I never got around to discussing the first week’s games. Then, I never got around to previewing the second week’s games! I guess I suck.
To avoid that happening again this week, I’m going to do my review first thing. Here goes…
Boston College 44 – Army 7 – You know, I really have a lot of respect for Bobby Ross. He’s a great coach who’s achieved success at both the college and pro levels. And hell, he just looks like a football coach with that crooked mug. But he ain’t building anything at Army. I’m sorry, it’s just not going to happen. But I think it’s cool that they have him.

For BC though, a big win over the Black Knights doesn’t really say a whole lot. It’s better than a close one, I suppose. We’ll learn a whole lot more about the newest ACC team next weekend when they host the Seminoles.
Clemson 28 – Maryland 24 – Another nice (and close) win by the Tigers. Great start to the season! This was one of those critical games for both teams. In the ACC this year (and probably for years to come), you have Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech fighting it out for the conference and national title. Then, you have a group of teams who are all good enough to step up to that level as well, but they have to get through each other. This year that includes most of the league – BC, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia, NC State and Georgia Tech. Wake and Duke never qualify, and I’m just not sold on the Tar Heels yet. So with all of those middle teams fighting for room at the top, it’s critical that they step on each other to get up there. Clemson’s win over the Terrapins was important.
On the flip side, what has happened to Ralph Friedgen’s rising program? Is he losing IQ points like Charlie in Flowers For Algernon? Remember when Fridge was a genius? At this rate, he’ll be working for ESPN’s GameDay crew in a couple of years.
Virginia Tech 45 – Duke 0 – Wow. I knew the Hokies would beat the Blue Devils, but did you see the stats from this game? They held Duke to 35 totals yards! 53 plays for 35 yards. Incredible. And I thought Ted Roof was building something in Durham. I guess maybe he is, something very familiar – a horrible Duke football team. I really didn’t think the Hokies looked that great against NC State in week 1 – good and very solid, but not spectacular. This blowout was spectacular. Yeah, it’s just Duke, but still. If you shutout a conference opponent and hold them to 35 yards, you have a hell of a team.
Florida State 62 – Citadel 10 – Yawn. How did this game get on the schedule? The Citadel? Are you kidding me? Florida State should never play a 1-AA school, especially a tiny military school like The Citadel! I would bet that there’s not one player on the Bulldog’s roster who could earn a spot on Florida State. I don’t mean earn playing time, but just a spot at the end of the bench. It might even be a reasonable guess that they’ve never in their history had a player would could start for the Seminoles.
But here’s the thing – this game was close for a half! In fact, the Citadel had a 10-7 lead late in the first half. FSU didn’t take the lead until a field goal on the last play of the half made it 13-10. Sure, the ‘Noles erupted in the second half, but shouldn’t that slow start be worrisome? Has Florida State really been so good in recent years that they think that they don’t need to try to beat teams? It shouldn’t take any fiery halftime oratory to get a win against the freaking Citadel!
I don’t know what’s going in that Florida State program.
Georgia Tech 27 – North Carolina 21 – This was a nice win by the Yellow Jackets. Sure they were at home and they are ranked, but despite my running down of the Tar Heels, they do have some talent. Remember, they beat Miami last year as well as these Yellow Jackets.
This was the only conference game that I watched much of this weekend and I thought both teams showed some promise. It was kind of weird though. Georgia Tech definitely appeared to be the better team. They had a better rushing attack, better passing and better defense. The stats reflected that. Also, Tech never turned the ball over, while the Heels coughed it up three times. Yet, the Heels had four dangerous fourth quarter drives that could have won the game. Three of the four ended with interceptions when quarterback Matt Baker forced passes and the other went for a touchdown. If any of those other three drives had gone slightly differently, Carolina could have won. It was just one of those games where neither the score nor the raw stats tell the whole story.
ps. Someone needs to tell Chan Gailey that you probably shouldn’t pass on nearly every play late in a game when he has a lead. Each of Tech’s last four possessions consisted of three plays – mostly incomplete passes – and took about a minute off the clock. You think he had the Heels and the points?
Wake Forest 3 – Nebraska 31 – Now for almost all of college football history, if Wake Forest were to travel to Nebraska for a game, you’d expect them to return with a nice paycheck and a 70-0 loss. No hard feelings. Recently though, the Cornhusker empire has crumbled while Jim Grobe has built a fairly frisky program in Winston-Salem. This game had the makings of a big upset, but alas it was not to be. Wake actually played them pretty tough, but Nebraska got three – three! – defensive touchdowns. I’m sorry, but you just can win if the other team is scoring on you at will when you have the ball.
In the postgame analysis, there was some criticism of Nebraska’s offensive production, pointing out that they only scored 10 points on the Deacons. But in fairness, it’s kinda tough to pile up the yards and points when you never get on the field. Nebraska’s defense took away three offensive drives by scoring themselves.
All in all, it was a fairly uneventful weekend for the conference. There were no big non-conference tilts to help measure the ACC’s strength. There were a couple of blowouts over patsies and an ACC doormat was unable to win on the road against a traditional power. Ho hum. Things get a bit more interesting next weekend when the ACC takes on a good hunk of the Big East, with games against Connecticut, West Virginia and Syracuse and Carolina hosts Wisconsin of the Big Ten. Also, there are two big conference games with FSU visiting Beantown and Miami paying a visit to Death Valley.
Should be a good one.