Thursday Bytes – ACC Takes Center Stage

'07 Football82

ACC

* If you haven’t been coming here daily and keeping up with the site, definitely take some time to peruse the items that we have on the front page right now. We’ve been working very hard to keep our content dynamic and feel like there are a lot of good items out there for your review and comment.

* Boston College takes on Virginia Tech tonight in a big game for the ACC. I’ve gotten so damn tired of the BC fans unwillingness to support their conference bretheren – see any pregame entry from EagleinAtlanta who has supported UCF, Wofford and ECU over the ACC’s Wolfpack – that I don’t care how good it is for the ACC…GO HOKIES.

* I know that this will sound backwards…but think through what I am getting ready to say – I don’t think that the ACC should necessarily WANT Boston College to go undefeated this year. Here is why — IF Ohio State remains undefeated and LSU (and maybe Oklahoma) end the season with only one loss, there is a STRONG possibility that the Tigers (or the Sooners) could jump an undefeated Boston College in the polls and play for a national championship. (Of course, BC fans will blame this on Tom O’Brien…when we all know that it is probably Herb Sendek’s fault). In this scenario, the ACC will be significantly embarassed and have egg all over our faces. Do we really WANT our ‘best’ team to demoted on a national scale in such an unceremonious manner?

* I simply can’t get over the irony that of the situation tonight where nobody from New England gives two shits about the ‘big game’ because the Red Sox are in the World Series. (And, don’t forget those Patriots!) Isn’t this EXACTLY WHY Coach O’Brien decided to leave despite having a team stocked with 5th year seniors and a Heisman candidate, quarterback?

* As much as I want our fellow-technical school (who is pretty-much-Southern) to beat the Eagles tonight, I’m not sure that they can do it. The Hokies offense is atrocious, primarily due to weakness at the quarterback position. (Sound familiar?) One has to wonder how far this team can go in light of the deficiency. How many games can your defense and special teams win for you? Especially when playing an offense as strong as Boston College’s?

* I’m not a huge fan of the Charlotte Observer’s Ken Tysiac, but he has a solid “Inside the ACC” article in today’s paper that includes the following:

FLORIDA STATE FLAGS. It won’t surprise N.C. State fans. With Chuck Amato coaching in Tallahassee, Florida State leads the ACC in penalty yardage with 77.9 yards per game.

* Speaking of Florida State, this is ludicrous. Could you imagine how big of a story that our AD would have made this incident had it happened in Raleigh? Would have been GREAT for attracting a new coach! ESPN’s Gameday will have a feature on the evolution of the Florida State program this weekend if you are interested.

* Speaking of spanning the ACC, here’s another quick hitter that is pretty good.

* The “Rasta Smurfs” are at it again. Over the last five years, has ANY ACC program had the problems and issues with the weed that Carolina has experienced? I’d love to see a hard-hitting analysis of all of the marijuana and weapons charges that have piled up in Chapel Hill this decade. Why don’t we hear about lack of institutional control when a problem like this is so prevelant? Heck…and this is with Rasheed Wallace and Jeff McInnis never officially getting busted!

* Virginia is RIPE for the picking this weekend in Raleigh. If NC State had a healthier and stronger offensive line then I would be picking the Wolfpack in an upset. (Or, at least to cover the spread).

* State definitely played our best game of the season on Saturday, but I fear too many people ignored the magnitude of the weakness of the East Carolina offensive and defensive lines that helped us immensely. Virginia is the complete opposite. The Cavs have a great OLine and Chris Long will be matched up on a freshman. In light of how bad our line has been vs ACC-level competition, Daniel Evans’ height concerns me. One knocked down ball at the line of scrimmage or a tipped ball for an interception could easily be the difference in this game.

* On the positive side, it isn’t far-fetched to believe that Tom O’Brien sincerely wanted to succeed George Welsh in Charlottesville. And, as this analysis indicates, you should beware a “motivated TOB”.

