![Warning :warning: ⚠️](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/26a0.png)
: Hazardous Response
Siiiigh!! Macho, I fck w/ u, but y do u force me to put on my Black Air Force 1’s to respond to this nonsense?
I hate to break ur heart, but I’m going to painfully slap u, & others (including this YT clip) who continue this “talent acquisition” rhetoric for the past 20 yrs back to reality. Lol
Since 2004 our overall class rankings have been the following:
2004 - #3
2005 - #9
2006 - #12
2007 - #13
2008 - #1
2009 - #16
2010 - #12
2011 - #32
2012 - #10
2013 - #15
2014 - #12
2015 - #26
2016 - #22
2017 - #13
2018 - #8
2019 - #17
2020 - #11
2021 - #11
2022 - #13
2023 - #8
2024 - #6
For 21 cycles, 76% of classes have finished w/in the top 15 in the nation, 33% have finished w/in the top 10 in the nation.
Let’s look at the rest of ACC during this same period:
2004:
FSU (1st), Maryland (16th), UNC (27th), VT (33rd), UVA (37th), NCSt (39th), Clemson (43rd), GT (47th), Duke (65th), & WF (99th)
2005:
FSU (1st), Clemson (16th), UVA (17th), VT (20th), Maryland (21st), NCSt (28th), UNC (47th), BC (50th), Duke (54th), WF (63rd), & GT (66th)
2006:
FSU (4th), Clemson (13th), UNC (25th), Maryland (26th), VT (30th), BC (34th), NCSt (46th), Duke (49th), GT (60th), WF (64th), & UVA (75th)
—-
The Coker ACC era had the 2nd rated ACC classes from 2004-2006, w/ a sizable “on paper” talent advantage over the rest of the ACC sans FSU; yet, we went 14-10 in ACC play w/ 0 ACC crowns or Coastal Crowns—-
2007:
UNC (10th), GT (15th), Clemson (16th), FSU (20th), VT (26th), UVA (29th), Maryland (32nd), BC (42nd), NCSt (46th), WF (66th), & Duke (72nd),
2008: Clemson (10th), FSU (13th), VT (20th), NCSt (22nd) UNC (28th), BC (37th), Maryland (39th), GT (49th), UVA (54th), WF (60th), & Duke (65th)
2009:
UNC (11th),
FSU (15th), VT (24th), Maryland (29th), UVA (34th), Clemson (35th), GT (38th), NCSt (45th), Duke (51st), WF (59th), & BC (62nd)
2010:
FSU (8th), UNC (21st), Clemson (25th), VT (26th), NCSt (34th), Maryland (37th), GT (40th), BC (43rd), WF (59th), Duke (67th), & UVA (71st)
—-During the Shannon era, we had the 2nd, 1st, 3rd, & 2nd ranked ACC classes from 2007-10, w/ a sizable “on paper” talent advantage over the rest of the ACC sans UNC; yet, we went 16-16 in ACC play during this period w/ 0 ACC Crowns & 0 Coastal Crowns—-
2011:
FSU (2nd),
Clemson (10th),
UNC (18th),
UVA (23rd), BC (38th), UVA (34th), GT (42nd), Maryland (49th), Duke (62nd), WF (65th), & NCSt (69th)
2012:
FSU (4th), Clemson (20th), VT (21st), UVA (25th), Maryland (37th), UNC (41st), NCst (52nd), GT (53rd), Duke (62nd), WF (66th), & BC (69th)
2013:
FSU (11th),
Clemson (14th), VT (21st) UNC (28th), UVA (29th), Pitt (33rd), Maryland (39th), NCSt (59th), WF (64th), GT (69th), Duke (70th), Cuse (73rd), BC (84th)
2014:
FSU (4th), Clemson (15th), VT (28th), UNC (31st), UVA (3rd), NCSt (34th), Pitt (44th), UL (46th), BC (51st), Cuse (53rd), GT (54th), Duke (61st), & WF (66th)
2015:
FSU (4th),
Clemson (9th), UNC (28th), VT (30th), NCSt (31st), UL (33rd), GT (44th), UVA (46th), Pitt (47th), WF (51st) Duke (52nd), Cuse (57th), & BC (60th)
