The ACC: Week One

[Olympic Fan]

Interesting first week for ACC football, which started last night with Wake Forest's 17-10 loss to Louisiana-Monroe.

The Deacon defense was better than expected, although a lot of that was LA-Monroe QB Pete Thomas. He's the kid who was so terrible at NC State last year. He continued to be terrible against Wake, keeping the Deacs in the game with his inaccuracy and his inept decision-making. But Wake Forest had absolutely no offense. Their only TD came on a blocked punt and their offense finished with 94 total yards. The true freshman who started at QB for the Deacs -- John Wolford -- looked like he had potential, but he finished with a QB rating of 8.1.

Tonight is a gimmie game: Syracuse should have no trouble at home against Villanova

Saturday has at least five gimmies: Elon at Duke; Liberty at UNC; Delaware at Pitt; Wofford at Georgia Tech; William & Mary at Va Tech. I'd guess Boston College-UMass as a gimmie too, but it's at UMass, so maybe not.

That leaves four Saturday games that matter:
-- Georgia Southern at N.C.State: The Pack should win and snap their eight-game losing streak, but Georgia Southern did beat Florida at Florida last season.
-- UCLA at Virginia: In Southern Cal, this would be a near gimmie for the Bruins, but in a noon game (9 a.m. UCLA time) in Charlottesville, the Cavs have at least a chance against the top 10 Bruins.
-- Florida State-Oklahoma State: The No. 1 'Noles open the season against an expected Big 12 also-ran in the stadium where the national title game will be played. FSU SHOULD win, but the Cowboys are better than 90 percent of the ACC early OOC foes.
-- Clemson at Georgia: Killer game between two schools that actually think they can contend for the national title. But both are looking for a new QB after losing a stud at the position. Georgia has one of the best RB combos in the nation -- both North Carolina kids.

Monday night
The first ACC game of the season -- Miami at Louisville. It could be a big one for Duke -- Miami is one of the contenders Duke is fighting in the Coastal and it would help the Devils if the 'Canes suffer an ACC loss. But close to a tossup game.

[Bob Green]

Today a sports radio talking head was saying Hawaii is the worst team in D1, but I have to believe Wake Forest could give them a run for the title. Wake's rushing statistics were atrocious with 27 rushes resulting in -3 yards.

As OF points out, the defense looked okay. Wake appears to be strong at cornerback and linebacker Chubb was making tackles all over the place.

[arnie]

Today a sports radio talking head was saying Hawaii is the worst team in D1, but I have to believe Wake Forest could give them a run.

WF may be the worst from the 5 power conferences. But to be worst in D1 includes competing at lower level than bottom end of Sunbelt, AAC and others. Don't know that they could pull that off. They do seem to be like Franks/Roof Duke squads.

[Olympic Fan]

Syracuse dodged a huge bullet -- thanks to a missed chip shot field goal by Villanova (and two bogus pass interference calls by the ACC refs).

The 'Cuse won 27-26 when Villanova went for a two-point conversion in the second OT and failed.

They should have lost at the end of regulation -- the 'Nova kicker had a 25-yard FG from straight on to win it with 10 seconds left, but he shanked it.

Syracuse was in trouble because of the stupidity of veteran QB Terrell Hunt. He was ejected in the second quarter for throwing a punch -- it was ridiculous ... he was tackled for a short gain on a designed keeper and while he was down, he tried to pop the defender in the face. The backup QB was basically inept and that kept Villanova in it.

The other thing that might have long-term implications for the 'Cuse. The strength of their team was supposed to be a huge, experienced offensive line. But they basically got their butts kicked all night by the smaller 'Nova DL. In the first OT, Syracuse had first and goal from the one-foot line ... after two runs and an incomplete pass, they kicked a field goal from the five-yard line. In the second OT, they had first and goal from the two after the second bogus pass interference call. Three runs end up gaining maybe four feet. They line up for another short FG, but end up scoring the TD on a fake.

If their offensive line is not better than that, it's going to be a long season for Syracuse.

[Olympic Fan]

Anybody else watching football this afternoon?

