There are really only two games of much note this weekend – Virginia Tech at Boston College tonight and Wake Forest visiting NC State on Saturday. Both games could be critical in deciding who will play in the ACC Championship at the end of the year. How weird is it that I’m writing that and neither game involves a team from Florida, yet Wake Forest is involved. Not only that, but the two best ACC teams not involved in those games are Clemson and Georgia Tech. I guess that explains why coaching staffs at both Miami and Florida State are doing their best not to listen to the radio or read the paper much these days.
Boston College – Tonight’s ESPN game against the Hokies might be the fulcrum on which the good vs. very good battle swings for BC. It seems like they have that battle every year, doesn’t it? And they always teeter down on the good side, don’t they? Hokies by a touchdown.

Clemson – What, tonight’s game against Temple isn’t on ESPN? What an outrage. I guess technically this is a “road” game for the Tiggers, since it’s in Charlotte. How many Owl fans will make that trip, do you think?
Duke – The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa. The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa. The Blue Devils led Alabama 14-10 at the half in Tuscaloosa! That has to be the highlight of the year for this Duke team, doesn’t it (well, until they beat UNC at the end of the year)? They haven’t been that close to a big win since the year Ted Roof took over and they inexplicably played Tennessee close in Knoxville. Maybe Duke should join the SEC when the ACC kicks them out.
Florida State – The Seminoles didn’t just lose to NC State last week, they got whupped. In the second half, the Wolfpack turned into the Noles-of-old, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and getting big plays out of both their running and passing games. Meanwhile, the real Seminoles seemed to just wince and cover up. It’s like they were resigned to the beating they were taking. It was confusing, especially when you consider that just a few weeks earlier that same Wolfpack squad had been spanked by a Conference USA squad.
Things get easier for FSU this week when they take on Duke, but no margin of victory can be big enough to wash out the taste of back-to-back ACC losses.
Georgia Tech – After squeaking by Maryland, the Jackets jumped five spots in the AP poll this week, from 18 to 13. Is that really justified? Are they really that good? Sorry, I’m still not sold. I guess 13 isn’t an unfair ranking, but I’m still not convinced that this team is really that great. They had a nice comeback against the Terps, but does that say good or bad things about them? Should they have been down to that team at home in the fourth quarter?
GT is off this week and then has a three-week stretch that will answer my questions – at Clemson, Miami and then at NC State. If Tech can win two or three of those, then I’ll agree that they’re a top-fifteen caliber team.
Maryland – I mentioned last week that I just didn’t know what to think of the Terps. One week later and I still don’t know for sure. They probably aren’t as terrible as they looked against West Virginia, but that’s the only time I’ve actually seen them play, so that’s all I have to go on. They put themselves in position to win that game in Atlanta last weekend, so they must be pretty decent. If they are actually pretty good, they’ll beat Virginia by 10 or more this weekend in Charlottesville.
Miami – They did what they needed to do against UNC. Sure, their fans would have liked a blowout, but they had to settle for a solid and safe win. The Heels were never in the game in the second half.
Here’s what I wondered while watching that game. I know that Frank Coker is under all kinds of pressure and there are fans flying hateful anti-Coker banners above the Orange Bowl during games, but if there’s really that much passion about Hurricane football, where are these people hiding? There couldn’t have been more than about 15,000 people in that stadium. Now I know UNC is no power, but they are a marquee name and it was a conference game. Hell, Wake Forest pulls better crowds than that. That school and its fan base confuse me.
North Carolina – I think John Bunting is down to one or maybe two chances to save his job. He absolutely needs to beat NC State and he probably needs to knock off Notre Dame as well. If they don’t win those two, they probably aren’t going to finish with more than three victories this year, and for a school with UNC’s advantages, that’s ridiculous. I expect that a large chunk of the Ram’s Club is secretly hoping that the Heels don’t pull off any upsets this year. Just end it.
NC State – I love Chuck Amato. I love the way his career has gone. Has any coach or program ever been through so many highs and lows? You just know that that the Pack will follow up their back-to-back wins over ranked teams (following their back-to-back losses to small-time programs) with a loss at home to Wake. It has to go that way, doesn’t it?
As for Daniel Evans, you can add me to the list that was impressed with the way he handled himself last Thursday. He never looked rattled against Florida State’s pressure. That said, his receivers bailed him out A LOT in that game. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many great catches in one game. It’s not going to be like that every week.
Virginia – Sigh. I covered a lot of my thoughts on the Cavaliers here. The most disappointing thing about UVA’s big road loss to East Carolina? That it wasn’t even an upset. The best thing about it? I couldn’t see it on TV.
The next three weeks see Maryland, UNC and State visiting Charlottesville. Maybe it’s just the eternal optimist in me, but those all look like winnable games. If the many Cavalier youngsters somehow figure things out, they could actually right the ship in this stretch. Of course, even if they do, they finish up at FSU, home against Miami and then at Virginia Tech. It’s not going to be pretty.
Virginia Tech – The Hokies have a had a shaky start to the season, but tonight could be the start of their climb back to the top. It might be a bit tougher after their Hyman was busted last week, but I have a hunch they’ll be up to the task.

Wake Forest – The Deacons were thisclose to having a really special start to the season. 5-0 and with number 15 Clemson in the house, the Deacs led 17-3 through three quarters. The first play of the fourth was a field goal attempt that would put them up by three touchdowns. Given how they had shut the Tigers down, that would have been a nearly insurmountable lead. But it didn’t work out that way. The holder bobbled the snap and then went all Garo Yepremian on us. He tried to run, got crushed and coughed the ball up. Clemson linebacker Gaines Adams grabbed it out of the air and took it all the way for Clemson’s first touchdown. Just like that, a ten point play. Wake Forest followed that up with a comical sequence of turnovers and just like that, their big win became a crushing loss.
So how will Wake respond this week? Will that one play cost them two games or will they remember the execution that put them in that situation and take out their frustration on a cocky Wolfpack squad? It’s hard to say for sure. Jim Grobe always gets his teams prepared, but they’ve had a bad habit over the years of making critical mistakes at bad times. I’m not sure what’s going to happen (despite what I wrote above), but I’m really interested to see how it plays out. I really think this is a game where anything could happen. Either team could win in a blowout or it could be a five-overtime thriller.