By Garrett Strunk
SouthernPigskin.com

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141 participants from a variety of websites took part in a survey on the ACC’s most entertaining games.

I’m finally over the shock of the events that unfolded during the bowl season. Maybe the critics were right all along about the ACC being a weak football conference. At first, I was like “nah-uh”. Now, I’m just in the acceptance stage of my grief. I’ll still watch every game and champion the ACC to all of those who take shots at it, so back to the old grind stone here at Southern Pigskin, pecking away at the keyboard making the off season a little more bearable for our loyal readers.

What could be more fun than being barraged with a series of questions? 141 participants from the Scout, Rivals and other sports fan sites had nothing better to do than take my ACC survey. I primarily targeted fans of ACC teams, but accepted fans of all schools that took the minute to participate. What I wanted to know is ‘which conference games are the most entertaining?’. I cleverly crafted the questions to keep the homer element out so that what we are getting is the honest to God most entertaining ACC games chosen by you the fans.

Ok, so here is how it’s going to go down. Below you will see the questions I posed on the message boards I visited, then after each question I will display the top 5 most popular answers to the survey:

Which annually played ACC matchup NOT involving your favorite team is the most entertaining historically?

1 Florida State vs Miami – 80
2 Clemson vs Georgia Tech – 14
3 Clemson vs Florida State – 12
3 Miami vs Virginia Tech – 12
5 North Carolina vs NC State – 6

FSU vs Miami claims the top spot in a landslide though their best games were arguably played before Miami joined the ACC. Even though it’s been a while since either team was a serious contender for a national championship, the games are still a must see for all college football fans with it’s big hits and exciting finishes.

Most of the casual fans recognize UNC vs NCSU as an intense basketball rivalry, but their hatred for one another transcends just the basketball court. This is by far the most intense rivalry in the ACC and I’m convinced that it’s on the same level of hate that Alabama and Auburn fans have for one another. It’s really too bad their annual football game does not get as much national notice.

Which annually played ACC matchup NOT involving your favorite team is the most entertaining recently (last 2-3 years)?

1 Clemson vs Georgia Tech – 31
2 Clemson vs Florida State – 25
3 Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech – 22
4 North Carolina vs NC State – 11
5 Miami vs Virginia Tech – 10

Clemson takes the top 2 spots with a little help from their top 2 conference rivals Georgia Tech and Florida State. In the last 2 seasons the winner of the Clemson-FSU game would decide the Atlantic division with a difference of 3 and 5 points deciding the games with the series going back and forth with the home team winning the last 5 games.

Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are also well represented amongst the top 5 in this category. The battle of the “Techs” has turned into an unexpectedly good (dare I say) rivalry game with the winner always representing the division in the ACC championship game.

Which irregularly played ACC match up NOT involving your favorite team would make a great annually played game?

1 Florida State vs Virginia Tech – 42
2 Clemson vs Virginia Tech – 28
3 Clemson vs Miami – 18
4 Florida State vs Georgia Tech – 14
5 Clemson vs North Carolina – 5

I was a little disappointed when the ACC announced just over a week ago that they were going to keep the divisions the same with Syracuse added to the Atlantic division and Pitt to the Coastal division. Above you can see the potentially great games the ACC is going to be missing out on every year.

Which new match up NOT involving your favorite team appeals to you the most that involves the new members Syracuse and Pittsburgh?

1 Pittsburgh vs Virginia Tech – 37
2 Pittsburgh vs Maryland – 25
3 Syracuse vs Boston College – 14
4 Pittsburgh vs Miami – 12
5 Pittsburgh vs Florida State – 6
5 Pittsburgh vs Georgia Tech – 6

In 3 of the top 5 answers the fans chose to see the old Big East rivalries rekindled with Pitt vs VT grabbing the top spot. I was surprised that Pitt vs Maryland was such a popular answer with just 5 games played between each other in their history. With the “Back Yard Brawl” taking a hiatus, Pitt could really use a replacement rival and Maryland would have made sense seeing that Pennsylvania and Maryland are border states. It’s just too bad this game will not be annually played because of the way the divisions are set up.

Sites with the most participants:

1 Pack Pride – 17
2 Old Gold & Black Boards – 16
3 Sports Hoopla – 13
4 Syracuse fan – 12
4 Rivals main board – 12

Times mentioned:

Boston College – 24
Clemson – 148
Duke – 6
Florida State – 200
Georgia Tech – 90
Maryland – 34
Miami -150
North Carolina – 36
NC State – 31
Pittsburgh – 103
Syracuse – 33
Virginia – 15
Virginia Tech – 162
Wake Forest – 11

Fan base break down:

Boston College – 1
Clemson – 11
Duke – 2
Florida State – 17
Georgia Tech – 7
Maryland – 0
Miami -5
North Carolina – 14
NC State – 16
Pittsburgh – 12
Syracuse – 12
Virginia – 7
Virginia Tech – 15
Wake Forest – 17
Others – 5
Total = 141 participants