North Carolina State provided the fifth ACC victory with a win over Penn State Wednesday night. In analyzing the idea of the inter-conference matchup, many positive aspects can be found. But there are also some glaring problems with the Challenge in its current format. Sexy games between top-10 teams. Sure enough, the Illini and Blue Devils delivered a high-quality game with a thrilling finish.
Coaches get a better handle of where their team stands.
It can be assumed that, if teams were not obligated to play a Challenge game, that schedule slot would be filled with a cupcake. Even if you are playing the worst team the Big Ten has to offer, you're still going to get a better game than Wofford or Wagner or Western Washington would give you. You better believe it. The fans love it, for the most part. Iowa, Virginia and Michigan State scored sellouts for Challenge games.