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'07 Football

82 Responses to Thursday Bytes – ACC Takes Center Stage

  1. TNCSU 10/26/2007 at 11:34 AM #

    All this talk about on-sides kicks and that BC didn’t “deserve to win” are humorous, considering that VT’s only “touchdown” wasn’t EVEN a touchdown. How they “reviewed” that and upheld the call on the field was the most “bogus” thing of the night! They shouldn’t have gotten the TD, they would have kicked a FG, and the score would have been 6-0. BC would have scored the first TD, gone up 7-6, and they wouldn’t have HAD to kick the on-sides kick. BC holds VT, and wins the game. Same outcome, but the game was alot more exciting. It also gave Ryan the chance to prove his probably the best QB in the nation.

  2. primacyone 10/26/2007 at 12:07 PM #

    It will be our Freshman Left Tackle Jake Vermiglio versus the Senior All American Chris Long on Saturday. Should be intersting.

    Nice post at wral.com: http://www.wral.com/sports/story/1967368/

    Quoting Luke Lathan in the article:
    “It’s basically a new offense, new calls, new blocking assignments. There’s a reason why they redshirt offensive lineman. It takes a long time to get the technique down, get the steps down and every coach has a different philosophy,” Lathan said.

    “I’ve had to learn three coaches’ offensive philosophies since I’ve been here. It’s difficult, dumping one coach and what he wants to do.”

  3. bTHEredterror 10/26/2007 at 1:32 PM #

    I thought Beamer and company should have run on those third downs , too. But I give BC credit for playing tough when things weren’t going their way. They got a bogus PI on Silva that lead to the VT FG, and the VT TD was a non catch as well. VT is as bad offensively as we have been, and I’m worried that our blue-chipper is related to their QB. I just hope the Brohm family example, where the younger brother is the most talented, is the case with Mike Glennon.

    This game told me VT was overrated as much as that BC is deserving of their rank.

    I’m still not sold, a solid offense like Clemson can beat them, and Maryland is better than VT on offense though not quite as good on D. Miami and FSU are, but they will not be able to score enough on BC.

    Onside kicks are not all luck, if the ball is not kicked well or the kicking team doesn’t execute the play, no chance exists. There are other plays where luck is involved, Hail Marys and kick blocks, also require a fair amount of good fortune (or opponent mistakes) to be successful.

  4. haze 10/26/2007 at 1:50 PM #

    This game proved to me that neither team is worth anything like its ranking.

    Seriously, VT has a good D. Nothing more. How this gets you to #8 I’ll never know.

    BC is a good and balanced club with a very good, but not nearly great, QB. The better teams in the nation (LSU, OU, UF, SC, OSU, Mich…) would take BC out by combining equivalent coaching in concert with superior athleticism & depth. VT has their worst team in years and they thoroughly outplayed BC (didn’t win, but that’s football). BC MIGHT be the 12th best team in the NCAA.

  5. TNCSU 10/26/2007 at 2:17 PM #

    ^^^Seriously, VT has a good D. Nothing more. How this gets you to #8 I’ll never know.

    Heck, you can do the same in the NFL and win the Super Bowl (i.e. the Ravens with Trent Dilfer at QB)! Look at the Bears last year….

    If your D and Special Teams are good enough, who needs an offense….
    Of course, the flip side is…
    If your offense can just outscore the other team, who needs a “D” (i.e. the Colts the first 3/4 of last season)

  6. packgrad2000 10/26/2007 at 2:58 PM #

    ^Yes but this is where college football is different. The QB and offense play a much bigger role in college than the NFL. Of course there are exceptions – Ohio State 2003 comes to mind – but generally the best teams in college football have a great offense (or at least a halfway decent offense). If anyone should know this it’s us after our great D’s and pathetic offense post-Rivers.
    Then again, no one is saying VT will be national champs…

  7. VaWolf82 10/26/2007 at 4:36 PM #

    Seriously, VT has a good D. Nothing more. How this gets you to #8 I’ll never know.

    Not hard to figure out…..Go to a bowl game every year since 1993 and you will get this type of “respect” from pollsters.

    VT has their worst team in years

    You should make that, “the worst team since they joined the ACC.” You don’t have to go that far back (2003) to find much worse VT teams.

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