Awful start to the day by ACC teams. Georgia Tech trails Wofford at the half (9-7) ... NC State down 17-3 to Georgia Southern at the half and Virginia somehow managed to dominate UCLA, yet still trail 21-10 at the half (nothing for the UCLA offense, but two interception returns and a fumble return for touchdowns for all the Bruin scoring).

Pitt is dominating Delaware, so I guess that's a small consolation.

EDIT: I posted too soon -- Georgia Tech managed to get a field goal at the halftime gun to take a 10-9 lead into the break.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

UVA is definitely still in it v UCLA. Would love to see ACC knock off a top ten team.

[Olympic Fan]

Virginia looked like the better team, but couldn't overcome three turnover touchdowns for UCLA.

Clemson couldn't close out Georgia and the Bulldofs pulled away from the in.

The exact opposite in Chapel Hill -- UNCheat down 27-21 in the third quarter, but then the Heels exploded.

FSU fighting for its life in Dallas. That would be a serious black eye for the conference if they choke it away.

[lotusland]

I propose a thread name change.

[wilson]

I propose a thread name change.You might be right. On the bright side, it looks to be a conference ripe for Duke to register a high win total again this season.

[Olympic Fan]

So the ACC finishes week one with a 9-3 OOC record (there is one more game but it's an ACC matchup between Miami and Louisville Monday night).

Obviously, it's not as impressive as that record makes it look.

I broke down the 12 games this way:

Solid performances:

Pitt 62, Delaware 0 -- weak opponent, but Putt did what it should do ... absolutely dominate
Duke 52, Elon 13 -- the same story ... maybe not quite as dominant
BC 30, UMass 7 -- solid win in what is technically a road game
Virginia Tech 34, William & Mary 9 -- a bit slow starting, but a decisive win over one of the better FCS teams
No. 7 UCLA 28, Virginia 20 -- not a win, but a strong showing against a national championship contender. Other than the TOs, Va was the better-looking team

Acceptable performances:
No. 1 FSU 37, Oklahoma State 31 -- The 'Noles struggled against what is expected to be a middle of the road Big 12 team. Still, they won and kept their national title hopes alive -- and they did beat the best team to fall to an ACC team this weekend.
UNC 56, Liberty 29 -- Just look at the final score and this one looks solid. But UNC trailed in this game midway through the third quarter. Clearly, they finished strong.
No. 12 Georgia 45, No. 16 Clemson 21 -- This is the exact opposite of the UNC-Liberty situation. For most of the game, he Tigers went toe-to-toe with an SEC contender on the road and should have been in the lead ... but a late collapse made the final score ugly
Georgia Tech 38, Wofford 19 -- The final score was okay, but the Jackets let the Terriers nip at their heels for a long time ...

Disappointing showings
NC State 24, Georgia Southern 23 -- props to the Pack for pulling this one out late, but without the gift of a fumbled snap in the fourth quarter (when Ga Southern was going in for a 27-10 lead), this is a solid GSU win.
Syracuse 27, Villanova 26 (2 OTs) -- again, props for winning, but only because 'Nova missed a chip shot field goal with 10 seconds left in regulation
Louisiana Monroe 17, Wake Forest 10 -- a terrible showing against a very weak team. 94 yards total offense?

Interesting thought ... would you rather be Virginia, which looked good in a loss to a top team, or NC State/Syracuse, which won, but looked awful against a much weaker opponent?

Obviously, I want to win, but the long-term prospects look better at UVa than in Raleigh or the 'Cuse.

[Duvall]

Duke and the rest of the Coastal contenders win the Louisville-Miami game, 31-13.

[BigWayne]

Duke and the rest of the Coastal contenders win the Louisville-Miami game, 31-13.

Yes, I was thinking that too. Much happier we have to play Miami and not Louisville also.
Sooner the better before Miami finds a quarterback.

ACC refs had a rough night too. Apparently there is an 8th official now? The extra guy blows his whistle early
on the backwards pass by Miami in the 2nd quarter, but none of the 8 spot the 13 guys on the field
(two of them offsides) for Louisville. Then they review the play and spend so much time on the lateral
they don't spot the 13 guys.