—-During The Golden/Scott (interim) era, we brought in the worst ACC class in 2011 (5th) in our history, followed by the 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, & 3rd ranked ACC classes. Even though this is our worst period of recruiting, once again, “on paper”, we had a sizable talent advantage sans FSU & Clemson during this time. To note, we only played Clemson once between 2011-2015; yet, we went 21-18 in ACC play with 0 ACC crowns & 0 ACC Coastal—-
2016:
FSU (2nd),
Clemson (11th), Pitt (31st), Duke (32nd), UNC (37th), UL (38th), VT (42nd), NCSt (50th), WF (58th), GT (61st), Cuse (62nd), UVA (63rd), & BC (78th)
2017:
FSU (6th), Clemson (16th), VT (25th), UNC (30th), UL (34th) Pitt (37th), Duke (47th), GT (48th), Cuse (54th), NCSt (55th), UVA (59th), BC (67th), & WF (68th)
2018:
Clemson (7th), FSU (11th), UNC (20th), VT (24th), NCSt (26th), UL (31st), GT (44th), Pitt (48th), Cuse (51st), UVA (59th), Duke (63rd), WF (64th), & BC (71st)
—-During the Richt era, by far our best era, we had the 3rd, 2nd, & 2nd ranked ACC recruiting classes. Even though this was our best era in the ACC resulting in 1 ACC Coastal Crown (0 ACC Crowns), we still went 16-8 in the ACC despite having the 3rd most talent “on paper” in the ACC by a sizable margin. The two teams who had more talent (FSU & Clemson) were in the cross-division, and we didn’t play Clemson once in the regular season during this era. —-
2019:
Clemson (12th), FSU (19th), VT (27th), NCSt (28th), UNC (32nd), UVA (42nd), Cuse (50th), Duke (52nd), GT (54th), Pitt (57th), WF (59th), BC (66th), & UL (71st)
2020:
Clemson (3rd), UNC (16th), FSU (21st), GT (28th), UVA (40th), Pitt (43rd), NCSt (44th), UL (45th), BC (55th), Duke (56th), VT (59th), Cuse (62nd), & WF (63rd)
2021:
Clemson (5th), UNC (14th), FSU (21st), Pitt (32nd), UVA (37th), NCSt (38th), BC (40th), UL (41st), GT (43rd), VT (49th), Duke (59th), Cuse (64th), & WF (68th)
—-During the Diaz era, we had the 2nd best ACC recruiting class all 3 yrs. This was also our 2nd best ACC record in the last 21 yrs going 16-9. The only team that had a decided talent advantage than us was Clemson during this era, & we played them once in 2020. Once again, despite the talent advantage, this era brought us 0 ACC Crowns & 0 ACC Coastal Crowns.—-
2022:
UNC (11th), Clemson (14th), FSU (19th), UL (35th), VT (43rd), GT (44th), BC (51st), Duke (61st), UVA (64th), Cuse (65th), Pitt (70th), NCSt (72nd), & WF (79th)
2023: Clemson (15th), FSU (16th), UL (24th), UNC (28th), VT (44th), NCSt (49th), Pitt (56th), BC (57th), GT (64th), UVA (65th), WF (67th), Duke (68th), Cuse (73rd)
—-Thus far in the Mario era, we’ve had the 2nd, 1st, & 1st ranked ACC classes by a pretty substantial margin, “on paper”; yet, we are now 6-10 in ACC play, with 0 ACC Crowns & 0 ACC Coastal Crowns (which is no longer an option). Despite out recruiting the ACC since his arrival by a wide margin, the results have not equated—-
2024 is a TBD; but, this little data sheet shows some in this fan base has selective memory, or have convinced themselves that all of sudden our talent is better than the rest of the ACC. We haven’t been just losing to the FSU’s & Clemson’s of the world, that would be understandable; we’re losing to the GTs, Dukes, ULs, UNCs, NCSts, Pitts, VTs, UVAs of the world, and the talent levels are NOT REMOTELY close.
So until I see something on the field, imma stop basking in the glory of another successful recruiting cycle & off season. I need to see something, b/c I’m frankly tired of celebrating from late December - August.