Until last year, there was less at stake for the ACC than there is now in the result of its football championship game.
With the bowl playoff in effect, four teams potentially representing four leagues make the three-game tournament to determine a national championship. That means at least one of the five power conferences will be excluded from the financial and promotional jackpot, whereas in the one-game BCS championship days there were at most two leagues in and three out.
Even better, unlike most seasons since 2005 -- when the ACC expanded sufficiently to qualify to play its own championship game -- there are two top-10 teams vying for the conference title.