This Week in the ACC: 11/29-12/5

[pfrduke]

That was a little more like it. 21-7 for the week, including 8-4 against major conference opponents. Still, there hasn't been a real surprise win for the conference - I'm not sure any ACC school has beaten a team it shouldn't have yet [insert obligatory joke about the UNC-Charleston game]. The conference has precisely one win over a ranked opponent (Duke-Kansas State). Plenty of chances to change that figure this week during the ACC-Big 10 challenge, which gives us 11 of the week's 16 games against BCS opponents.

Monday has just a single game kicking off the Challenge, with Virginia looking to do what the Heels couldn't and take down the Gophers. Needless to say, it's an uphill challenge

[91]Virginia at [30]Minnesota

Tuesday has a couple of the marquee matchups with FSU hosting the Buckeyes and UNC traveling to Champaign-Urbana. I'm very intrigued by the first game - the Buckeyes shredded a strong Florida defense in Gainesville, but FSU has yet to allow any opponent to score even 0.9 points per possession. Their length is something that Sullinger has yet to deal with so far this season. As for whether the Heels can show enough composure on the road to knock off Illinois in a very hostile environment, well, I'll believe it when I see it.

[29]Florida State hosts [3]Ohio State
[22]North Carolina at [10]Illinois
[76]Georgia Tech at [60]Northwestern
[152]Wake Forest hosts [79]Iowa
[32]Clemson hosts [83]Michigan
[68]Miami hosts [51]Mississippi

Wednesday has the feature game of the Challenge between Duke and Michigan State (although it lost just a tiny bit of luster when MSU had a sluggish trip to Maui). Depending on how the rest of the matchups go, it could very likely be the contest that decides the winning conference. Virginia Tech gets another chance to pick up a marquee win - hopefully they won't blow it like they have with the other two.

[2]Duke hosts [8]Michigan State
[46]Virginia Tech hosts [15]Purdue
[40]Boston College hosts [58]Indiana
[49]NC State at [17]Wisconsin
[35]Maryland at [50]Penn State

Thursday and Friday are conference-wide off days.

Saturday Duke concludes the meat of it's cross-country non-conference extravaganza with a trip to the Meadowlands to have a rematch of the national title game (hopefully with a little less drama than last time around). Chances for marquee wins abound, with UNC hosting Kentucky, NC State traveling to Syracuse, and Miami hosting West Virginia. Even getting one win out of those three would be a boon for the ACC.

[2]Duke at the Meadowlands vs. [43]Butler
[22]North Carolina hosts [12]Kentucky
[49]NC State at [18]Syracuse
[68]Miami hosts [24]West Virginia
[152]Wake Forest hosts [197]Holy Cross
[40]Boston College at [90]Massachusetts

Sunday brings the start of conference play, with a rivalry game to boot, as Virginia and Virginia Tech square off in Blacksburg. Maryland hosts a Temple team coming off of a terrible trip to Orlando - losing to Cal and Texas A&M - and Clemson also gets an in-state rivalry game in Columbia against the Gamecocks.

[39]Virginia Tech hosts [91]Virginia
[35]Maryland hosts [39]Temple
[32]Clemson at [82]South Carolina
[29]Florida State hosts [271]Hartford

ACC Non-Conference Record: 51-21
Record vs. BCS: 8-12
AEC: 2-0
A-Sun: 7-2
Big 10: 0-3
Big 12: 4-1
Big East: 2-4
Big South: 3-1
Big West: 2-0
Colonial: 3-2
CUSA: 2-1
Ind: 2-0
Ivy: 1-1
MAAC: 2-0
MAC: 1-0
MEAC: 3-0
MVC: 0-1
MWC: 0-1
NEC: 2-0
OVC: 1-0
Pac-10: 2-2
Patriot: 2-0
SEC: 0-2
Southern: 8-0
Southland: 1-0
Sun Belt: 1-0

[Duvall]

That was a little more like it. 21-7 for the week, including 8-4 against major conference opponents. Still, there hasn't been a real surprise win for the conference - I'm not sure any ACC school has beaten a team it shouldn't have yet [insert obligatory joke about the UNC-Charleston game].

BC over Texas A&M. Maybe BC over Cal, though neither team was expected to be very good.

[pfrduke]

BC over Texas A&M. Maybe BC over Cal, though neither team was expected to be very good.

Fair point on Texas A&M. I'm not sure about Cal - they were not picked to finish high in the Pac-10 and lost a ton of talent off of last year's team.