Another ACC/Big Ten (eleven???) challenge

The ACC/Big 10 (even though they have eleven teams) challenge cranks up again on Monday night. The series features eleven games and the ACC is undefeated in this challenge. However, the Big 10 probably has their best chance yet to win this year and should definitely at least make it interesting.

Monday

Penn St. at Virginia (ESPN2): Penn St. doesn't appear to be strong this year which should provide UVA and first year coach Tony Bennett with a good opportunity to get the ACC a quick 1-0 lead. These two teams are two of the worst respectively in their leagues so I will give the edge to Virginia since they are at home

ACC 1-0

Tuesday

Wake Forest at Purdue (ESPN): Purdue has lived up to their preseason billing thus far this year. They looked great against Tennessee and should continue to be a player in the Big 1o race. Wake has some talent, but not as much as Purdue. I also am still not completely sold on Gaudio as a head coach. Purdue wins this one, perhaps going away down the stretch.

1-1

Northwestern at NC State (ESPNU): NC State was picked to finish last in the ACC this year and thus far have been a surprise. Tracy Smith is a legit all-ACC type player and State will go as far as he can take them. Northwestern usually isn't expected to do much in basketball and they aren't again this year. They did have an impressive win over Notre Dame. NC State gets the slight edge at home.

ACC 2-1

Maryland at Indiana (ESPN2): If the team picked to finish third in the ACC can't beat a better but still rebuilding Indiana team under second year coach Tom Crean then the ACC is doomed in this challenge.

ACC 3-1

Michigan St. at UNC (ESPN): UNC has had Michigan St.'s number recently. Michigan St. was picked to be one of the best teams in the country this year with almost their entire team coming back from a national championship run a year ago. They lost a bad game to Florida last week but other than that have been OK. UNC is in rebuilding mode this year and shouldn't win this game but with national TV, a home game, and a team that they should have confidence against you never know. I still will go with Michigan St. and their experience and revenge factor (but it will be close and could go either way).

ACC 3-2

Virginia Tech at Iowa (ESPN2): Iowa is TERRIBLE. Their program has really fallen apart. Virginia Tech will not be good this year in the ACC but they should beat Iowa.

ACC 4-2

Wednesday

Illinois at Clemson (ESPN): Illinois doesn't look to be very good this year (have lost their last two games to Utah and Bradley). They were ranked in the preseason top 25 however and these games could have been nothing more than early season slips. Clemson should be a contender in the ACC race and are always tough with their press. Clemson has a good home court advantage. Illinois is well coached but I don't think they have the talent to hang with the Tigers for 40 minutes at the pace that Clemson will want to play.

ACC 5-2

Minnesota at Miami (ESPNU): Minnesota has continued its rise under second year coach Tubby Smith (formerly Kentucky's coach). They have lost twice but both were to good teams. Miami has had a solid start to the year (perhaps somewhat surprising) and might be better than advertised. However, in a game with teams with similar talent I will give the coaching edge (by a wide margin) to Tubby over Frank Haith. Every time I watch Miami play they seem to do something extremely confusing. Minnesota gets a road win for the Big 10.

ACC 5-3

Boston College at Michigan (ESPN2): Michigan may have been slightly overrated (preseason #15) but are still a solid team under John Beilein. Boston College has early season losses to Northern Iowa and St. Joseph's. They are also missing their best player, Rakim Sanders. Michigan wins at home.

ACC 5-4

Duke at Wisconsin (ESPN): Wisconsin is always a solid team and well coached. They also have a great home court advantage and anytime Duke goes anywhere on the road the crowd will be raucous (see Purdue last year in the challenge). Duke is the best team in the ACC right now. They don't appear to have the weakness of previous years (no inside play) and as long as their guards stay healthy they are a final four type team. Wisconsin will make Duke grind it out and play slow but Duke is comfortable with that and wins a good game.

