How Does Stanford Fit into the ACC?

On Friday morning, multiple sports outlets reported that California and Stanford were leaving the Pac-12 to join the ACC, along with SMU. From a wrestling standpoint, Stanford is the school we’re paying attention to, since neither of the two other new additions sponsor wrestling. 

So, how does an ACC that includes Stanford look? How does Stanford look compared with the existing members of the league? 

For now, let's take the giant elephant in the room which is the location of the ACC opposed to Stanford and set it aside. The ACC has some excellent academic institutions. Some that are very close to Stanford’s league. The league has been on the rise for most of the last decade-plus and adds a Stanford team that has been strong, but could be on the upswing, too. 

Stanford has had an All-American in each of the last three years, two of which featured multiple All-Americans. The 2020 season netted a pair of First Team NWCA All-Americans and a second-teamer. 

Since 2019, Stanford has sent 28 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. Eight Cardinal wrestlers have claimed Pac-12 titles. 

Today, we’re looking at some recent results to see how Stanford has fared against the ACC. Not only are we weighing the Cardinal against the rest of the conference on the mat, but also the recruiting trail. 

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