The Out of Conference Report

Updated out-of-conference records for the season, post-atomic devastation (a/k/a last weekend):

Conf.	Record	Pct.
Big East	14-2	.880
Big 10	18-4	.820
SEC	14-3	.820
Pac 10	13-3	.810
Big XII	18-6	.750
ACC	9-7	.560

Before I get into a little bit of an explanation, let me start off by saying that the ACC's non-conference performance these past two weeks - aside from Georgia Tech - has been an utter disgrace. Miami losing to Oklahoma is understandable. 51-13 is not. Virginia Tech losing to LSU is nothing to be ashamed of. But 48-7 sure as hell is. UCF beating NC State is unacceptable. Virginia getting drummed by Wyoming is inexcusable. On top of that, the conference was unable to pull off possible upsets with Wake (Nebraska) and UNC (East Carolina). The first two weeks have been a perfect storm of awful play and bad luck.

ON THE ROAD
To be fair to the ACC, it must be noted that six of the league's 16 non-conference games have been on the road. See the table below for full details:

Conference	OOC Games/Road Games	Pct.
ACC	16/6	.380
Pac 10	16/6	.380
Big XII	24/8	.333
Big East	16/4	.250
Big 10	22/4	.180
SEC	17/3	.180

That doesn't necessarily explain why the ACC has performed so poorly, but it does - in my opinion - clear up the reason for the huge gap between the other 5 power conferences and the ACC. The ACC has played more than double it's share of out of conference games on the road than either the Big 10 or SEC. Is the ACC still the worst of the power leagues? Yep. But not as much as the overall OOC record indicates.

THE COMPETITION
The ACC is also tied for the second-highest percentage of it's non-conference competition coming against power conference (BCS) schools. See below:

Conference	OOC Games/BCS Foes	Pct.
SEC	17/6	.353
ACC	16/5	.313
Big East	16/5	.313
Pac 10	16/5	.313
Big XII	24/7	.292
Big 10	22/5	.227

And each conference's record against other power-league competition:

Conf.	Record	Pct.
Big East	3-2	.600
Big 10	3-2	.600
Pac 10	3-2	.600
Big XII	4-3	.571
SEC	3-3	.500
ACC	1-4	.200

This explains fairly well why the ACC has done so poorly in non-conference play so far...they're playing a decent percentage of tougher competition and just not doing well against it. Brilliant insight, I know. Also, of the 5 games against power-conference foes, the ACC was the road team in three of them (and one of the "home" games was Duke).

THE 1-AA (OR "FCS" IF YOU WANT TO BE ALL TECHNICAL) FACTOR
The percentage of non-conference games against 1-AA competition...

Conference	OOC Games/1-AA Foes	Pct.
Big 10	22/6	.272
Big East	16/4	.250
ACC	16/3	.188
SEC	17/3	.176
Big XII	22/3	.125
Pac 10	16/1	.006

Bravo to the Pac 10, and utter shame and contempt should be heaped on the Big 10. The Big 10 thus far has played more 1-AA teams than BCS conference teams.

SPIN
Some things to keep in mind that can't really be quantified in the above tables...

--the ACC has faced-off against the #2 and #3 teams in the country, on the road (and were mercilessly beaten), along with losing a close one to the #14 team in the country...no other conference has come close to facing that scale of opposition yet
--the ACC has 4.5 new coaching staffs this fall...initial clunky outings have to be expected
--the ACC has Duke...that's an automatic four losses out of conference every year

CONCLUSION
The ACC still kinda sucks this year compared to other power leagues, but the gap is not as wide as many (including me) initially believed after this weekend's horror show. The Big 10 is probably the conference that the ACC could hang with the most, based on how horrid some that league's non-conference competition is. The ACC still has some major non-conference matchups this year, and unfortunately most of them seem like mismatches that do not tilt in our favor (Maryland vs. West Virginia/Rutgers, NC State vs. Louisville, Miami vs. Texas A&M, Florida State vs. Florida, Virginia vs. Anybody). An upset or two in these games could go a long, long way in restoring some much needed respect.