Entering the 2015 season, there seemed to be one common theme woven into postseason prognostications: of the Power Five conferences, the ACC is the one most likely, like the Big 12 last year, to be the league on the outside of the College Football Playoff looking in. Based on the last two nights, that line of thinking can’t be dismissed.
Clemson and Florida State, generally speaking, have been viewed as the ACC’s best chances at securing a playoff berth for the conference. Both, coincidentally enough, played on national television in back-to-back nights with a chance to show the country exactly what the league is made of and what its best can bring to the playoff discussion. What was brought? A whole helluva lot more questions than answers.
Thursday night, 11th-ranked Clemson went into 0-2 Louisville and escaped with a far-from-impressive 20-17 win. Friday night, ninth-ranked Florida State went into 2-0 Boston College -- their two wins came against FCS teams -- and came away with an entirely unimpressive 14-0 win.
The best you can say about either is that the struggles came in conference games on the road, even if they came in conference road games against such inferior opponents that the word “upset” shouldn’t even have been in the conversation.
Certainly close calls are going to happen; having these two so close together, and on national television when not much else in college football was happening no less, adds to the instant perception that this conference has a long road to traverse in proving playoff worthiness.
The ACC was facing a tough slog to make the Final Four playoff party to begin with. The last two nights showed just how tough it really will be, whether it comes to off-field perceptions or on-field results.