In the course of college football events, it becomes necessary for one program to remind the conference and members of said conference, in front of the powers of Tobacco Road, the separate and varying talents of participants, and the powers of the National Collegiate Activities Association, a decent respect to the facts of the one program requires that said program to not, has not, and will not respect the conference members and/or conference as a whole in which it resides.
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all programs are not equal and are not endowed by their alumni with certain inalienable rights, that among these are talented athletes, historical dominance, any present respect based on pure speculation or vacuum at the top of the standings. And to secure these rights one must acknowledge the historical significance of the Lost Decade and that the Atlantic Coast Conference does not and will not receive any respect from the Florida State University.
First and foremost, FSU did not want to enter the conference. It did not respect the eight school basketball conference content with circle jerking itself over the round ball schedule and the invention of the conference tournament. It was a marriage of convenience and spite. Programs moved away from Independent status to secure bowl allegiances; FSU joined a conference as the
sole contributor to football revenue. It was out of spite FSU chose the ACC. The SEC had denied entrance to FSU in the 80's and FSU rebuffed the SEC invitation in the 90's. In our mind, the ACC has always been a joke and an afterthought in CFB.
FSU ran the ACC from 1992 until 2001. It single handedly raised the conference level of play, brought in millions of television and licensing dollars, and poised the ACC for expansion in 05-06. FSU was the darling of CFB for over a decade and played in the first three BCS games. It put more players in the pros in the 90's than any other university outside the state of Florida. We lost a total of two conference games in our first 8 years. We won the conference title 9 seasons in a row, and 12 of the first 14. The ACC should thank FSU for the BCS exposure, the money, and the raised level of play. Without FSU, who would the ACC have turned to? Who would have made the conference it is today? Would their AD work hand in glove with the conference commissioner and guide the conference into expansion? And FSU should thank the ACC for being a POS conference that allowed us an unparalleled run in the polls, in victories, and in bowl games.
FSU would still be atop the conference if we did not inflict on ourselves the CFB equivalent of the Great Recession. Our leader gave away his power and allowed himself to be the CEO, and our AD had to let him do as he wished because of his success. However, Bowden decided to hire his son to replace a great OC who oversaw three National Title Games, one Championship, and one Heisman winner (and another winner who did not win because he had character issues only to find out Ron Dayne did, too). His son was a terrible replacement, but FSU was still pulling incredible talent from around the country. It was still putting stars in the NFL. It still commanded two of ESPN's top five CFB television broadcasts of all time.
Don't miss the forest through the trees. Don't sit there and think our program is dead because we made some poor mistakes. Yes, our University President re-routed his office to oversee the Academics division of the Athletic Department and allowed a selfish Academics officer trying to make a name for himself to cause a cheating scandal across multiple sports. Sure our University President fired our most successful AD in school history to make room for a lackey because the AD told our President "No" regarding the football program but blamed it on the cheating scandal because it hadn't been made public it was our President's office's lack of oversight. Sure our President played for Bowden and would not stand in his way even though Bowden was not hands on with practices, play calling, or even aware of what happened during games. But these are
all self inflicted wounds.
We let lesser conference members get to the top. We were overhyped in the early 2000's because the national media did not see the problem of Jeff Bowden, and neither did recruits. We pulled in good classes for a few more years, and still won 8-10 games. The media called us spoiled and said we raised the conference play and had to deal with it. Then the recruiting fell. We lost good assistants and hired bad ones. Then we re-hired assistants who felt entitled to take over a program despite not producing results. We lacked player development on top of the poor recruiting. We no longer sent players into the NFL with the same efficiency. Yet nothing changed at the top. There was an utter refusal to change what was not working.
Instead we had a debate whether or not a man could watch over a floundering program because he had built it. We personalized it into our own mortality. The refusal to change would reach a peak when finally; Jeff Bowden was able to offer his resignation without his father knowing. It was attempted before but preempted. Fisher was hired as OC and the winds of change began to blow. Bowden still refused to make a change until he was called out by the head of the Board of Trustees. It no longer was a sports issue, it was a university issue.
So don't think for one second that because we had a stubborn old man allowing us to falter for close to ten years, that you, the other ACC member institutions, have any upper hand in football. In the two years of the new coaching staff, FSU has stock piled more recruits than any other school and the only school close to us is Clemson. In one year, we won our division and played in the ACCCG, and that was with an awful set of senior defensive backs, no depth on the DLine, and a backup quarterback.