ACC 6-4

Florida St. at Ohio St. (ESPN2): Ohio St. should win this game playing at home. They have a deep team with good frontline talent, led by Evan Turner. FSU had a bad loss to Florida but has had some quality wins as well. This game might be closer than some think but Ohio St. wins.

ACC wins challenge 6-5.

This could be a closer year but the ACC still wins and keeps the streak alive.

ACC Football With One Week to Go

Most of the ACC football teams have one week remaining before bowls for those teams that qualify. The ACC championship game is set. Clemson, winner of the Atlantic, will take on #7 Georgia Tech, winner of the coastal and currently sitting at 10-1. The ACC Championship game should be good as these two teams played a great game earlier in the year with the Yellow Jackets coming through late.

The only teams that will not be bowl eligible are Maryland, Virginia, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest. One of these teams, if they get to 6-6, could petition for a bowl spot from the ACC if the conference does not have enough bowl eligible teams at the end of the year. The likelihood is that spot would go to another automatic qualifier from another conference.

The last games for most teams could be interesting....

UNC plays NC State in their annual rivalry game. Since the arrival of Tom O'Brien at State and Butch Davis at UNC, NC State has owned the rivalry. They have won the past two games (when most people thought UNC was the more talented team) and last year won by 31, winning 41-10. This year would appear to be different. UNC has won four straight games with their defense being great to sometimes dominant in all of these games. UNC is sitting at 8-3 and will go bowling no matter the result here, but could get a fairly big bowl invite with a win and a 9-3 final record. State, on the other hand, has had an extremely disappointing year. This was supposed to be the breakout year for State as they returned the ACC offensive rookie of the year in Russell Wilson, as well as almost all of their skill players on offense. State also returned a decent amount on defense, most notably Nate Irving, probably the best LB in the ACC last year. It has not panned out. The defense was killed by injuries and some of the most porous secondary play I have ever seen. The offense has scored, but has been forced to try too much at times to keep up in scoring battles with other teams. My gut tells me that State has kind of packed it in this year (lost last week at VT 38-10) and UNC is on a roll. UNC SHOULD win this game fairly comfortably. However, O'Brien has made a huge deal about rivalry games and has been good in them so far. State can score points and UNC's biggest flaw this year has been a lack of production from TJ Yates and the UNC offense. Still, someone would have to be crazy to pick State to win this game at this point. Stranger things have happened though I suppose.

Duke plays Wake in the private school bowl. Wake has had a sub-par year for them under Jim Grobe, sitting at 4-7 and not bowl eligible. Duke, under second year coach David Cutcliffe, has continued their rise back towards respectability. After going 4-8 in year one and being close in a bunch of those close losses, they sit at 5-6 in year two with a chance to finish a year at .500 or better for the first time since 1994. While they are not bowl eligible with the win (their win of NCCU does not count towards the six wins necessary) this would be a big step for Duke with regards to recruiting, national perception, and so many other things. Simply, Duke will probably need/want this game a little more than the Deacs. Wake has turned into a GOOD program under Grobe but they lost too much last year to the NFL to be able to have a great year this year. Wake is now a good football team, but they are still Wake in that they can't simply replace great talent with other great talent like national powerhouses around the country. They are always going to have years (much like Duke) where they aren't going to be perfect. This should be a good game though and one probably worth watching as two senior QBs (and two of the best in history at their respective schools) play their final games.

Florida State takes on Florida in their annual heated rivalry game. Florida has dominated the series (and college football) recently and should, as long as they aren't looking ahead to 'Bama in the SEC Championship game, win comfortably. FSU has been bad on defense, good on offense, and consistently inconsistent. They sit at 6-5 and will go to a bowl game but an upset here would improve their bowl position and be a start to regaining their standing nationally. Florida is just too good though. Their defense will have the speed to match FSU on offense and be able to slow down what has been a productive offense under coordinator and head coach to be Jimbo Fisher. Their offense will also be the most athletic, fastest offense FSU has seen all year and that is trouble. FSU has been giving up points at a record rate for them and I don't see any reason that won't continue. Florida by at least 3 TDs.

