The ACC: Week 5

[Bob Green]

N.C. State has scored a quick touchdown to take a 7-0 lead over Florida State.

[devildeac]

N.C. State has scored a quick touchdown to take a 7-0 lead over Florida State.

Somehow I have the feeling Winston and the 'Noles will come back and "steal" this one from the 'Pack;).

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Somehow I have the feeling Winston and the 'Noles will come back and "steal" this one from the 'Pack;).

So far NC State is playing with great intensity, focus and precision. Maybe they won't see your post until after the game.

[Bob Green]

N.C. State is all over FSU early leading 24-7. Wake is up 3-0 on Louisville. Akron is beating Pitt 21-10. Kent State is up on Virginia 10-7.

[mgtr]

Wow - NC State is just killing Fla State 24-7 so far. I expect that the #1 team will come back, but this just makes the ACC stronger.

[Bob Green]

Two games are finals: Virginia Tech 35, Western Michigan 17 and Colorado St 24, Boston College 21. USC has to be kicking themselves.

[Jarhead]

I can't believe that scoring pass for a td, NC State vs FLA State. Play of the year, no doubt.

[Bob Green]

Two quick touchdowns by the Seminoles cut the lead to 24-21. FSU's one play, 22 yard scoring drive really illustrates the importance of special teams play and winning the field position battle during a game. State's poor punt out of their end zone setup FSU's offense for success.

[Bob Green]

Akron has defeated Pitt 21-10 so today the Power 5 ACC has lost non-conference games against the Mid-American and Mountain West conferences. Sigh.

[Acymetric]

Akron has defeated Pitt 21-10 so today the Power 5 ACC has lost non-conference games against the Mid-American and Mountain West conferences. Sigh.

FSU in danger of being left out even if they run the table?

[vick]

FSU in danger of being left out even if they run the table?

I would bet strongly against that. The defending national champion on a 29 game winning streak not considered a top-four team? Not gonna happen.

[Wander]

I would bet strongly against that. The defending national champion on a 29 game winning streak not considered a top-four team? Not gonna happen.

Yeah, there's 0% chance they get left out if they go undefeated - but I'd bet against FSU going undefeated, and maybe even bet against them having only 1 loss too. They're just not as good as last year.

[Bob Green]

State 38, FSU 28. Turnovers are killing the Seminoles. In the 3rd Quarter, Winston has thrown an interception and Rashad Greene has fumbled a punt, with both leading to State touchdowns.

[Bob Green]

FSU has taken over with three straight touchdowns: 49-38 FSU. The Wolfpack are in trouble.

[-jk]

FSU has taken over with three straight touchdowns: 49-38 FSU. The Wolfpack are in trouble.

Trouble? Done... <alas>

-jk

[arnie]

Trouble? Done... <alas>

-jk

At least the Heels D is on tonite. Held Clempsun to 10 in the 1st quarter. Dancing on Franklin Street.

[Olympic Fan]

I agree that there's no chance an unbeaten FSU gets left out of the four-team playoff.

But their struggles and the sudden weakness of the ACC COULD make a difference if the 'Noles finish 12-1.

I still think any Power 5 team that finishes unbeaten will be in the playoff ... but there won't be but one or two ... and there will be a lot of one-loss teams vying for the last couple of spots. FSU has once chance to post a really impressive win, when the play Notre Dame (it's a chance -- how does Notre Dame do against Stanford and Southern Cal?), but if they win that game, it means anybody they lose to -- at Louisville? at Florida? Miami? -- would be a relatively bad loss. And if their one loss comes to Notre Dame, there where is the signature win?

They're in a tough spot. Of course, nothing is in a vacuum -- a lot depends on what all the SEC powers do, what Oregon and what Oklahoma do.

But if the 'Noles want to be assured of playing in the playoff, they'd better win out.

Really disappointed in the ACC today. I watched most of the BC-Colorado State game and it was painful to watch them choke that game away. I can't fathom how Pitt lost to Akron. At least Virginia and Virginia Tech rallied from bad starts to win going away.

[arnie]

At least the Heels D is on tonite. Held Clempsun to 10 in the 1st quarter. Dancing on Franklin Street.

Heels D dominating. Clempsun only has 22 at half.

[YmoBeThere]

But their struggles and the sudden weakness of the ACC

Sudden weakness just occurring this season? Because I was going to say that we have seen this over several seasons. And perhaps this week is merely a reversion to the true mean? And the few prior weeks were a brief, welcome, but ultimately unsustainable deviation?

[Olympic Fan]

Sudden weakness just occurring this season? Because I was going to say that we have seen this over several seasons. And perhaps this week is merely a reversion to the true mean? And the few prior weeks were a brief, welcome, but ultimately unsustainable deviation?

