Can State Elevate?

'06 Football General7

3 Things to look for in the ACC.

The following comments are so spot on.

Can anyone rise from the ACC’s vast middle class and make a run at the title? Virginia, Maryland, Clemson, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Boston College … no league has more pretty-good-not-great teams year after year. Despite losing QB Charlie Whitehurst, Clemson is the trendy pick to crash the FSU-Miami-Va. Tech party.

On a national basis comes the following 16 teams who are (supposedly) national title contenders. (Link)

'06 Football General

7 Responses to Can State Elevate?

  1. GoldenChain 08/09/2006 at 9:45 AM #

    I sorry but I’m not jumping on the Clemson bandwagon. They may have a very fine season, in fact this might be to them what 2002 was to NCSU. Then again, face it, Clemson is very similar to State in that they never quite meet expectations. They might get ‘Chucked’ this season. Bowen has continually been on the hot seat with the fans and has relied on late season runs to secure himself another year. I would look for Clemson to beat a couple of very good teams but then drop a couple they shouldn’t. Bowen has had the same chemistry problem that Chuck has had; he has all the pieces, he just can’t get them going in the same direction for an entire season.

  2. GoldenChain 08/09/2006 at 9:48 AM #

    BTW, one thing Bowebn has dine better than Chuck, he has owned his archrival!

  3. Mike 08/09/2006 at 9:53 AM #

    The league is very balanced and hate to use a cliche, but on any given day, any team (maybe except Duke) can jump up and beat any of the top teams. The ultimate team to “crash” the party will need some consistency and to stay healthy. Clemson is the trendy pick, and that kid Davis looked like a Heisman winner against us last year. I dont beleive Clemson can maintain over the year – look at history, they never have. BC looked tough against us last year, maybe their best game of the season. GT has a senior QB who wears us out but struggles in other games, and Johnson is a man among boys. But none of these teams can do it all year long.

    I dont see any strong teams that are capable week in and week out of being the team. Even Miami and FSU have multiple questions. VT will be strong on defense, but we all know defense can only take a team so far if the offense gives up 14 points a game to the opponents.

    Call me an idiot, but IF our O line stays healthy and the B boys can run the ball effectively, I think we have as much chance as any to be that magical team at the top. Our D will surprise some people – you know Chuck will have the D ready.

  4. Cardiff Giant 08/09/2006 at 5:07 PM #

    I agree about Clemson. Every year, it seems, some or many folks pick them to break out and then they lose to Wake Forest. Kind of like, you know, us.

  5. bTHEredterror 08/09/2006 at 9:11 PM #

    Dead on RE: Clemson, how can you expect ANY team to go to Blacksburg, to Tallahasse, and to Chestnut Hill and not come away 1-2 at best. I like Davis as a runner, but ain’t sold on Proctor as a playmaker once his film gets out. He’s a Jay Davis lookalike to me. It won’t be Virginia either. Or Carolina. Wake may move to the middle this year. Maryland lost more than we did, and played worse in the process. BC. and GT maybe. I have hopes of a good season for State, but we have too many ifs(But if they stay healthy?) to expect a big year. This is the type of team that surprises though. It’s about matchups, and any team that relies heavily on the pass against us, and/or struggles on D with run, might get burned.

  6. redfred2 08/10/2006 at 3:29 PM #

    I guess it’s human nature, the closer the season gets, the higher the anticipation rises, and the earlier and more clearly arrived upon expectancy levels get thrown out with the bath water.

    I thought just a few weeks back we were discussing the likelihood that the Appalachian State Mountaineers would be a major hurdle for our football program early this season. Now the stars are properly aligning and we’re possibly in the running to challenge for the conference championship? I don’t know, maybe just for Chuck’s sake alone, it’s time to throttle back and clearly evaluate the talent as we did earlier, before the pre-season hype and hysteria started to take control of our bodies. Just as many big and unanswered ?’s are still floating around out there.

    I really think they’ll play better than the doom and gloom predictions from several weeks back, but in order to maintain our sanity let’s not set the bar quite so high when nothing has happened or changed since the earlier “down year” evaluations.

  7. highstick 08/10/2006 at 3:32 PM #

    Clemson may beat South Carolina again, but they won’t be playing in the ACC championship game. Clemson greatness is just a figment in the mind of old Danny Ford fans! Tommy’s just trying to put together one good season so Papa Bowden can retire and he can go to Florida State.

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