This was supposed to be the season the Atlantic Coast Conference went from character actor status to one of the rising stars on college football's biggest stage.
This was supposed to be the season new members Miami and Virginia Tech were going to bring the ACC up to, if not above, traditional power football leagues such as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12.
Going into the final three weeks of the regular season, beginning with tonight's matchup between the 15th-ranked Hokies and Maryland in Blacksburg, the question remains for debate.
Has the ACC lived up to preseason expectations?
"I think the whole league has gotten better," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said yesterday on the ACC's weekly teleconference. "We always played Virginia, but we hadn't had much contact with the other teams the past few years. I didn't realize how good everybody else had gotten."
Said Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen: "I think anybody can beat anybody. That was proven last week with Duke and Clemson. The fact that you're playing good game after good game takes a toll on you injury-wise. Teams like Miami and Florida State, they're not as deep when they get a few injuries."
The league's balance of power - the Hokies are the only team with just one defeat in conference play and seven have won four conference games or more - has affected its national presence, particularly with Miami and Florida State.
After starting the season with two top 10 teams - No. 5 Miami and No. 6 Florida State - and eventually getting a third (Virginia, which rose as high as No. 6), the ACC has just one - the Seminoles at No. 10.
After starting the season with two national championship contenders - the Seminoles and the now-No. 12 Hurricanes - the only prize the ACC can hope for is that its champion gets the league's automatic Bowl Championship Series berth.
Although ACC coaches chant the same mantra about the league's overall improvement, there are still some outside who think the ACC is not quite there among the country's best conferences.
At least not this season.
"I don't think there's a dominant team," ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried said this week. "A lot of good teams, but nobody sticks out above everyone else."
In truth, the ACC has had as many teams not live up to preseason prognostications - Clemson and Maryland at the top of that list - as teams such as Virginia Tech and North Carolina that have played better than expected.
