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By Joe Overby
SouthernPigskin.com ACC Columnist
SouthernPigskin.com ACC Columnist Joe Overby previews week 9 in the ACC.
OK, folks. Here are a few hints as to what traveling ACC team is playing in what could be the league's most interesting game on Saturday. Entering this week's games, its quarterback is second in the ACC in passing yards. The team's top receiver leads the league in receptions. Its third in the conference in points per game and off to their best start in ACC play in 15 years, which includes a 21-point win over a longtime rival. And with just two more wins they'll be going bowling for the first time since 1994.
Yes, folks, I'm talking about the Duke Blue Devils. And oddly enough, the Devils are playing in what is perhaps the most intriguing matchup in the ACC when the pigskin starts flying at high noon. Duke versus Virginia, in late October ... intriguing? Really? Them? Yep.
Both entered the season projected by many to be the ACC's worst, and in Week One, it looked that prediction might come true. Duke lost to FCS (formerly I-AA) foe Richmond, while UVa fell to William & Mary en route to starting 0-3, leading many (present company included) to question whether Cavalier coach Al Groh would keep his job. But the winner of Saturday's game will be 3-1 in league play. With a victory, the Cavs would be just two wins away from bowl eligibility, while the Blue Devils would need just one. Either would be a strong candidate for ACC surprise of the year.
Talent-wise, this game is a far cry from a Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech or even a Florida State-Miami. But its the game's implications that makes it so interesting. Prediction? Cavaliers slow Duke's passing attack, and use home-field advantage. UVa 20, Duke 17.
Looking around the league, there are a few other match-ups in ACC country that could prove to be entertaining.
A few hundred miles south, N.C. State travels to Florida State. With the exception of possibly Miami, no ACC team has given FSU fits like the Wolfpack, which was the first of the pre-expansion teams to beat in Tallahassee since the Noles joined the ACC. But this Pack team has fallen on hard times, and its secondary has been punched around like a Mike Tyson warm-up bout.
It doesn't help State's cause that Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder is playing like the best quarterback in the league -- maybe the country -- right now. Two of the biggest subplots of this game:
--Was last week's win over UNC where FSU the turning point for the Seminoles? Are they finally going to consistently play like the team we saw on Labor Night against Miami? A big win against NCSU would likely push Florida State in that direction.
--Will Tom O'Brien's team make a third straight midseason win streak toward bowl eligibility? In each of O'Brien's first two seasons at N.C. State, the Wolfpack won four games in a row after horrendous starts. However, in 2007 and 2008, the Pack's lineup of opponents was much more conducive to such streaks.
The second-half schedule this time around doesn't shape up too favorable for NCSU. The Pack plays at Florida State, hosts Clemson and archrival North Carolina, and travels to Virginia Tech. A very winnable homecoming game against Maryland next week is thrown in there, but it looks like NCSU might go 2-3, at best, in its final remaining contests. On Tobacco Road, Miami at Wake Forest is also appetizing. After looking like a BCS candidate and the best team in the ACC for most of the year, the Hurricanes are looking
to avoid two straight losses in league play.
Can the Canes avoid the fate of Virginia Tech, which ascended to No. 4 in the country before two straight losses, including Thursday's 20-17 heartbreaker to UNC?
Finally, Georgia Tech takes on Vanderbilt.
This game is important for the ACC on many levels. First, ACC-SEC match-ups are always measuring sticks for the conference against its backyard rival league. But, in many ways, the ACC "needs" Tech win out, go 11-1 and then win the ACC Championship down in Tampa. With 10 of the 12 teams having at least three losses already, the Yellow Jackets are conference's last shot to have a marquee team in a BCS bowl.
With Miami at 5-2, there's still an outside chance the league could fill two BCS slots if the Hurricanes win out and finish 10-2. But with the Hokies dropping two straight, the league may be hanging its hat on Georgia Tech at this point. And it certainly would be some nice bragging rights for the ACC's champ -- should the Jackets win the league and defeat Vandy and Georgia along the way -- to be 3-0 against the SEC.
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