The Draft and The U(nderachievement)

Clemson fans can take solace in one thing: They're probably not the biggest underachievers in the ACC over the last six seasons.

That distinction belongs to Miami if you look at the Hurricanes' numbers in the NFL Draft compared to their on-field mediocrity.

Miami had eight players drafted last weekend, pushing Da U past Virginia Tech for the most draft picks over the past six drafts.

Here's how everyone stacks up, with this year's number of draftees in parentheses:

1. Miami (8) 30
2. Virginia Tech (3) 29
3. Clemson (6) 25
4. Florida State (3) 23
5. North Carolina (9) 19
6. Georgia Tech (1) 17
7. N.C. State (1) 16
8. Maryland (2) 15
8. Virginia (1) 15
10. Boston College (1) 12
10. Wake Forest (0) 12
12. Duke (0) 0

Coaches have mixed feelings about the double-edge nature of recruiting rankings. It's good when you have a Top 10 class and can trumpet it to other recruits, not to mention your athletics director. But coaches can find themselves unemployed if they don't cash in on the reputable talent in short order (see: Bowden, Tommy).

NFL Draft numbers, compiled over a lengthy period of time, can give us a pretty good indication in hindsight of who has done more with less, and who has done less with more.

And looking at the records over the last six seasons, it becomes quite clear which teams are in the former group and which are in the latter.

Here are the overall records from 2005-10:

1. Virginia Tech 63-18
2. Boston College 54-25
3. Georgia Tech 49-30
4. Florida State 48-31
5. Clemson 47-31
6. Miami 44-32
7. Wake Forest 40-35
8. Maryland 39-36
9. North Carolina 36-38
10. N.C. State 35-39
11. Virginia 33-40
12. Duke 14-57

And the conference records (not counting championship games):

1. VT 39-9
2. GT 32-16
3. BC 30-18
4. Clemson 28-20
5. FSU 27-21
6. Miami 25-23
7. WF 22-26
8. MD 21-27
8. UNC 21-27
10. NCST 19-29
10. UVA 19-29
12. Duke 5-43

Is it any wonder that Miami has gone through two coaching changes since joining the ACC? Two games over .500 from a program that was supposed to dominate its half of the ACC, and not one appearance in the conference title game over six seasons.

Brutal.

Clemson isn't far behind with its 28-20 record. Thirteen of those losses have come to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Maryland and Wake Forest.

The Tigers' mediocrity is infinitely more excruciating in light of Miami's and Florida State's struggles. Back when the ACC expanded to 12 teams, if you told Clemson fans the Hurricanes and Seminoles would combine for a 52-44 record over the next six seasons, there'd have been mass celebration.

The Seminoles and Hurricanes regressed tremendously, and Clemson couldn't capitalize. Clemson is still looking for its first ACC title since 1991, and seven programs have won or shared a title since the Tigers' run of dominance ended. That hurts, big time.

Other thoughts:

-- Boston College is 10th in draft picks but third in conference victories. Pretty strong. Same deal for Georgia Tech, which is sixth in draft picks but second in ACC victories.

-- Take a deeper look at Boston College, though, and you see that five of their 12 draft picks were first-rounders.

-- N.C. State won nine games last season with a team that produced one draft pick (LB Nate Irving, third round). I don't follow that program closely, but it doesn't strike me as an outfit that currently has a lot of NFL talent going forward.

-- Heading into this year's draft, North Carolina ranked 11th over the previous five NFL Drafts with just 11 players picked. Then they sent nine over one weekend, vaulting to fifth on the list.

-- Virginia Tech has strong draft representation over the past six years with 29 players picked. But just one of those players -- offensive tackle Duane Brown in 2008 -- was a first-rounder. Yet the Hokies enjoy unquestioned ACC supremacy at the moment.

LW