Gold: The Hot List (ACC Style)

Throw out the stats, forget your pre-conceived notions, these are the best teams and elements in the ACC.

Best teams...

1-Clemson...it's a shame they blew the game at Boston College. There aren't going to be a lot of unbeaten teams and the Tigers are an offensive machine.
2-Georgia Tech...if they hadn't stopped throwing the ball to Calvin Johnson in the opener against Notre Dame....
3-NC State...so you're telling me that the same team that lost to Akron and was hammered by Southern Miss then beat BC and FSU?
4-Boston College...So many of their games could have gone either way. Mostly they go theirs and that means something.
5-Wake Forest...do they have the talent of FSU, Miami, or Virginia Tech? No. But, they might be a better team than all three.

Best guess at Jacksonville...

Clemson vs. Georgia Tech

Now, on to the week ahead...

You can't blame State fans for being so jacked up lately. Maybe it's the start of the State Fair this weekend. Personally, I can't wait for my first fried Oreo. But, after starting out 1-2 the Pack has circled the wagons and rallied behind Daniel Evans to beat Boston College and Florida State and now they welcome in Wake Forest for a game that will go a long way towards giving the Pack a shot at an Atlantic Division title.

Here’s the way it goes….and keep in mind that no one is immune to the stinker game because we’ve seen way too much football in this league this year to think that anyone is above getting upset.

If the Pack can manage to control Wake’s running game and not turn the ball over, they’ll beat the Demon Deacons – maybe even convincingly – and set a collision course for a November match up at Clemson with the winner likely being the division representative in Jacksonville. Not to get too far ahead, but if State beats Wake tomorrow they’ll likely head to Death Valley November 11th with no more than 2 losses (they visit Maryland and Virginia before hosting Georgia Tech November 4th) and with the Tigers already having one loss, that game would give the winner the tie-breaker advantage.

Am I moving too fast? Maybe, and believe me when I say that State could very easily lose this game to Wake Forest if they make too many mistakes. But, I have a feeling about this team. I think November 11 – the day after Sidney Lowe’s debut against Wofford – will be a day in which State takes a swing at winning the Atlantic Division.

Would you have guessed that after losses to Akron and Southern Miss?

The Pick: NC State 27, Wake 23

For the record, I went a perfect 6-0 last week in my ACC picks, including nailing the score on the nose between Clemson and Wake.

Thursday night, Boston College turned out the lights on Virginia Tech’s conference title hopes with a very thorough 22-3 beating at Chestnut Hill. BC wasn’t awesome statistically as the Hokies held the Eagles to under 300 yards in total offense. But, Tech did nothing but turn the ball over as they finished the game minus-4 in that category.

On top of that, the Hokie sideline was a mess. Kirk Herbstreit was extremely critical of the program on the broadcast – justifiably so. Vince Hall and Aaron Rouse had to be separated, Brendan Hill was caught dancing on the field late in the game. This is a team right now that looks extremely undisciplined.

Thursday night in Charlotte, Clemson was the big powerful sports sedan going 90 miles an hour on the highway and Temple was the bug. 63-9.

Tomorrow in Chapel Hill, you can call it what you want, but I’ll call it Carolina’s mid-term exam. And, if I recall correctly from my college days, mid terms were usually in the neighborhood of 40% of your grade. I think the Tar Heels had better step it up – to use a horrible sports cliche` – and play well. The Bulls are not a great team, but they are a good team. Their quarterback, Matt Grothe, is 9th in the country in total offense with more than 1650 yards in 6 games. He’s a good thrower, but a dangerous runner, and athletes like that will be an extreme test for a defense that isn’t blessed with tons of speed and has had problems with recognition and assignments.

This is the biggest game of the season for North Carolina.

The Pick: South Florida 30 UNC 27

Florida State and Duke are at Wallace Wade Stadium and if I knew that the Seminoles weren’t going to score on defense and special teams I’d be tempted to think that the Blue Devils would give the Noles a game. But, with Duke’s problems on the O-line and the fact that FSU has already seen the tape of Duke’s game at Alabama, FSU will get at least 1 non-offensive touchdown and probably force at least 4 turnovers.

The Pick: FSU 34 Duke 6 (missed PAT, of course).

Don Strock made a career as a back up QB in Miami, now he’s the head coach at Florida International and he’s bringing his team into Miami where the Hurricanes are still struggling despite a 20-point win over Carolina. FIU gave Maryland a hard time in College Park three weeks ago and I think they’ll give the Canes a few problems early.

The Pick: Miami 26, FIU 13

The Terps and Cavaliers used to be a big game. Neither team is very good and this one isn’t even on TV. It’s on something called ESPN360, which I believe is just a web stream. My wife is going to do some on-line shopping this weekend, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch this one.

The Pick: Virginia 20 Maryland 16

Around the nation….

I think ECU’s offense has a shot to take down defending C-USA champ Tulsa at Dowdy Ficklen. I really like what I see from the Pirates offensively, and they competed defensively with West Virginia.

I think Navy has a shot to beat #22 Rutgers this weekend and look out for Washington State at home against Cal. The Bears won’t be able to surprise the Cougars with hideous uniforms like they did against Oregon.

Another week another heavyweight game in the SEC….for the 5th time this year, two of the best teams in the nation share the field when Florida goes to Auburn. The Tigers are coming off their shocking loss to Arkansas a week ago while the Gators just got through hammering LSU.
Auburn will win this game because, well, just because – 23-17.

See ya next week