As two of the many faces of the ACC Network, it seems only fitting that Eric Mac Lain and Wes Durham sound off about the conference’s future. Neither of them has a crystal ball or any idea what the future of the Atlantic Coastal Conference looks like, but they also didn’t probably foresee SMU, Cal, and Stanford jumping on the ship either.
During a recent conversation with Awful Announcing regarding the network’s fifth anniversary, Mac Lain and Durham reflected on the conference’s future and the impact of its recent expansions.
“Well, first of all, I think the ACC did a great job kind of strengthening themselves and gathering new members,” Mac Lain told AA. “Man, you look at the new markets that we’re going to be in now. Dallas has been feasting for college football primetime. Every time that we go there, you’re talking to hundreds of people that are around programs or fans that see us. We did a launch show, and there was 2500 people at this bar that we’re doing a show from. They’re ecstatic and the only reason it was 2500 is we ran out of room. The fire marshal’s hanging out, saying, ‘No, nobody else is allowed in.’ I think the excitement level there is through the roof.
“And then you look at jumping in a state like California, the Bay Area. I mean, my goodness, the potential there for the ACC, for a new audience, for just an expanded reach coast to coast is just tremendous. Nobody has better cities in any league than the ACC. We’ve only strengthened that now, like I said, adding the Bay and Dallas areas.”
“Well, three more schools is just kind of the norm right now, it feels like, right? It feels like everybody is adding somebody,” Durham tells AA. “And I’m excited about the places they’ve added because, in Stanford and Cal, you’re getting schools with better than a century’s worth of incredible history and athletics — both in football and, to a degree, some in basketball. But athletically, as a whole, just look at the medal count at the Olympics, and you’ll see that.
“The part about SMU is that I have great respect for Rick Hart, their athletic director, and I think the job he’s done is to put SMU in the position to make this move. It feels like SMU finally has made the long climb back to get to major college football following the death penalty, which is hard to believe that it was 40 years ago. I’m excited to see what SMU is like in a game night in Dallas. I think they’re excited for football…
“For me, I’m really excited about learning about these programs, and I feel like this is a big part of your job when you do something like this, is not only do you bring people in — hypothetically — to the game you’re gonna see, but you also have to bring them to what the history of the school is, or the history of the program, or how does it become applicable to the broadcast you’re doing. That’s the tricky part you gotta add to it.”
Is there anything Mac Lain looks forward to most with the ACC Network’s coverage for the upcoming college football season? We already have Florida State-Georgia Tech under our belt in a Week 0 thriller, but there’s still more to come.
“Week 1 is gonna be an absolute spread,” he says. “It’s always one of my favorite things, because we’re gonna be with NC State on Thursday (Aug. 29). We’re gonna jet down to Atlanta to be with Clemson-Georgia in the morning. Then, we’ll be at Georgia Tech that night and go down to Tallahassee on Monday (Sept. 2). We’re Just trying to make our coverage as big as possible. Again, the strength that I think the league can have this year is the quality of games, the quality of the overall competition, and just seeing these fans, man. Because truly, the fans make all of this go.
“When we’re out and about, doing our show in various tailgating spots and things of that nature, the energy that we get from them, the support that we get from them, truly helps us take our show to another level. We can’t do it without ’em. And I just can’t wait to see everybody in person really soon here.”
As for Durham, the ACCN’s lead play-by-play voice is eager to follow specific storylines throughout the season, especially in the inaugural year of a new-look conference.
“Well, of the games we have, I think it’s interesting,” Durham explained. “We get Georgia Tech after they play Florida State. We get Clemson after they play Georgia — in the first two weeks. So, how are those teams after their first games, and what does it foretell for the rest of their seasons? I think the league, as I said earlier, is really deep. I’m really interested as a whole to see how the league handles some of the nonconference stuff in the first 3 to 4 weeks. How does it stack up? How does Miami-Florida stack up? How does the Tennessee-NC State game in Charlotte (stack up)?… I think those are all really, really important.
“The other thing, too, is probably not talked about enough. We think we know what this thing looks like in a 12-team Playoff, but do we really know? Do we know how it’s gonna shake out? I mean, I don’t think we do. I think a lot of people want you to believe that they do. But I don’t think we have really any indication. I sense, and this comes from my NFL experience, I sense that we’re gonna get to a point where the final 5 to 6 weeks of the regular season in college football are going to be really, really impactful.
“And to coincide with that, I think the first 3 or 4 weeks are also going to be really impactful. Not only is it the longest college football season of the year, as we’ve heard, but I think it could be the start of what we know as the new world of college football. We talked about it with realignment and things like that in the past, but we got down to the old BCS or the 4-team CFP. Now, we’re going to 12 teams — and everybody’s got a stick in the game here.”
As the ACC enters this new era, Mac Lain and Durham’s insights offer a glimpse into the conference’s potential. While the recent additions of SMU, Cal and Stanford have undoubtedly strengthened the ACC’s geographic reach and athletic pedigree, the true test will be how these new members integrate into the conference’s competitive landscape.
The upcoming season—starting with Week 1—will provide a crucial opportunity to assess the impact of these changes and determine whether the ACC has positioned itself for long-term success in the evolving landscape of college football.
