The ACC and SEC didn’t set out to create a season-ending, four-team rivalry challenge, but that’s what we ended up with.
The combined records in the 4 ACC-SEC football rivalries are closer than you might think
Another example of the ACC being a better football conference than it gets credit for.
Between Clemson-South Carolina, Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, and Kentucky-Louisville, the leagues share far more traditional cross-conference Thanksgiving rivalries than any other pair of conferences. (Notre Dame-USC and Utah State-BYU are the only other two non-conference rivalries being played this Rivalry Week, and both of those involve independents.)
It’s unique, and it’s just the way things worked out over the years. The Carolina teams were both in the ACC together at one point, and the Georgia teams were both in the SEC for a long time, but now we’ve got a side dish of conference bragging rights alongside the main dishes.
Georgia Tech started ACC play in 1983, FSU and South Carolina joined their respective leagues for the 1992 season, and Louisville just rolled up to the ACC a couple years ago.
| Wins since both teams joined their current conferences | ||||
| Since 1992 | Clemson | 14 | South Carolina | 10 |
| Since 1992 | Florida State | 14 | Florida | 11 |
| Since 1983 | Georgia Tech | 9 | Georgia | 24 |
| Since 2014 | Louisville | 2 | Kentucky | 0 |
| ACC | 39 | SEC | 45 | |
The all-time win totals aren’t that far apart either.
| All-time wins | ||||
| Clemson | 67 | South Carolina | 42 | |
| Florida State | 24 | Florida | 34 | |
| Georgia Tech | 40 | Georgia | 65 | |
| Louisville | 14 | Kentucky | 14 | |
| ACC | 145 | SEC | 155 | |
The Palmetto Bowl is the one of these four in which the ACC team is the inarguably superior program. The Tigers also boast more national titles (one to zero), a better all-time winning percentage against all opponents, more all-time wins, and are likely to make their fourth major bowl in the last six years.
Florida as a program had a huge head start over FSU, which didn’t start playing football until 1950. The former Florida State College for Women wouldn’t beat the Gators until 1964, but the Noles are currently on a three-year streak. The two have three national titles each, within the last 23 years.
Tech claims more all-time national titles than UGA (four to two), but the Jackets plunged into a few decades of sadness while leaving the SEC in 1963.
UK leads the Cardinals-Wildcats series in the sport that matters more in that particular state.
These four games, plus the ACC’s partnership with Notre Dame, are part of the reason the two leagues are both sticking with eight-game conference schedules as other conferences move to nine.
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