Clemson, fresh off earning their first ACC Championship game appearance under second year coach Dabo Swinney, plays South Carolina in their annual rivalry game. Clemson is red hot, winners of their last six games. CJ Spiller and the Clemson offense have been phenomenal during this stretch. They have scored at least 34 points in all six games (and over 40 in four of them). South Carolina got off to another good start under Spurrier at 5-2. They have been 1-3 since and are 6-5. Clemson killed South Carolina last year and the Gamecocks will be looking for revenge. Clemson, however, is simply the better team. Too much speed on offense and a defense capable of confusing Stephen Garcia. Clemson wins this game.

Georgia Tech takes on archrival Georgia. Georgia has been the better team for most of the past twenty years, but not since the arrival of Paul Johnson. Johnson simply wins games and this year is no different. He has the Yellow Jackets at 10-1 and number seven in the BCS Standings. Georgia is probably having their worst year under Mark Richt. They have been inconsistent and really bad on defense at times. That spells bad news for this one. Georgia Tech continues putting up gaudy numbers weekly running the football. They are second in the country in rushing yards per game and #12 in total offense. Georgia is having such a bad year by their standards that there has been rumblings of Richt losing his job. While I think that would be crazy (he has had a GREAT career there and this is just one minor slip in my opinion), a loss to Tech for the second straight year certainly would not help him. Georgia has been able to score at times and GT's defense has not been stellar, but GT will probably win this one in a shootout.

Virginia Tech and Virginia play their annual rivalry game. This won't be close. Al Groh is probably coaching his final game for the Cavaliers and while this could get his guys to play slightly more inspired football, they just aren't very good. VT is very good even if they didn't have quite the year they wanted. VT is looking to lock up a probable gator bowl appearance and should do so fairly easily.

Harrison Barnes Announces Today

Harrison Barnes, the number one ranked player in the basketball class of 2010, announces today at 4:oo on ESPNU. The six finalists are Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Oklahoma, and Iowa State.

This has particular interest in ACC land as the most common consensus (though it could be very wrong; Barnes has been tight lipped about the whole process) is that it is down to Duke and UNC. Whichever program lands Barnes signs one of the best prospects in recent memory and one that has an already legendary work ethic. Barnes is most known around his high school for his 6 am conditioning workouts before he goes to school each and every day. Not bad for a high school senior that is already more talented than everyone else on the court.

If Duke signs Barnes they appear ready for another national championship run. With the signing of Kyrie Irving last week as their point guard of the future, getting Barnes would be the final piece of their puzzle going with the inside presence they have signed the past couple of classes. Simply put, if Duke DIDN'T win a national championship with Barnes (unless he is a one and done guy, which most think he is not) it would have to be considered at least a minor disappointment. That is how good this kid is.

If UNC lands Barnes it would be another huge signing for the Heels and a great piece for them getting Roy Williams his third ring in six or seven years. While this would not be as program defining for them as for Duke as Duke has slipped just a bit in recent years, it would be a huge commitment none the less. Roy Williams has been having great success on the recruiting trail since his arrival in Chapel Hill and getting Barnes would just help the steam engine to keep rolling down the tracks. However, Barnes would be the best player he would have signed in his five years in Chapel Hill and that is saying something.

Wherever he ends up will be huge for whatever program it is. If he does end up in ACC country the battles between the Blue Devils and Tar Heels will certainly be interesting over the next 2-3 years.

Should Spikes be Suspended?

Brandon Spikes of Florida was caught on camera in Saturdays game against Georgia poking at another players eye in a pile fighting for a fumble.

Is this a part of the game or should he be suspended more than just one half of the next game?

The Georgia player who got his eye poked by Spikes says he shouldn't be suspended but many fans are saying the suspension is a joke (way too short).

What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cISxU8Crulw