Durham on the ACC: 'I think it's gonna be one of the better products nationally'
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On the history of the ACC Kickoff:
"I hadn't thought about that. This is 2023, so this would be 28 years of coming to this. Yeah, because I started '95. I haven't been to every one. I laid off a few years, then when I started doing some day-to-day radio in Atlanta I came more consistently. When I went to TV and left Georgia Tech, I came every year. It's changed a lot. It used to be three days with nine teams, and there was golf involved. There was one day we were all here, and nobody did this. One year, we did golf in the morning, and two or three schools in the afternoon. A coach would show up, and a coach would stay for three days. In fact, when I first went in '95 they would bring their whole staffs and ADs would be there."
On being named play-by-play man for ACC Primetime Football:
"Yeah, I'm excited. I'm honored-- humbled to a degree. It's a goal where I came in and was fortunate to start with the network on the ground floor with Packer and I doing the show. Then I was doing games, and when I went to games full time last year, one of my goals was ultimately, could I move up the chartin football. That happened a little bit last year, and now I'm just thrilled to join Tim Hasselbeck. Taylor Tannenbaum is coming over to do sidelines with us because Kelsey (Riggs) is taken on the host of The Huddle role, which is great for her and great for Taylor."
On what ACC Primetime Football brings the league:
"More excitement for me also being a part of having a large production on site for those Saturday night games. We'll be in Clemson in week three for the Florida Atlantic game. We'll have ACC Huddle there, ACC PM will be there on Friday. It'd be great to have those guys in the stadium at the rim of Frank Howard Field, to be a part of the environment that night. It'll be fun to be there for our game and our game broadcast, but also to be with these guys. It really creates a camaraderie that we quite haven't been able to achieve, in all honesty, with ACC Network. I think the the effort of the institutions and the effort of ESPN and ACC to get all this done, I think is really, really been good. I'm excited to be on the ground for the bigger show now traveling."
On the ACC in 2023:
"I think it's gonna be pretty good. I think it's gonna be one of the better products nationally, but we're gonna have to prove it as the year goes on. It's really going to have to happen through the month of September. A lot of important games: Florida State-LSU, Texas A&M-Miami, Carolina-South Carolina, and I can say that, and I will say that, Carolina-South Carolina in Charlotte. Well, 49 states and the District of Columbia, Lawton, Where's Carolina? Chapel Hill. So that was my old man's line. I can't take credit for that one.”
“I look at the first month as being really important to the national narrative of the ACC. I think the division walls coming down gives the ACC a chance to create compelling football in every month of the regular season. If it goes the right way, September to October, then November could be really one of the more unique seasons the ACC has had in a long time. Where almost every weekend, you're gonna have value games. In reality, what that does nationally, it creates-- let's just dream here for a minute-- could you get four in the Top 11 going into November, you've given yourself a chance for multiple teams. You're getting one in the playoff and you may get multiple teams in the CFP in the new year six behind them. That's a big deal. You get the champion, an at-large, and maybe another one thrown in there.”
“There's a two-part piece to this too. If it goes well this year, you're going to be present of mind going into the expanded field. I am of the belief that you've got to get back into the final four this year for sure. I think that helps move you in terms of reputability into what next year is with the expansion because the expanded field is not that complicated. You're still playing for the four because you get the bye. Then the plugins behind it are at large, at large, and then guaranteed spot, guaranteed spot, guaranteed spot. That's kind of how the whole back end works. So, in reality, the ACC needs to create as much ammunition in the front as they can. Hopefully, they can do that this year and Clemson and Florida State need to be brands. Hey Miami, now would be a good time. By the way, NC State, now would be a good time, Carolina, now would be a good time, right?”
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