ACC Football Round Up

Last night, Maryland beat Virginia, 27-17. When one looks
back on this season, Virginia has to be considered one of the bigger
disappointments, early on they were expected to contend for the
ACC's BCS bid, but now they're not even bowl eligible.

Indeed,
this has been a down year for a down conference, not only are none
of the present ACC teams likely to play for the championship, none
of the new, football-savior teams expected to do so, either. Had we
already expanded, we'd still have but one team in the BCS.

This
weekend, we have three ACC contests and an out of conference contest.
First, Duke hopes to extend their conference winning streak when
they go down to Clemson to play the Tigers. Since Ted Roof took
over, Duke is 1-2, but the two losses were close losses to NC State
and Tennessee. Duke hasn't won at Clemson since 1980, and is 4-22
since 1976 (and 15-31-1 overall) so maybe an upset is too much
to ask. However, Clemson is coming off a win against Florida State
(their first ever in the ACC) and may be looking ahead to their
in-state rivalry against South Carolina, so hope springs eternal.

In Tallahassee, the ACC title could be decided when NC State
visits Florida State. A win by Florida State, and they finish 7-1,
ACC Champions. A loss, and a win by NC State over Maryland next
week, and NC State shares the title. Florida State leads the series,
17-6, but the Wolpack have won three of the last five, including the
last two in a row.

North Carolina visits Georgia Tech, with Tech
still needing a win to be bowl eligible. After losing to Duke last
weekend, I don't think I'd want to be in the practices in Atlanta,
so I suspect the Jackets will be pretty angry, and will put a
hurting on the Heels. Tech leads the series 19-16 (with 3 ties)
and has won the last five straigt.

Wake Forest hosts Connecticut
in the non-conference game. Wake needs a win to be bowl eligible,
and UConn's 8-3 record may be deceptive. The two teams have never
met before.