It’s mailbag time, and judging by the number of general ACC questions and hypotheticals, we’re at peak offseason. (Not a complaint! Those questions are fun to answer, so keep ’em coming.)
Would Virginia Tech fans rather have a 5-7 SEC team or an 8-4 ACC team? It seems like VT would take a hit in its wins total due to the tougher SEC opponents (as Arkansas discovered). Would VT fans, after the initial rejoicing about an SEC bid, be willing to tolerate years of mediocrity and potential losing records before the team could get to the higher competitive level? Or would they be happier (and more likely to show up in Lane) winning >7 games every year against an ACC schedule? — UpperQuad
I don’t know that entry to the SEC automatically means you’ll struggle to adapt right away. It’s sort of where your program is when you make such a move. Missouri, for example, went to back-to-back title games in its second and third years in the big, bad SEC in 2013 and ’14. If the Hokies keep on the trajectory they’ve had under Brent Pry lately, they could be in a pretty competitive spot here shortly.
That said, I’m not going to argue that it wouldn’t be tougher. Top to bottom, the SEC’s just a deeper league. You can see it in some of the schedules now, especially with Oklahoma and Texas now in the conference. Florida, for instance, plays Georgia, LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas A&M this season. All seven of those teams are in Bill Connelly’s post-spring SP+ rankings. (The Gators also play Miami and Florida State in the non-conference. Good luck with that schedule, Billy Napier.)
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