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Saturday should be another great day of ACC play, with some really intriguing matchups and themes. Check it out:
| Saturday's ACC Action | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | Times | TV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wake Forest @ Georgia Tech | Noon | RSN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notre Dame @ Duke | 1:00 | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FSU @ Virginia Tech | 3:00 | ACCN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNC @ BC | 3:00 | ACCN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Syracuse @ Pitt | 4:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Louisville @ Virginia | 6:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wake and Georgia Tech have both struggled, both improved even while losing. How do you pick that one?
Virginia Tech is just 9-13 but seriously overachieving. Can they deal with Florida State's massive size and intense defense?
An erratic UNC is at BC, where Jim Christian has his guys playing with heart, passion and smarts. Are you comfortable picking UNC here - especially after the comments after the Virginia game? We wouldn't bet the house money on it, but based on comments by Marcus Paige, among others, there's a chance that UNC implodes for a game or two. Still comfortable?
How about Syracuse at Pitt? Pitt's struggled, but Syracuse has minimal depth and outside shooting. And Pitt has lots of experience playing against the Syracuse 2-3.
Then finally, at the very end of the day, we get Louisville at Virginia, the racehorses vs. the bulldogs. Yes, we know they're the Cavaliers, but do you know why bulldogs are the way they are? They were bred to help fight or bait bulls: the dogs would wait for their chance and jump up and grab the bull's genitals and not let go.
You could find worse ways to define Virginia's defense, and keep in mind that Louisville is not a great shooting team.
Virginia is the closest game to a lock, and you can never tell. When Louisville's press is working, the Cards can make up 15-20 points in a big hurry.
Otherwise?
There's not a single game we'd feel confident in calling, and usually we have some idea - like the other day we said there was a pretty good chance that Pitt could take Notre Dame.
During this, one of the greatest ACC seasons ever, you have to wonder sometimes what folks in College Park are thinking. Louisville has seamlessly taken the Terps spot in the ACC and is a competitive improvement. Virginia, Carolina and Duke are all highly rated. Every game is a dogfight.
And Maryland? The Terps are flying out to Iowa City - population 67,000 - for a thrilling date with the 14-8 Hawkeyes.
The Terps close out Big Ten play with IU (16-7) at home, a road trip to Penn State (14-9), Nebraska (13-9), # 4 Wisconsin and a down Michigan (13-10) at home before closing out with road trips to Rutgers (10-14) and a 1,300 mile trip to Nebraska.
Well, there's always football.