Big Four struggle to keep up in ACC football

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Posted 6:01PM on Thursday, July 28, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) There was nothing particularly special about North Carolina's Atlantic Coast Conference football title 25 years ago. Sure, the Tar Heels won all six league games before capping an 11-1 season with a victory over Texas in the Bluebonnet Bowl, but that type of success was expected at the time. The championship was their second in four years and gave the Big Four the ACC schools in the state of North Carolina eight in the previous 13 years. North Carolina State won the year before. Wake Forest was even in the mix, finishing at the top of the conference in 1970 for what still is the Demon Deacons' only title. Yet that championship for the Tar Heels gets more significant with each passing year: it's was the last outright ACC football title won by one of the Big Four. ``The only way to remedy that situation is go out there and win,'' said North Carolina coach John Bunting, who was an all-conference linebacker on the school's 1971 ACC championship team. And if the media's predictions about this season are correct, the drought will continue this season. The media's preseason poll, released earlier this week, puts the Wolfpack third in the Atlantic Division, the highest spot for a team from the state, with Wake Forest (Atlantic) and Duke (Coastal) at the bottom of their six-team divisions. The Tar Heels are picked to finish fifth in the Coastal, a year after they reached a bowl for the first time three years. ``I have never let preseason polls make me think one thing or the other,'' Bunting said. ``I know the football team has a great spirit, and they're anxious to compete and they're anxious to show people that they can take last year and perhaps grow on it. ``I think they're very sincere about it, and I think it's realistic to think they can.'' N.C. State struggled through the worst of coach Chuck Amato's five seasons in 2004, finishing out of the postseason with a 5-6 record, while the Demon Deacons (4-7) had six losses by a total of 36 points. Duke was, well, Duke, compiling a losing record for the 14th time in the past 15 seasons at 2-9. But the Blue Devils have bragging rights of a sort. Duke was the last of the Big Four to hold a trophy, winning a co-championship with Virginia in 1989 after victories in their final eight regular season games under coach Steve Spurrier. For all of the North Carolina schools, winning that elusive title this year will be tougher than ever. The expanded ACC is playing with 12 teams for the first time, with a lucrative championship game awaiting the two division winners. ``I thought I had a tough job when I came to Wake Forest, but it got a lot tougher with expansion,'' Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. A big reason for the long wait in the state of North Carolina is Florida State, which joined the conference in 1992. The Seminoles won the ACC in 11 of their first 12 years, and new member Virginia Tech ended their run last season by taking the title. Miami didn't fare so well in its first season, losing three of its final five games, but the Hurricanes shouldn't be down for long, and Boston College finally is a part of the league after winning a bowl for the fifth consecutive year. The Eagles beat North Carolina 37-24 in the Continental Tire Bowl last season. ``BC is a good team, a good solid team,'' N.C. State wide receiver Tramain Hall said. ``I don't think people give them the credit they deserve.'' As can be expected, none of the Big Four coaches would say they didn't have a chance in the new power conference. Amato pointed to the Wolfpack's victory at Virginia Tech last season before a slew of injuries on the offensive line settled in, and Bunting won a new contract extension as he continues to try and turn around the Tar Heels. Even Duke coach Ted Roof wasn't quite ready to give in. ``I wouldn't think you'd just be in a conference to just be in a conference,'' he said. ``The competition makes everybody better, but we certainly have to go faster than the rest of the league, because we've got some catching up to do.'' He continued that process this year by signing Vince Oghobaase, perhaps the best recruit to ever choose the Blue Devils. The 6-foot-6, 335-pound defensive tackle enrolled for the spring semester after graduating early from high school, and Roof has every reason to expect Oghobaase to start this fall. Scout.com listed him as the seventh best defensive lineman in the country last year. ``We're getting there,'' Roof said. The expansion of the ACC had an effect off the field, too. A record number of reporters attended the three-day media event in Hot Springs, Va., and the league also announced two more bowl tie-ins for the 2006 season that gives them eight postseason slots. Even if the Big Four continues to get shut out, the conference is stronger than ever. ``It shows people are taking notice of Atlantic Coast Conference football, not that they shouldn't have before,'' Amato said. ``It's done what we've wanted to accomplish. It's got everybody's attention.'' (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)