Another week…more knowledge…

For my ranking of the ACC 1-12, check OTB’s ACC Power Poll and now on to the show…

Week 8 of ACC Games and What Knowledge We’ve Gained

Another week and the contender pool shrinks…here are the current ACC standings:

ATLANTIC DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Boston College	3-2	.600	6-3	.667
Clemson	3-2	.600	5-3	.625
Florida State	2-3	.400	4-4	.500
Wake Forest	2-3	.400	4-5	.444
Maryland	1-3	.250	2-6	.250
NC State	0-4	.000	3-5	.375
COASTAL DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Georgia Tech	5-1	.833	8-1	.889
Duke	3-1	.750	5-3	.625
Miami	3-2	.600	6-2	.750
Virginia Tech	3-2	.600	5-3	.625
Virginia	2-2	.500	3-5	.375
North Carolina	1-3	.250	5-3	.625

(Graphic per TheACC)

ACC Coastal Champ: Georgia Tech

I’m stepping it up this week with the champion instead of a list of contenders and Georgia Tech takes the Coastal. They cannot play defense, but the offense is just mesmerizing. The Jackets would have had over 600 total yards if they did not take a couple knees at the end of the Vanderbilt game. Their offense is bruising and wearing opponents down with so many quality options to run the football with. Maybe, they do not even need a defense to win the ACC, but still a little football to go.

ACC Atlantic Champ: Clemson

The one thing I try not to be is jaded by teams that frequently made me look rather dumb. Clemson, is one of those teams. I picked them to win the ACC in 2007 and 2008 and was oh-so-close to being right. There is a different mentality with this Tigers’ team this year. I could see on the sidelines with these Tigers. There is no way that a team playing this well should lose to Florida State at home, NC State on the road, or their final ACC date with Virginia at home. Watch for Spiller and Ford to have outstanding games against FSU coming up if the Tigers use the tight end as effectively as they did against Miami Saturday.

Zone Blitzes

>NC State and Florida State provided another ACC offensive classic and defensive catastrophe in a 45-42 ‘Noles win. FSU cannot put this much pressure on their QB Ponder to win games for them. It will come back to bite them and will start with Clemson this week if they do not fix some things. As for NC State, who would have thought they would be win-less in the ACC going into November? And next week’s game with Maryland could be the only win left on their schedule. The difference between FSU and NC State is that the ‘Noles have the better QB who is able to pull out the tough games. Wilson is a talent, but is still developing.

>Duke Blue Devils football is relevant in November. Duke Blue Devils football has a better shot at the Coastal than Virginia Tech right now. The superlatives abound when you talk about Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis as he would engineer the key game-winning drive down by 5 with under 5 minutes to go. They just have to split their final four games to get to a bowl now.

>Virginia Tech is not Virginia Tech…atleast not at this point in the season. The Hokies have blown a tire going into the final turn of this ACC season and are basically done unless they enter a tiebreak with Miami for the Coastal. It was really a complete team failure as the Hokies could not move the ball effectively enough and the defense could not stop an offense that had been poor all season. Where the Hokies go from here is interesting because they really have not been in this situation in a while.

>Miami is not dead yet. They struggled through 3 quarters and into the 4th, but a key forced turnover and some great catches by the Canes wide receivers would be the difference in a one point ACC road win over Wake Forest. Miami just needs to take care of business down the stretch and they are in the hunt for the ACC if GT stumbles–also, they have BCS bowl aspirations still alive.

>UNC’s offense is improving and the Heels are with them. North Carolina is having to run all kinds of funky plays/formations, but they are better and that is all that matters. The Tar Heels are having to mask a lack of an effective traditional offense by adopting misdirection plays to keep the defense off-balance. They enter probably the biggest UNC-Duke football game in decades this Saturday as UNC needs the win to go for bowl elgiblity while Duke could stay in the hunt for the Coastal with a victory.

>Al Groh is toast. He was pretty much fired in September behind the scenes in Charlottesville and this loss wiped away all momentum he gained with the quick 2-0 start in October.

>Jim Grobe is not Jim Grobe. Wake Forest is a shell of what they were a couple years ago, but that just comes from Grobe setting our unrealistic expectations of them. He has done a masterful job at Wake, but the gaps of talent and consistency are starting to show now.

What have you gained from this week’s slate of ACC games? It is getting to crunch time in the ACC and we will see who can keep it together.

Tags: ACC Football, Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Miami Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack, North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pm and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.