This Week in the ACC

This Week in the ACC 9/4-9/8

      This column is a weekly wrap-up and preview of games and stories involving ACC teams.

Best win of the week: Clemson over Florida State 24-18

      Clemson manhandled FSU in the 1^st half more than any team has done in recent memory in front of a national audience. FSU‘s offense consisted of either

      1) Antone Smith getting stuffed behind the line of scrimmage

      2) Drew Weatherford going back to pass and then getting sacked

      3) Drew Weatherford throwing a desperation incomplete pass off of his back foot

      4) Drew Weatherford scrambling for one yard

      To sum the play of FSU… Yikes! Clemson’s front seven looked like they were playing at an entirely different speed than the ‘Noles.

The same can be said on the other side of the ball, where all of Clemson’s

offensive players looked like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl.

      In the end, I think the 1^st half was a bad indicator of how good Clemson and FSU are, and the 2^nd half is more of what we can expect from both teams this season. However, all that matters for Clemson is that they won, and have a huge leg up on FSU in the Atlantic Division race.

Runner Up: Boston College getting revenge on Wake Forest 38-28

      Next to Ann Arbor, there probably wasn’t as much of a shock anywhere in the country as there was at about 3:55 p.m. at Alumni Stadium on Saturday. After BC quickly went down 14-0 to the ACC Champions, feelings ranged from questioning the new coaching staff, to wondering why nobody at BC noticed until Friday night that BJ Raji didn’t have enough credits to be out on the field. (By the way, that whole Raji situation has to go down as one of the biggest blunders on the season. I mean seriously, this is the sort of oversight that someone should get fired over. Can you imagine a restaurant opening up, and the night before it opens someone realizes that they forgot to buy food?)

As for the actual game, Matt Ryan and the BC offense looked like a force to be reckoned with, as Ryan torched the WF defense for 406 yards through the air.

      Meanwhile, it’s pretty clear that WF’s pass defense is going to be their Achilles heel all season and is going to be the major reason that they don’t repeat as ACC Champions.

Worst loss of the week: Virginia lying down for Wyoming 23-3

;If you pickup any preseason magazine, the one similarity you could find with each publication’s prediction on Virginia is something along the lines of: "Virginia’s season depends on the QB play of Jameel Sewell."

If that statement is true, then Virginia could be in for a very long year, as Sewell was a mediocre 11-for-23 for 82 yards passing on Saturday. The Virginia offense as a whole was pathetic, gaining only 110 yards of total offense in the game.

Just as troubling to me is this came against a middle of the road Mountain West Conference team. The MWC media poll had Wyoming slated as the 5^th best team coming into this year. I mean, for crying out loud, this is a team that lost to Syracuse last year!

Runner-up: NC State losing to UCF 25-23

This has to be considered another mildly embarrassing loss for the ACC. Like Wyoming, UCF is a decent middle of the pack team in what’s considered a weak Conference USA. You would’ve thought that NC State was the team that was from Conf. USA after their defense was abused by Kevin Smith for 177 yards on the ground… in the 1^st half!

The news got even worse when it was announced RB Toney Baker will miss the entire season after tearing cartilage in the 4^th quarter. It was a bad loss on many levels for the ‘Pack.

In other news, Tom O’Brien made his 1^st good coaching move of 2007 on Monday when he named Harrison Beck as his starting QB.

ACC Power Rankings

1. Virginia Tech

2. Georgia Tech

3. Clemson

4. Boston College

5. Florida State

6. Miami

7. Wake Forest

8. Maryland

9. NC State

10. North Carolina

11. Virginia

12. Duke

Game of the Week: Virginia Tech @ LSU

VT will have a chance to show the rest of the country that the ACC is indeed a conference to be reckoned with this season. Of course, they also have a chance to show that the best in the ACC isn’t on par with the best in the SEC. After watching VT play on Saturday (particularly their offense), I’m going to go with the latter. I’d be shocked to see the Hokies put up double digits on LSU, unless the VT defense/special teams scores a TD. On top of that, although VT’s defense only allowed 7 points to E. Carolina on Saturday, it wasn’t as impressive as it sounded. E. Carolina missed many open receivers and should’ve posted at least 20 points by the half. If LSU is given the same opportunities they will convert.

Runner-Up: NC State @ Boston College

Longtime coach Tom O’Brien comes back peddling into the Heights to face his former school. As I mentioned above, the ‘Pack is already 0-1, and with Clemson, Louisville, and FSU in the shadows upcoming in 3 of their next 4 games, TOB needs to upset his former team. After watching BC’s air attack on Saturday, I don’t think that will be an easy task.