The ACC living (at) large

Probably too early to start discussing this, but something tells me Clemson fans will dust off their conspiracy theories if an undefeated Tigers team meets Virginia Tech in the ACC championship.

You probably know the story with the ACC and at-large BCS bids. As in, John Swofford and Co. are still looking for one.

It has to really stick in the craw of the Greensboro brass, because the vision they had when they expanded to 12 teams was regular occurrences of two-team representation in the exalted BCS -- and the bounty of money that would come with it.

Well, Florida State and Miami didn't exactly follow the script. Actually, they balled up the script and threw it in the trash can by putting on an inexplicable and completely unanticipated run of mediocrity that continues to this day. The Seminoles and Hurricanes are right at .500 this season in ACC play with 2-2 records, and that's appropriate because the teams have combined for a record just above .500 in ACC play since the conference adopted the split-division format in 2005. Astounding.

A few weeks ago, as Clemson prepared for a visit from Florida State, it was suggested by this writer that the Tigers were just as capable as the Seminoles and Hurricanes of ushering the ACC to the prominence it has sought for so long.

And here Clemson is, ranked in the Top 5 and posing a legitimate threat to give the conference its first BCS title-game participant since 2000, when Florida State lost to Oklahoma.

The 2000 season also happens to be the last time an ACC member was present in the Top 5 of the final polls. Heck, the ACC has claimed just five teams in the final Top 10 over the last 10 seasons.

But if an undefeated Tigers team meets the Hokies on Dec. 3 in Charlotte, does the ACC subtly root for Virginia Tech in the interest of the ACC sending two teams to the BCS for the first time? The Hokies would take the automatic bid and go to the Orange Bowl, and the Tigers could end up playing the SEC runner-up in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

New Orleans, of course, is the site of the BCS title game. It'd be disappointing for the ACC (not to mention Clemson) to be preparing and playing in the same city and stadium that would play host to a matchup Clemson narrowly missed out on, but a Clemson vs. Alabama/LSU undercard would get some serious national recognition. It certainly wouldn't be all bad under that arrangement.

The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 have gobbled up most of the BCS at-large bids since the BCS' inception in 1998.

Here's a look at the multi-bid years for those three conferences:

Big Ten: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2002, 1999, 1998
SEC: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2001, 1999, 1998
Big 12: 2008, 2007, 2004, 2003, 2001

The ACC sure would like a piece of that action sometime soon. The conference would get an extra $6 million if it placed a second team into the BCS mix, and that's good money if you can do it regularly.

But putting a team in the BCS title game might be more meaningful. You really can't put a dollar figure on that kind of publicity and profile.

LW