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By Aaron Pyre
SouthernPigskin.com Mid-Atlantic Columnist
SouthernPigskin.com Mid-Atlantic Columnist Aaron Pyre breaks down Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Maryland so far this season.
It’s now week 9 and by now everyone should have a pretty good feel for their respective teams. I thought I’d take a look at the ACC standings with respect to the Mid Atlantic 3, their remaining games, the general feel to date and try to predict the future.
ACC Standings after week 8
ATLANTIC CONF OVERALL
Clemson 3-2 4-3
Boston College 3-2 5-3
Wake Forest 2-2 4-4
Florida State 1-3 3-4
Maryland 1-3 2-6
North Carolina State 0-3 3-4
COASTAL CONF OVERALL
Georgia Tech 5-1 7-1
Virginia Tech 3-1 5-2
Duke 2-1 4-3
Virginia 2-1 3-4
Miami (FL) 2-2 5-2
North Carolina 0-3 4-3
Maryland Terrapins
Games left: at NC State, Virginia Tech, at Florida State and Boston College
Well there isn’t much positive one can say about the Terps this season, at 2-6 this team isn’t likely to be playing in a bowl game this season. As a matter of fact I think you can argue that Maryland is the worst team in the ACC this season. One has to wonder if this team has quit or are they going to soon? Other than the shocking win vs Clemson this team hasn’t shown enough for them to be the favorites in any of the games remaining on their schedule. I do think they win one more game this season but this team could easily not win any more games this season.
The biggest question isn’t what will happen during the season, but what will happen in the off season. Will Ralph Friedgen return next season to coach his alma mater, there has been some discontent for a few seasons now? His seat is burning hot, right now. If he does not, will the Offensive Coordinator and Coach in Waiting, Tony Franklin take over or does the university do a clean sweep and start over from day one. I'm not sure on who the next coach will be, but if the Fridge finishes with only 2 or 3 wins, I think he is gone.
Virginia Cavaliers
Games left: Duke, at Miami, Boston College, at Clemson and Virginia Tech
Here we go again, the annual Hoo roller coaster ride is in full effect with bad losses and good wins. Sort of like last season, UVA got off to slow start then inexplicably they got hot towards the middle. Last season, after flirting with bowl eligibility they could not close it out. The 3 game win streak coincided with the scrapping of the spread offense and going back to Al Groh’s traditional offense. The defense has been good this year with the secondary as good as anyone in the ACC. This season the schedule finishes very tough, getting 3 wins will be impressive and difficult. One thing I will say about Al Groh’s teams, they almost always play hard giving good effort, even in losses. The defense will keep them in most games, but somehow I think Virginia will fall 1 game short of bowl eligibility at 5-7 again.
Like the Terps, the Hoos may have an off season of change. The dissatisfaction over Virginia’s performance the last few seasons, save 2007 has many in the Hoo fan base off the Al Groh bandwagon. Al Groh’s contract was not extended to 2012 after last season, setting to expire in 2011. This is important for recruiting as it leaves his situation in the air, that he may not make it all four years of the potential recruits stay. If Virginia does not make a bowl, I think the Hoo AD eats the remaining two years of his contract and then finds a new Head Coach before the BCS title game.
Virginia Tech
Games left: North Carolina, at East Carolina, at Maryland, NC state at Virginia
The last 5 games of the season will determine if this is a good or very good Hokie team. The chances of being Coastal and ACC champion, took a hit with the loss to Georgia Tech who only has 2 games remaining vs Duke and Wake Forest in conference. If the team finishes 10-2, it will have a very outside chance at an at-large berth in a BCS bowl game (only real chance is if it’s the Sugar bowl and the SEC opponent is not Alabama.) However the defense will have to improve, as it has taken a step back from the previous 5 seasons where it finished in the top 10 nationally. The offense has improved in all facets and now can be leaned on by Frank Beamer to bail out the defense if needed.
The Hokies will be favored in their remaining games but I expect 3, maybe 4 of them to be close, the two most difficult games on the road at ECU and UVA. Somewhere along the line, I think the Hokies trip up once more, the defense hasn’t been consistent enough and the offense still goes into occasional bad lapses. I see VT finishing 9-3 and making a return trip to Atlanta for the third time this season to play in the Chik-Fil-A bowl.
There is still a lot of season left to be played and anything can happen. I think much like 2007, there will be quite a few upsets in the last few weeks and everyone could be way off in their predictions. In this age of parity (or is it mediocrity?) there is no such thing as a guaranteed win or loss, each week is its own story ready to be written.
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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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