wow ACC

What a weekend of college football! I am so glad there is some quality sports to watch on TV now. The summer drags on, especially when you are a Cincinnati Reds fan. While this was a great weekend with college football starting back up, the ACC took another nation wide respectability hit as the conference got off to a horrible start. Two ACC teams lost to 1-AA teams (now FCS) and no ACC team won any game of note.

NC STATE 3, SOUTH CAROLINA 7

In an offensive shootout, the Wolfpack came up just short. State was able to muster 133 yards of offense and one whole field goal. In a nationally televised game with football fans from all over the country watching just because football was finally back, the ACC laid its first egg of the weekend in a game that any halfway decent team would have beat SC as they played poorly as well.

WAKE FOREST 21, BAYLOR 24

Another chance for the ACC to get at least something of a statement win over a BIG XII team and another loss. Wake played horribly for most of the game, as it really was not as close as the score indicated. Usually reliable QB Riley Skinner threw three picks and Wake could not contain Baylor QB Robert Griffin. Wake is supposed to be a middle of the road ACC team as is Baylor in the BIG XII and the Big 12 proved superior again.

UNC, BOSTON COLLEGE, and GEORGIA TECH all won their games by scores of 40-6, 54-0, and 37-17 respectively, but they were all against I-AA opponents. While these are obviously not marquee wins, at least these teams did their jobs and won openers against overmatched opponents.

DUKE 16, RICHMOND 24

Richmond is the defending FCS national champion and did return 16 starters, but this still should have been a win for the Blue Devils. The only bright spot for Duke was QB Thad Lewis, who threw for 350 yards and 2 TDs. Duke was awful on special teams, couldn't stop the run consistently at all, and could muster no running game of their own against a team they should have been bigger, faster, and stronger than (only 19 rushing yards). Any time a BCS conference has a team that loses to a FCS team it is a serious blow to the conference.

VIRGINIA 14, WILLIAM & MARY 27

This was by far the worst game of the weekend for the ACC. William and Mary is not even considered to be a good FCS team and was not predicted to have a good year in their own division. Virginia, while not supposed to have a good year, is still an ACC Division I-A football team and should NEVER NEVER NEVER lose to an FCS team, especially not one that probably won't even make the playoffs in their own division. Horrible loss for UVA as well as the ACC (and it really wasn't even all that close!) This is the type of game that will probably cost Al Groh his job.

CLEMSON 37, MID TENN. ST. 14

I wouldn't even write anything about this game as this was an easy opener for the Tigers, but unfortunately Clemson was the only team to beat another I-A football team this weekend. That is really pathetic when you read that statement (the ACC had more losses against FCS teams than it did wins against FBS teams). Even though Clemson won fairly easily, they still have a dicey quarterback situation and need to get that ironed out before ACC play rolls around (or maybe not when you look at the rest of the conference). At least the ACC got one win.

VIRGINIA TECH 24, ALABAMA 34

This game was not as close as the score. Alabama had 3x as many yards as Va. Tech and really controlled the game for the most part. Virginia Tech did play hard and Beamer always has his team prepared, but they were no match athletically for a quality SEC team. The ACC desperately needed this win or at least a great game and we did not even come close. Anyone watching that game could tell quickly who was the more superior team.

The ACC went 4-6 (CAL beat Maryland by 50 points in the other ACC game) on opening weekend and had two horrible losses and no quality wins. For a conference desperate for credibility this weekend was a disaster and the exact opposite of what the conference was looking for. Hopefully the rest of the year will be much better than this weekend or it won't be long before ACC fans will be asking, "how much longer until basketball season?"