ACC Football Season Officially Over

With Georgia Tech losing ANOTHER BCS game for the ACC tonight to Iowa, another bowl season has wrapped up for the conference. It was yet another fairly disappointing year as the ACC still cannot get over that hurdle and make the jump to becoming a very good/elite football conference.

The only real quality win for the ACC came from Virginia Tech, as they dismantled Tennessee in the Chick-Fil-A bowl on New Years Eve. Thank you Virginia Tech for being the one constant in this conference. Even if you are not usually quite good enough to be a national title contender, you are always solid and represent the conference well. Without you the past five years this conference would have been no better than the MAC or Sun Belt.

You could make a case for FSU also getting a quality win for the conference (beating West Virginia in the Gator Bowl in Bobby Bowden's last game) but FSU has more talent than WVU, even if their record didn't show it this year. But I would give this at least half a point on the quality win scale (from 0 to 1).

The worst loss has to go to Georgia Tech. They are the ACC champs, 10-2 on the year going into the Orange Bowl, and a favorite in the game. This was a prime chance for them, as well as the conference as a whole, to make a statement. Iowa was the second place team in a WEAK Big 10 this year and should have no business beating the ACC champs. However, they actually dominated the game and the score should not have been as close as it was. This is two years in a row that GT has looked awful in a bowl game when their opponent has a month to prepare for their option offense. Not a good sign for Paul Johnson and the Yellow Jacket fans.

Overall, the ACC went 3-4 in bowls this season. While not the worst year they have ever had, it certainly doesn't help the national perception of this conference in football. FSU looks to be on the rise (a rash of 5* recruits have committed since Fisher took over after the bowl), Clemson should continue to be good, VT is always there, and GT looks like it will be a force in the conference. For the national perception to change any though the ACC needs to have a national title contender in the conference and two or three other teams hovering around the 10 win mark. Until that happens (and the ACC wins some big bowl games for goodness sake) it will still be looked at as a second rate football conference, behind the SEC, Big XII, PAC 10, and Big 10.

ACC Bowl Season Kicks Off Today

The first two bowl games featuring ACC teams kick-off today as UNC plays Pittsburgh in the Meineke Car Car Bowl and tonight Boston College takes on traditional national power Southern Cal in the Emerald Bowl.

UNC continued to improve under Butch Davis in his third year, going 8-4. Their year ended on a sour note and ruined a chance at a ten win year, losing to rival NC State 28-27. This was still another step in the right direction for Davis and the UNC program though. Their opponent in their second straight car care bowl is Pittsburgh from the Big East. Pitt also lost to NC State earlier in the year. Pitt finished the year 9-3, losing their last two ball games to West Virginia and Cincinnati. Both were very close however, and it could be argued that Pitt was 3 or 4 plays away from going undefeated. On paper, this looks like a good match-up. UNC has a very good defense with lots of speed. Pitt features a balanced offensive attack led by true freshman running back Dion Lewis and his 1600 yards and 16 TDs. Pitt comes into the game as a 3 point favorite.

I look for Pitt to be able to control the line of scrimmage and be able to run the ball against UNC. UNC's offense has struggled many times this year but has done enough to help the defense get eight wins. In the end I just think Pitt has a little more across the board (especially offensively) and will win a close game.

The Emerald Bowl is an interesting match-up. This is a great opportunity for Boston College to get to play a national powerhouse on national TV. USC did not have a typical year for them over the past decade but they still have a ton of talent. Boston College continued their run of extremely consistent football over the past 15 years, this time under first year coach Frank Spaziani. They went 8-4 (the same record as USC) and made their fourteenth straight bowl game. USC will be led by running back Joe McKnight (if he is allowed to play) and Damian Williams at wide receiver. The USC defense, usually one of the fastest and best in the country, has been shredded this year. They lost a ton of playmakers (eight starters) from last years' Rose Bowl team and it showed.

On paper, this looks like a blowout. USC has more four star players (ratings coming out of high school) than BC does three star players. However, USC is young and raw at many positions (QB and on defense) and has not been "USC" this year. USC comes in as a touchdown favorite. BC did not play any team close to the overall talent level of USC this year. If it overwhelms them (even though it is young talent) this game could get a little ugly. USC has not scored enough points this year to blow teams out, and they have given up too much on defense, but they are the better team in this one. I look for USC to win fairly comfortably with BC playing tough but just not quite having the talent necessary to hang with the Trojans.