The negative perception of the ACC is one of those things that bugs me. Yes, for years the ACC has struggled to produce a national championship contender -- although the overall depth of the league has been solid (not SEC good, but very comparable overall to the Big Ten, for instance).

A year ago, the ACC won the national title AND won a second BCS bowls -- something that had only been done once before in the BCS era.

In all, the ACC had 11 teams in bowls -- an NCAA record. Overall, the ACC was 46-16 outside the league -- 33-16 against FBS opponents.

I would contend that the ACC was a VERY good conference last year (not even counting that ACC players won almost every major individual award a year ago).

And, I would contend that the ACC was off to a very good start this year -- 4-2 against the Power Five going into last week. We had one of the weaker ACC teams knocking off national title contender Southern Cal ... we had another lower echelon team (Virginia) giving a highly-touted UCLA fits. We had a middle of the road Virginia Tech game going to Columbus and smacking No. 8 Ohio State.

But last week, we started to show some cracks. We went 0-3 against the Big Ten -- it was a painful 0-3 -- Syracuse outgained Maryland by 569 yards to 369 yards, but lost because of a few ill-tined turnovers (much like Virginia against UCLA).Pitt choked away its game with Iowa --even though Pitt outgained them 435 yards to 311 yards. And even though Miami got smashed at Nebraska late, the two reams were very close in total yardage for the game.

Even so, those three losses a week ago were to me the first hints of ACC weakness this year. No argument that this week was a disaster for the ACC. No problem with Syracuse falling to Notre Dame, but BC choking the Colorado State game and Pitt losing to Akron really hurt.

So yes, I do believe what we're seeing is a "sudden weakness." The ACC may or may not have been a weakly 5-6 years ago (even 3-4 years ago), but last year it was a giant and through the early part of this year, it looked good. The last two weeks are a big -- and sudden -- dropoff.

I still thing the ACC has more signature wins and less embarrassing losses than the Big Ten ... but at the moment, I think those are the two contenders as the weakest Power 5 conferences

[Wander]

A year ago, the ACC won the national title AND won a second BCS bowls -- something that had only been done once before in the BCS era.


The SEC won the title and another BCS bowl in 2007, 2008, and 2010.



So yes, I do believe what we're seeing is a "sudden weakness." The ACC may or may not have been a weakly 5-6 years ago (even 3-4 years ago), but last year it was a giant and through the early part of this year, it looked good. The last two weeks are a big -- and sudden -- dropoff.


It depends on what scale we're talking about "very good" and "weak." If we're comparing the ACC to all college football conferences, then sure, it's rarely if ever been worse than a non-power conference, which is something that does occasionally happen to say the SEC in basketball. I think most people are implicitly making comparisons to the SEC, Big 12, Pac 12, and Big 10 though (of course the Big East was once a BCS conference too). Even last year, which you rightly point out as the ACC's best year in a long time, the conference was much worse than the SEC and the Pac 12, and arguably a little worse than the Big 12. So the ACC's best year is 3rd or 4th amongst the 5 that people are usually interested in talking about... every other year it's 4th or 5th out of these 5. Maybe it's not a fair to just judge the conference in comparison to those other 4, but on that scale the past two weeks are pretty par for the course for the ACC.

[YmoBeThere]

I will confess I am biased as my other alma mater is in the SEC and had a good couple year run...but it appears that they are dropping back down again as a large turnover in players(only 11 returning starters) and a departed coach(along with some recruiting commitments) shift the makeup of the team. As part of the SEC, I do use that shield at times in the conference discussions. The more distressing thing was this weekend's loss to the that team from the Bluegrass State. A team we had defeated handily the prior 3 meetings. So, I would definitely agree with Wander that the scope of comparison are the Power 5 conferences. I don't think OF suggested otherwise, but the point bears emphasis in any analysis.

[Wander]

I will confess I am biased as my other alma mater is in the SEC and had a good couple year run...but it appears that they are dropping back down again as a large turnover in players(only 11 returning starters) and a departed coach(along with some recruiting commitments) shift the makeup of the team. As part of the SEC, I do use that shield at times in the conference discussions. The more distressing thing was this weekend's loss to the that team from the Bluegrass State. A team we had defeated handily the prior 3 meetings. So, I would definitely agree with Wander that the scope of comparison are the Power 5 conferences. I don't think OF suggested otherwise, but the point bears emphasis in any analysis.

I didn't realize how long a losing streak Kentucky had in the SEC. Eek.

[YmoBeThere]

I didn't realize how long a losing streak Kentucky had in the SEC. Eek.

I certainly wish they would not have "busted their slump" against us(Vandy).