The ACC vs SEC record

[skrayper77]

Everyone here has seen the tired, retread talking point that the ACC has a winning record against the SEC.

I was curious exactly how that broke down and found some interesting tidbits:

The ACC has a 6-4 record against the SEC.
3 of those 6 wins came against Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
Those two teams are 3-13 in the SEC.
Another of those wins came against Florida, who is 3-5 in SEC play (same as South Carolina).
Another was against 4-4 Texas A&M.

In fact, only one win came against a team with a winning record in conference play:
Florida State's win over LSU.

The 4 wins over the ACC, OTOH, came against three teams with winning records in conference play:
Kentucky beat Louisville (#2 overall ACC) (7-1)
Georgia beat Georgia Tech (#4 overall ACC) (5-3)
Ole Miss beat Georgia Tech (5-3)

And Tennessee beat UVA, but UVA is very bad.

So the #2 and #4 ACC teams went 0-3 vs the SEC, while the ACC claims wins over the #3 and #4 SEC West teams. You could make the argument that LSU is the #4 team overall (having the head-to-head over Missouri, but lost to Ole Miss), while A&M is#7 in the conference (lost the head-to-head to Tennessee, otherwise both teams are 4-4).

Or, more to the point:

The 6 wins by ACC teams are over SEC teams with a combined 19 SEC wins; the 4 wins by SEC teams are over ACC teams with a combined 19 wins. The average # of conference wins for an SEC team that lost is 3.2; the average # of conference wins for an ACC team that lost is 4.8.

The SEC played two teams from the bottom 4 of the ACC; the ACC played 4 games against the bottom 4 of the SEC.

 

[Special K]

Exactly. Essentially, the sample size is way too small to draw any firm conclusions simply from the overall record.

 

[bamagradinATL]

Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The bottom of the barrel and they’re using that to thump their chest.

Alabama & Georgia would demolish the top 2 teams in the ACC.

 

[KrAzY3]

Basically this is like saying so and so has this record against the top 25. You have to analyze it a bit more. You say FSU was 3-0 against the top 25 and Alabama was 4-1.

Then you look at who they actually played...

Alabama:
#3 L
#6: W
#11: W
#13: W
#21: W

Ok, so that's 4-1 against the top 25.

Now, let's check FSU:
#13: W (mutual opponent)
#15: W (beaten by Kentucky)
#22: W

So, when you see 4-1 compared to 3-0, some might go oh it's better to be undefeated! But there's just no comparison between those two lists! Alabama played a team better than #15, that was 3-5 in SEC play, Alabama played 3, 6, and 11, all higher ranked than anyone FSU played. Their resumes are so vastly different than you can't really compare them, it's basically like trying to explain why Liberty should be ranked higher than FSU.

 

[mrusso]

Ya'll should be ashamed! Ruining a narrative by bringing facts into the conversation. Who does that?!