ACC Loses Challenge for First TIme

For the first time in the eleven year history of the ACC/Big 10 challenge, the Big Ten was able to win the inter-conference matches. The swing game was the Duke vs. Wisconsin game as this one was close throughout and it became apparent that whomever won this game would decide which conference won. Duke never led but never got far behind but was unable to close down the stretch.

Monday the Big 10 won the only game of the challenge with Penn St. beating Virginia. I thought Virginia would win this game but Penn St. had the home court advantage. It can also be noted that Virginia is even worse than I thought they would be and probably won't win very many games this year. First year coach Tony Bennett has his work cut out for him. My prediction 0-1.

TUESDAY

Purdue beat Wake Forest fairly easily to give the Big 10 a 2-0 lead. Purdue was the better, more experienced team and it showed; especially in the second half. Wake has some talent (Aminu and Smith) but not enough to beat a good Big 10 team on the road. My prediction 1-1.

Northwestern beat NC State to give the Big 10 a 3-0 lead. NC State really only has one player on the court most of the time that is ACC caliber (Tracy Smith). Cases could be made for Javi Gonzalez and maybe freshman Scott Wood but other than these few guys State has a lack of overall talent. They will struggle throughout the year to score the basketball and need to defend better than they did on Tuesday if they want to win very many games. A fairly unathletic Northwestern team manhandled NC State for most of the night. My prediction 1-2.

Virginia Tech beat Iowa to scratch the board for the ACC, making it 3-1. Virginia Tech is led by Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney this year and they will try and ride them to as many victories as they can get them. Iowa is a bad team and VT should have won this game. My prediction 2-2.

Maryland beat Indiana at Assembly Hall to make it 3-2 Big 10. Indiana is still in a rebuilding mode but played hard against Williams' bunch. Maryland, in the end, had the best player on the court (Vasquez) and he led them down the stretch and finished with 23 points. My prediction 3-2.

UNC beat Michigan St. to even the Challenge to 3-3 with one night remaining. Michigan St. was punched in the mouth early and never could recover. Despite a valiant second half run, UNC had built too big a halftime lead (16). Ed Davis played outstanding and UNC got their first good game from their guards, especially Larry Drew. UNC has great talent and if they can get it to all come together could make a nice run later this year. My prediction 3-3.

WEDNESDAY

Illinois made a furious run in the second half to come back from 24 down to win at Littlejohn Coliseum. This made the challenge 4-3 Big Ten. Clemson just collapsed. No other way to describe it. In my opinion, they need to quit pressing at times when they get a big lead. The press allows them to get a big lead but teams get used to seeing it over the course of an entire game. I think it allows teams to make runs on them because they can get so many easy baskets. Clemson really should have won this game and it would have given the ACC the challenge. My prediction 3-4.

Miami beat Minnesota, in what many considered to be a mild upset, to even the challenge at 4-4. Miami made the plays down the stretch in what was a close game throughout. Miami might be slightly underrated this year and could be a bit of a surprise in the ACC. My prediction 3-5.

Boston College beat Michigan to give the ACC a 5-4 lead with two games to go. Michigan was obviously overrated this preseason (#15) as their record now sits at 3-3. Boston College is always fundamentally sound under Al Skinner and won this early season game without their best player form a year ago Tyrese Rice (adjusting pretty well to not having him in the line-up). My prediction 3-6.

Wisconsin beat Duke in the major swing game of the challenge to make it 5-5. Duke got down early and never made it all the way back. They never got too far behind but could never get over the hump. Kyle Singler kept Duke in the game in the first half and freshman Andre Dawkins hit 4 second half threes to almost bring Duke back. In the end Trevon Hughes was too much for Duke and Bo Ryan improved his home record at Wisconsin to 111-10 in his nine years. My prediction 3-7.

Ohio St. was the more talented team and it showed as they handily beat FSU to clinch the challenge for the Big Ten. Evan Turner is an NBA prospect and FSU had no answer for him. BIG TEN won this game and the challenge for the first time 6-5. My prediction 4-7.

The two things I learned most from this challenge were: The ACC is down this year overall. This conference lost a lot of talent from a year ago and it showed in this competition. And number two, my horrible record for picking games continues. I picked 4 right and 7 wrong. Pathetic.

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