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By Marc Hudgens
SouthernPigskin.com ACC Columnist
SouthernPigskin.com ACC Columnist Marc Hudgens talks about the ACC after week six.
Not a lot of noncon stuff this past Saturday, but what little there was included a second straight Virginia win? And over a BCS opponent and has put the ACC at an even mark against BCS opponents? Good grief.
After a slow start, the ACC is now at 7-7 versus BCS opponents. Clearly progress but we’ll know more in this latter half of the season. You know, the half that includes Rivalry Week.
Running Tally
Non-Con mark: 24-13 overall (7-7 vs. BCS)
Indiana 7, Virginia 47
Do my eyes deceive me or is coach Al Groh coming off the hot seat? Premature perhaps, but with his second straight win over a quality opponent it can only bode well for him. However, this may be the case in which the ACC’s version of Burgess Meredith never does enough to get the Cavs over any humps but does do just enough to keep his job. Tommy Bowden redux.
But this is Virginia, folks. The same team who lost to William & Mary earlier this season and fired Groh’s hot seat to plasma levels turns in its second straight win. Sure, Indiana sucks right now (0-2 in the BigTen) but the ACC needs every win over a BCS opponent it can get, and if it comes by the hands of The Cantankerous One, so be it.
Now on to the “tune-ups”...
Georgia Southern 12, North Carolina 42
Nothing to see here...
Florida A&M 16, (11) Miami 48
See above...
Final Thoughts
Watching Virginia Tech give Boston College the business is enough for a double-take. The Hokies have never had an offense, at least consistently so, since the Michael Vick days, but with those stiff Bud Foster defenses and Beamerball on special teams, it never seemed to need one in ACC competition although it has kept them from BCS title shots. The 48 points they hung on the Eagles on Saturday was the team’s most against a quality foe (to wit: non-scrub) since the Virginia game in ’05, where they racked up 52 at Charlottesville, and what appears to be an improving offense under coordinator Bryan Stinespring is what’s bolstering all these newfound points.
Let’s go back and count the offensive touchdowns as the season has progressed. Against Alabama in the opener, it was two. Marshall’s not supposed to count so let’s not. Against Nebraska, two. Against Miami, three. Duke, four (and the only reason I’m counting the Blue Devils is because they are a conference foe). Boston College, five. Like him or not, Stinespring’s offense has accrued one additional touchdown per game from the previous since the Nebraska win. But can Virginia Tech keep playing at such a high level? We’ll find out more next week when they take on Georgia Tech in ‘Lanna.
When we talk about this elite team and that, the Oklahomas and the Texases and the LSUs and Ohio States are normally brought up. But the truly elite teams are those that play at high levels on both sides of the ball, and when you consider that, you pretty much eliminate any Big XII team and most SEC teams and so on since Big XII teams largely have no defense and the SEC isn’t exactly known for its offense. Definitely not a lot of balanced teams among the so-called elite.
But in the remaining group that do play a full complement are a select few, such as USC and Florida, and the Hokies may find themselves among that inner circle if they keep on keeping on now that the offense is firing. Considering that Beamer’s boys have also scored one special teams touchdown apiece in three of these six games thus far and one defensive touchdown in a fourth, they’re poising themselves to be in a league of their own. With their offense finally clicking, whoever the Atlantic Division champion in the ACC title game is going to be, assuming Tech wins the Coastal which is looking more and more like a lock with each passing game, will just be a warm-up for the Orange Bowl. Especially that right now the phrase “Atlantic champion” is an oxymoron since none of this division’s teams are playing at anything close to a championship level.
Hyperbole, you say? Boston College’s defensive losses are taking their toll big-time, N.C. State got punked by Duke (in Raleigh no less), Maryland’s relapsed to its losing ways, Clemson’s getting exactly what its paying for after that cheap-and-lazy route it took in its self-proclaimed “coaching search” last season, and do we really need to get into the mess in Tallahassee? The only Atlantic team that looks of any worth is lil’ Wake Forest, who may end up in the ACC title game for the second time since ’06. Should the Demon Deacons work their way back in, this should be a face-slapping wake-up call to the Tigers and Seminoles but it won’t because both programs are mired in mediocrity and complacency and living off past glories too far back to matter. This conference is now a Coastal one, and Virginia Tech’s having to carry the banner once again. But this time, they’re looking really good doing it.
Next week there is only one non-conference matchup -- Miami traveling up to Central Florida for its second Pilates and yoga workout in a row. Not a lot to see there unless George O’Leary’s Knights pull off an upset, which isn’t likely based on the simple fact that Miami isn’t an Atlantic team. As to the four in-conference games, let’s not even go there. Who the hell knows what’s going to happen in this conference anymore.
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Stories written by SouthernPigskin.com columnists are done independently. Views do not always coincide with those of the remainder of the staff or the ownership of SouthernPigskin.com.
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