Let's take a trip around the ACC from Saturday and highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

Is that you Miami? 

Miami has moved to 4-1 on the season. They beat NC State 44-37. The Canes are one of the few ACC teams that have exceeded expectations and I think must be considered the Coastal Division favorite now.

Miami is not a good defensive team, and we know that, but offensively they can put some points on the board. They will be tested by an very good Notre Dame defense next week. The Irish struggle scoring, so the Canes have a shot. QB Stephen Morris has turned into one of the ACC’s best passers.

Bowling Anyone?

Duke is 4-1 after winning at Wake Forest 34-27. The only loss for Duke was Stanford, so basically they’ve won every game that would be considered winnable including today’s mild upset. Duke needs 2 wins to get bowl eligible. Certainly Virginia at home next week is must win, and a game that Duke can win. Is this year the Blue Devils finally get back to a bowl. They have a chance and they have started the way they needed to.

Nice Recovery

Clemson went on the road to Boston College and won 45-31. It wasn’t a picture perfect performance, but without Sammy Watkins, Clemson did what they needed to do. They still struggled on defense, but there’s nothing they can do about that. The offense is going to have carry load and hope the defense makes a few plays. They did enough at Boston College and avoided the letdown loss that marked the program in the past. With a reeling Georgia Tech team coming to Clemson, the Tigers should be 5-1 heading into the Bye Week.

Staying on Track

Florida State had their workmanlike effort against South Florida in a 30-17 win. Was it an impressive win, no not really, but the Noles were never really threatened. Alabama, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina weren’t exactly dominating either tonight. It happens; the Noles took care of business. They still held South Florida under to under 300 yards. Now they head to NC State next week where they’ve had trouble before. I don’t see an upset happening this year, because well NC State’s defense can’t stop anyone that can pass with any competency.

No upset here

North Carolina beat a bad Idaho team badly. It was a 66-0 pounding. You know this UNC team is one people really aren’t paying attention to. At 3-2 you may be able to argue this is the 4th best team in the ACC.

The Bad

Big East woes

What is going on with Virginia Tech? The Hokies have fallen to 0-2 versus the Big East this year, and they look like they could lose 2-4 more games this year. They aren’t winning at Clemson, probably not beating FSU in Blacksburg and they still have games at Miami and UNC. Bud Foster’s normally reliable defense gave up nearly 500 yards to Cincinnati. The Hokies have issues on both sides of the ball and unlike past Hokie teams are not improving as the season progresses.

Where are you David Amerson? 

I posted on Twitter today that there were two people in the ACC that you couldn’t defend anymore. One was Al Groh the Georgia Tech defensive coordinator, the other NC State DB David Amerson. The previously highly regarded Amerson was torched several times today by Miami, bringing back bad memories of his poor Tennessee game. The Wolfpack aren’t the ACC’s most disappointing team, but for a team once considered a darkhorse in the Atlantic, the season is starting to spin out of control.

Just change now

Virginia lost 44-38 to a pretty good Lousiana Tech team today. It was an upset people were calling all week. It really wasn’t a surprise. It’s like this Mike London just name Phillip Sims the starter and be done with it.

The Georgia Tech

Season and program on the brink

It can be little tough to be hard on a team you root for. I’m a Georgia Tech fan, but there’s no sugar coating the absolute train wreck that ensued in a 49-28 loss in Atlanta to Middle Tennessee St. This was a humiliating defeat to a team that lost to McNeese St. Time and time again MTSU runners simply ran over GT defenders showing more effort and more intensity than a Yellow Jackets defense that I believe simply quit in the 3rd quarter.

Paul Johnson is a good game day coach and offensive play caller. My opinion hasn’t changed there, but he’s faltered as a recruiter badly, and made inept coaching hires i.e Al Groh.  This team after making a bowl game every year since 1997 now looks like a program in complete decline.

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