The Pitiful ACC Atlantic
Well, the Atlantic Coast Conference once again revealed how bad a conference it is, especially this year. In particular, the Atlantic division is pathetic. Here is what the standings look like today:
Wake Forest 2-1 4-2 Boston College 2-2 4-2 Maryland 1-1 2-4 Clemson 1-2 2-3 North Carolina State 0-2 3-3 Florida State 0-3 2-4
Here is what to look for the rest of the season. There is a very real chance that the winner of this division will not be bowl eligible, especially if they lose the championship game (which they most certainly will). This past weekend, here is what happened:
- Wake Forest – Beat Maryland 42-32 to jump to the top of the division as the only team with a conference winning record.
- Boston College – Got thrashed by Virginia Tech (The ACC Coastal’s division leader) 48-14.
- Maryland – Lost to now division leader Wake Forest 42-32.
- Clemson – In perhaps the best week of the season, Clemson amazingly did not lose. Perhaps that was due to the fact they had an off week to try to figure out some semblance of an offense.
- NC State – In an effort to cement itself as the worst team in the ACC, the Wolfpack allowed the Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis to go 40-50 for 459 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. They got beat 49-28 at home in Dukes first conference road win since 2003. Awful, just awful.
- Florida State – Kept their O-fer in the conference alive but losing a shootout with Georgia Tech 49-44. FSU has played the hardest in-conference schedule thus far (Miami, BC, GT), but they are now 0-3 in the conference.
It is very sad, but the ACC Atlantic is shaping up to be what the Big 12 North has been for years – irrelevant! The problem is the ACC doesn’t have the equivalent of the Big 12 South (Texas, Oklahoma, etc) to prop it up.