CLEMSON — When the ACC expanded in 2004 to bring Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami into the conference, it forever changed the landscape of the league. It also did more than that, unfortunately.
Though expansion is good for the bottom line, it is not entirely good for the games or the rivalries that existed in the old format, when the ACC was more regional and had just the charter members – Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Wake Forest. And yes, even the additions of Georgia Tech (1979) and Florida State (1991) made sense and, of course, fit well in the landscape of the conference.
But starting in 2004 and later with the additions of Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in 2014 and California, SMU and Stanford in 2024, the league is a shell of what it used to be…