Story for tomorrow: Virginia Tech tries to end its SEC losing streak
Darryl Slater
Dec 28, 2009
I crunched some numbers for this ACC-SEC story that I thought were halfway interesting, so here they are.
As you can see, even though the ACC has won eight games over SEC teams with winning records since 2005, just three of those eight SEC teams had more than seven victories. Georgia Tech is responsible for two of those wins (over 10-3 Georgia last season and 9-3 Auburn in 2005), while Wake Forest has the other (9-4 Mississippi last season).
ACC’s post-expansion record against SEC teams ...
2009: 3-5 (one over team with winning record)
2008: 5-6 (four over teams with winning records)
2007: 3-6 (one over team with winning record)
2006: 1-7 (none over team with winning record)
2005: 2-4 (two over teams with winning records)
TOTAL: 14-28 (eight over teams with winning records)
ACC team-by-team records and wins over SEC teams with winning records ...
Boston College, 0-1
Clemson, 4-5
** 7-6 Kentucky in ‘09, 7-6 South Carolina in ‘08, 7-5 South Carolina in ‘05
Duke, 1-2
** 7-6 Vanderbilt in ‘08
Florida State, 1-6
** 7-6 Alabama in ‘07
Georgia Tech, 5-5
** 10-3 Georgia in ‘08, 9-3 Auburn in ‘05
Maryland, 0-0
Miami, 0-2
North Carolina, 0-1
North Carolina State, 0-2
Virginia, 0-0
Virginia Tech, 0-3
Wake Forest, 3-1
** 9-4 Mississippi in ‘08
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – The comparisons, fair or not, are inevitable. The Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences occupy neighboring geographic footprints, overlapping in some areas. Though their reputations are different – the ACC is known for its basketball, while SEC worships football – the success of post-expansion ACC football is partly measured by how the league fares against its southerly counterpart.
The ACC-SEC storyline probably won’t be on the minds of players and coaches when Virginia Tech (9-3) and Tennessee (7-5) play in Thursday’s Chick-fil-A Bowl. But it is at least a semi-noteworthy subplot, especially because Tech has lost its past four games against SEC teams, who had a combined record of 47-6. The Hokies’ last SEC win: 26-8 at home against Louisiana State in 2002.
Since the ACC expanded to 12 teams in 2005, it is 14-28 against the SEC, with eight of those wins coming over teams that finished with winning records. (Virginia and Maryland are the only ACC teams who didn’t face an SEC squad in that span.)
After going 3-6 against the SEC in 2007, with one win over a winning-record team, the ACC improved to 5-6 last year, including four wins over plus-.500 teams. This season, the ACC is 3-5. Not until Clemson beat Kentucky in Sunday’s Music City Bowl could the ACC boast a legit victory over the SEC in 2009. Sorry, but ACC champion Georgia Tech’s wins over 5-7 Mississippi State and 2-10 Vanderbilt don’t measure up.
Struggling against the SEC shouldn’t be a point of shame. The league is 12-5 in Bowl Championship Series games. The Pacific-10 has the next-most wins: nine. The ACC is 2-9 in the BCS.
Moreover, the SEC has won five of the 11 BCS national championships, including the past three. Alabama (13-0) will try to beat Texas on Jan. 7 and make it four straight. While the SEC hasn’t lost a BCS title game, the ACC is 1-2. Florida State made the game in the BCS’ first three seasons, beating Virginia Tech, then a Big East member, in 1999.
The Hokies’ players have varying perspectives on the ACC-SEC matchup heading into Thursday’s game in Atlanta, a city that has loyalties to the ACC (Georgia Tech) and SEC (Georgia).
“My take, really, is that I don’t have nothing to prove to none of those guys, to be honest,” said redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams. “The only people I have to prove anything to is my team. As far as the SEC, we all know they’re a good conference. I’m not big on the whole SEC-ACC thing. To me, they’re just another team out there.”
But fifth-year senior tight end Greg Boone said the storyline is “a little more personal.” The Hokies are 0-3 against the SEC during his time in Blacksburg, so he wants to “at least beat one SEC team in my career.”
Then again, the Hokies’ four-game SEC losing streak isn’t littered with SEC also-rans.
After the 2004 season, Tech lost 16-13 to 12-0 Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. In 2006, the Hokies fell 31-24 to 8-4 Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl despite leading 21-6 midway through the third quarter.
In the second game of 2007, Tech traveled to LSU and got crushed 48-7 by the eventual national champions, who finished 12-2. To open this season, the Hokies lost 34-24 to Alabama in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, where they will try to end their SEC woes Thursday.
“It’s a lot of pride to this game,” said senior free safety Kam Chancellor. “Statistically, you see SEC teams over the top of ACC teams every year. It’ll be good for an ACC team to come out on top for once.”
-30-
The Hokies have dropped their past four games to SEC teams, though all were quality opponents.
Dec. 29, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Daryl, interesting analysis but not deep enough. Last year you have it wrong as stated above. Please note, during the season, the ACC was 6-4 against the SEC. A deeper look reveals three of the four losses were against FL (2) and AL (2). That means the ACC was 6-1 against the rest of the SEC which (the other 10 SEC teams) by the way were 1-31 against those same FL and AL teams the last two years! Granted, the SEC has two teams above anything the ACC has to offer. The rest however should be considered at least a draw.
The fact that strong ACC teams are also the youngest ACC teams (can you name a Sr on GA Tech’s offense?) hopefully bodes weel for the future.
Dec. 29, 2009 at 05:30 PM
You go out of your way to talk about how the majority of ACC vs. SEC wins were against losing teams, how about both sides of the ball and tell us how many of those SEC wins were against winning ACC teams…
Dec. 29, 2009 at 02:01 PM
The ACC was 6-6 vs SEC in 2008. Wins by the ACC were:
GT vs UGA, Miss. st.
Clemson vs South Car
Duke Vs. Vandy
Wake Vs. Ole Miss, Vandy