It Was A Brutal Week For The ACC
Most preseason publications made 2008 a wide-open down year for the ACC. If Week I is any indication of what is to come, little did anyone know how really down the ACC really is.
Thursday started out well with Wake Forest taking it to an undermanned Baylor outfit. Riley Skinner threw for an economical 220 yards with three TDs and no picks while the Demon Deacon defense forced five Bear turnovers. This would be the highlight in awful week for the conference.
Later Thursday, South Carolina spanked North Carolina State 34-0 in a somewhat misleading final. This was a 3-0 game at the half, 13-0 after three but … the Wolf Pack was saved by four terrible interceptions thrown by Gamecock starting QB Tommy Beecher. USC outgained NC State 540-227 and the Pack never really threatened.
Saturday started off ominously as 17th ranked Virginia Tech was upset 27-22 by East Carolina. The Hokies could not hold on to a 22-13 lead and were out-Beamered by the upstart Pirates who blocked a punt with two minutes left for the win. ECU QB Patrick Pinkney completed 19 of 23 passes in the win.
Boston College started life without Matt Ryan by putting down Kent 21-0 in an overall uninspiring performance in a game that produced just 596 yards of total offe nse. Fifth-year senior QB Chris Crane led the way in finally getting a chance after throwing just 40 passes as a backup.
The other USC, Southern Cal, played the school’s first game ever in the state of Virginia and likely won’t be invited back any time soon after crushing the Cavs 52-7. The Trojans dominated every facet of this game as Trojan QB Mark Sanchez showed no ill effects of a knee injury throwing for 338 yards and three touchdowns. Virginia was outgained 558-179 in just 23 minutes time of possession.
In the night’s feature matchup, Alabama embarrassed #9 Clemson 34-10. This game was over in the first three minutes as the Tide punched the Tigers right in the mouth and Clemson was unable to respond. Clemson ran the ball 14 times for no yards and held the ball a token 18 minutes. It was obvious to anyone that saw this game that Tommy Bowden did not have his team ready to play. What else is new ???
North Carolina was the sexy preseason pick to challenge in the ACC in their second year under Butch Davis. The Tar Heels were life and death to beat McNeese State 35-27 but here’s where it gets good. To kick off the new era of Tar Heel football, parachutists were scheduled to deliver the game balls to the officials at mid-field at a prearranged time. In cloudy weather, the parachutists landed in the Duke Stadium some eight miles away, right in the middle of Blue Devil stretching. Possibly a good omen, Duke went on to beat James Madison 31-7.
Maryland barely avoided further conference embarrassment beating Delaware 14-7. The Terps missed three FG’s and in a dogfight the entire way wit the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision runner ups who returned 14 starters but lost QB Joe Flacco to the Baltimore Rave ns.
The Miami Hurricanes opened up a can of 52-7 whup ass on Charleston Southern despite several starters being suspended while Georgia Tech rolled Jacksonville State 41-14 for new HC Paul Johnson’s first win in a game not worthy of further comment.
All in all, a horrific week for the ACC which has clearly fallen to sixth in the Big Six conferences that compose the BCS. It will be interesting to see how the conference responds after such a tough start.
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