Hurricanes Upset No. 12 Gators: Is The ACC Underrated Or Is The SEC Overrated?

MIAMI – Thanks to the unranked Miami Hurricanes 21-16 upset over the no. 12 Florida Gators, the underrated ACC may have exposed the powerful SEC as being overrated.

Led by a fast and stout Hurricanes defense, Miami forced five Gator turnovers and became the second team from their conference to beat a high-ranked team from the supposed best conference in college football in two weeks. With the shocking upset and the Clemson Tigers 38-35 upset over the No.5 Georgia Bulldogs, which meant splitting the series 2-2.

With the Alabama Crimson Tide and South Carolina Gamecocks recording wins over Virginia Tech Hokies and North Carolina Tar Heels, the SEC improved it’s record against the ACC to 13-6 since 2011.  Thanks to Clemson’s 25-24 upset over LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve, the ACC has won three of the last five inter-conference meetings.

For the ACC, it’s not about beating the SEC, mainly it’s more about gaining its respect back on the field against the best football conference in the country. For the SEC, holder of seven straight national titles, it is about maintaining the image of media-created invincibility and hype in being the undisputed king of college football.

But is the SEC overrated? In a way, yes it is.

While Alabama is from top to bottom the best college football team in the country, against the Hokies the team looked less than stellar in the 35-10 victory. Outside of Alabama, it’s the Tide and the remaining teams in the SEC.  Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M will stand to make some noise, none of them are as solid, disciplined and stout as the Tide. The college football season is still young, and there is a lot of football left to be played, there is no question that with the Tigers and Hurricanes wins, the ACC sent a message.

For now, all that matters for the SEC is that they still hold the crown as king of college football, but with the ACC’s impressive back-to-back wins over perennial powerhouses such as Florida and Georgia, the ACC made a case for being a challenger for future conference supremacy.

And in perfectly fitting fashion, both conferences will get a chance to settle the score once and for all Nov. 30th when in-state rivals Florida and Florida State meet in The Swamp.

Robert D. Cobb is the Founder/CEO/Senior Editor-In-Chief Of The Inscriber : Digital Magazine, for questions, comments and concerns email me at [email protected] and follow the Inscriber : Digital Magazine on Twitter at @TheInscriber