Is ACC Football really as bad as most people think?

While not the best college football league out there, ACC Football could certainly be worse than it is right now.

It is no secret that ACC Football has seen better days than the ones that the last few years have provided the nation with. However, the door has not been completely shut for the Power 5 conference.

First off, the cumulative recruiting haul is about as good as one would expect for a Southern collegiate football league not named the SEC. But the annual quality of talent can only be validated by the teams’ annual performances.

In that regard, six Atlantic Coast squads managed to clinch winning records in 2020, with Notre Dame’s inclusion making seven. When the better part of half the conference is positive, it’s not exactly the end of the world.

And not all of the winning powers were a mediocre 6-5, either. The aforementioned Notre Dame was alongside Clemson as a playoff team last season. Meanwhile, both North Carolina and Miami (FL) were consistent forces in the weekly rankings.

Speaking of rankings, that fails to even acknowledge the other universities that, at the very least, found themselves on one or more installments of the lists.

Sure, there is a stout gap or two when diving into the depth of the league, and there might be only one true title contender every year; but it is not as if the ACC is working with nothing but poverty programs.

The other two Power 5 groups of the Atlantic Coast’s size (SEC and Big Ten) are superior from a head-to-toe standpoint. However, most individuals in the college football community feel that relevant schools are the only ones that matter. If that is the case, why would ACC football be looked upon any differently?

To keep it brief, answering the question of whether or not ACC Football is as bad as many people think can be done rather easily, with “no.” It has not shown an abundance of dominance at every level of its respective members, but there is quite a leap from that to downright terrible.