Our coaching staff is better than any other in the conference save VT. And even Frank Beamer has his ceiling. In the down years of FSU, the ACC was also putrid with the "football power" UM suffering similar program mistakes. And what did VT do? They won 4 titles and no NC. Frank Beamer's best team was with Mike Vick. Now it seems Beamer can coach offense and not defense as the Hokies have struggled to play "Beamer Ball" the way they used to. Honestly, if the VT program is so good, then where are the national title games? Where is the taking advantage of a down program?
Johnson at GT runs an incredible offense, but he has his limits including but not limited to a QB who makes terrible decisions, poor passing, and an offense can be prepared for, and at GT he will not get the recruits Clemson, VT, or even UNC will get.
Grobe is probably the best X's and O's coach in the conference but he coaches at WF. Maybe he can do what Harbaugh did at Stanford, but I doubt it.
That leaves Clemson and UNC. The term "Clemson-ing" has become popular because the Tigers find ways to shoot themselves in the foot. It is comical the levels in which Clemson loses. They lose games they should win and win games they should lose. They are stock piled with players and perpetually put themselves behind the eight ball. If they are the class of the Original Eight, then I feel sorry for the ACC. They have one National Title. One.
And UNC, oh UNC. You are the worst managed major university in the East. You have all the money of Texas or UF but you have none of the desire. You have a massive and dominating fan base. You play the big brother to NCSU and the foil to New Jersey of the South, Duke, yet you can't find a coach to bring you to a national level of dominance. And don't play the academics card. Texas and UF have very good to great academics and they field some of the most competitive teams year in and year out. Plus you have the most famous athlete of the last two decades as a virtual spokesman for your Athletic Department via uniform marketing, yet you are content playing a sport that is only relevant from mid February to early April and has one set of TV rights for its main event. Even when the football powers were down you could not find a coach or a leader who would pull your program to the national elite. Your best coach was Mack Brown... during the FSU Dynasty years. When did you last contend for an ACC title? Wake Forest won a title when you should have been winning. Wake freaking Forest.
If any program is an underachiever, it's not Clemson, it's you. You have all the means and none of the vision. You lack a national view. You are consumed with yourself and with Duke. There is probably more Duke interest in Chapel Hill due to hatred for Duke than there is in Durham.
Gain perspective! The reason FSU is historically dominant of the conference and even dominant during half of the Lost Decade is because we don't care about the conference. The ACC is a stepping stone to larger games, larger reputation.
Lastly, let it be known. Let it be clear, FSU will dominate this conference once again. It may have begun last weekend. We may not lose another conference game for two years. Seriously, our slate the rest of the season is against the bottom third... and the scores won't be close. Yes, our defense has made too many penalties. Our O-line has had consistency problems. But more importantly our bad ass quarterback who ran circles around the OU defense got hurt. Do you realize we lost to the conference number one on the road by five with a
backup quarterback?
Our problem this year isn't a coaching problem or defensive problem. It was lack of our bad ass quarterback problem. He runs when he wants. He is incredibly accurate. He has a rocket for an arm. He opens up the middle of the line for the run because safeties can't play up. Linebackers have to spread to stop the off tackle sweeps. Our offense will be prolific.
And here is the rub. It is a marriage of convenience. We need the ACC because it sucks. We need the automatic BCS bowl bid. And the ACC needs us. They need the insane television revenue that only FSU brings. They need the money we make from bowls that choose us because we travel well. We are the fat cat, the bell cow. So don't bite the hand that feeds you. You tried to raise the conference exit fee because you fear becoming the Big East without us. Tobacco Road is on its way to be the I-95 conference. Welcome UM, BC, VT, Cuse, and Pitt. Tobacco Road should shudder as its high minded Southern Blue Blood Elite conference is invaded by the Blue Collar, Middle Brow Yankees. Because if FSU ever leaves you become the quasi-Big East, irrelevant in CFB, and worse you lose your original identity.
So prepare yourself ACC for the domination FSU is about to bring and the ACC needs. Quit protecting yourself and talking about parody. We lost our hold on the conference, it wasn't taken from us. We will regain it again. So prepare yourself, ACC, for the butt f*$@ing you deserve and the one you secretly want. Because without us, you are nothing. Prepare for another reign of the King. BOHICA ACC, BOHICA.
