem. Now, maybe Groh and his 3-4 makes a dent and brings them up to average or above-average, I can only hope. They lack, as always, the size on the DL. Every year they recruit 270 DTs while many other power schools in ACC and SEC recruit 300 DTs. We have to have some size on the line and speed at LB and safety.
I agree with all that the ACC is floundering in big games and until that reverse (and it always does) we ACC fans can only sit and take the jibes. Its unfortunate, but our best defensive teams seem to NEVER have any offense worthy of average and they rarely win because even holding the other team down, the other team scores on defense from the shoddy offense of the ACC school (see VT and UNC and others). If Frank Beamer and Co would merge with Paul Johnson and Co, or the U, then wow, but right now, every ACC team seems strong or above-average on only ONE side of the ball. They just can’t put it together like Florida, LSU or Alabama have over the past decade (the rest of the SEC is in same boat as the ACC schools, UGA, TENN, USC, Auburn, Ole Miss, etc, they too rarely put it all together).
CPJ beat UGA in year 1 and nearly had em last year. I still remember the drop by Bebe Thomas that would have given Tech a first down (on fourth down) and a chance to win deep inside UGA territory. This guy rarely dropped anything, but the pressure must have gotten to him. It happens. UGA did not kick our butt, they escaped. So all in all, the UGA-GT match is a rivalry under CPJ until UGA whips us or we whip them. Hasn’t happened yet. Close games. CPJ is getting his type of players into upperclass ranks this year and next so we’ll see if he can make the offense a bit more dynamic as it usually is and if Groh can make the subtle improvements Tech needs to win these nail-biters with the ACC’s best and UGA.
buzz
June 10th, 2010
2:26 pm
nothing like a bunch of low life classless uagag fans
Phone Check Homey
June 10th, 2010
3:33 pm
GTPhenom
Thanks for the laughs
Please continue to perpetuate how douchey we think Trek fans are
All the fast food comments by all the Trek D&Douchenozzles are lamer than Paul “gynecomastia” Johnson’s tough talk and dumber than hiring Al Groh.
Look in the stands the next time you attend a free food to attend a game promotion.
Your fanbase is hilarious.
What a douche-a-palooza (The tens that attend the games for free food)
Phone Check Homey
June 10th, 2010
3:37 pm
Enter your comments here:
OK I will
50,000 unfilled seats
0 fan support, even though located in the downtown area of the largest city in the State
Must Give Away Free Food to attract the dorks from their XBox tournament
Nerds, Nerds, Nerds,Nerds, Nerds, Nerds,Nerds, Nerds, Nerds
30-24
Douches
73-66
11-3
June 10th, 2010
8:51 pm
…………………………..SHREVEPORT !
macrotech
June 12th, 2010
4:15 am
Phone Check Homey, 50,000 empty seats? A little creative with your numbers, don’t ya think? ‘0′ fan support? Kind of stretching it there, too….hmmmmm? Nerds?! You REALLY got us with that one…referencing a line from an 80’s movie? Ouch! And, what’s with the “30-24″ douching the “73-66″? Are you suggesting that your football program is douching your basketball program? Now, THAT’S what I call school spirit! Go dawgs!!! Thank you for putting us “nerds” in our place!!! Didn’t the nerds end up dominating in the end of that movie? Hmmmmm?
RDR
June 12th, 2010
5:02 pm
Aaahahahahahahahahahahaha! pee jay had better feast on the weak little squads of the asheshe. It will help with butt kicking his team’s gonna get again this year in Athens by the Big Dawg!
Score Check
June 13th, 2010
8:28 am
gt has put the ZZZzzzzz back into football (can’t wait to see what the diamond jackets do next year).
The ACC overall is a joke. And it might end up being weaker after the dust settles with the conference changes.
tech fans....
June 22nd, 2010
2:27 am
Please stop referring to sports that do not matter to this blog, or your naive academic come backs about how UGA alum work at McDonalds. Is that really the only comeback you have against UGA? Really, it just shows how stupid you all look when it comes to comparing GT to UGA at football. GET OVER IT! UGA has the better football program, end of discussion. And for gods sake, do not even talk about how you played in a BCS bowl (which you lost) and how UGA played in a “JOKE” bowl. Last time I checked this was the first BCS bowl game for GT in a while. At least UGA wins the bowls they go to, and yes, Im even talking about the the BCS bowl games they’ve been to these last couple years. Yeah you were ranked higher than UGA at the end of the season in football and basketball, but UGA DID BEAT YOU IN BOTH THIS YEAR! So please, shut up cause yall sound so dumb with your irrelevant comments. Now get back to your game of World of War Craft where y’all actually know how to win at something.