CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In each of the past three years, bowl season has begun with just one undefeated Power 5 team. All three times, that team has hailed from the ACC. Left largely unspoken was the fact anything short of a perfect record probably would have disqualified those teams from national title contention.
As league players, coaches and administrators convened here the past two days for ACC Kickoff, it has become increasingly clear that, at least within the conference, the boom-or-bust attitude is changing. As Atlantic division teams met the media Friday, the most popular big-picture questions were no longer about TV networks or lack of league respect.