The Confidential

Recap of the ACC Week 3

Believe it or not, the college football season is 25% complete for many teams.  One minute it is Labor Day, the next minute we are talking bowl eligibility.  Sigh.  Anyway, Week 3 provided some useful information for analyzing the ACC teams.  Such as…

Louisville.  On the one hand, the big wins by Cincinnati and Central Florida give hope that the schedule difficulty will trend up.  On the other hand, Temple and Memphis are terrible.  South Florida and Connecticut continue to reel miserably from the losses of the coaches that built the programs.  Most importantly, in a rivalry game against Kentucky, Louisville got the win… but really did not do so in a way that will impress anyone that did not bother to watch the game.  Oregon put up 50+ points against Tennessee.  A two-TD win over Kentucky is not going to move the dial relative to comparing Louisville against others relative to appearing in the title game.  It is what it is.

Florida State.  In the second quarter, the Seminoles were trailing.  But there was plenty of time for a rally to blow out Nevada.  This is what Florida State is supposed to do.  With Bethune-Cookman coming to town to be sacrificed, look for more gaudy numbers.  Florida State did what it needed to do.

Pitt and Syracuse.  Winless against good competition, both ACC newcomers got their first wins of the season in Week 3.  For Pitt, they are at .500 with a solid win.  Syracuse gets to 1-2 against Wagner.  The good news for Syracuse is that the QB issues may be solved.  The bad news is that Penn State’s loss to Central Florida will have the fans playing “what if” regarding the win that got away.  But there is hope for these two schools.

Georgia Tech.  Sure, it was Duke.  But Georgia Tech looked pretty good in defeating the Blue Devils.  Things are trending pretty well for the ACC with Clemson and Florida State looking top 10, but the ACC needs teams like Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Miami to scrape their way into the top 25.  So the Yellow Jackets handling of Duke–avoiding the upset loss that plagues ACC teams visiting Tobacco Road–was important to keeping that plan in place.

Virginia Tech.  The Hokies got a win on the road against East Carolina.  The offense continues to be a sticking point, but the defense looks like it will be solid.  The way Alabama looked against Texas A&M on the road, we can excuse that Week 1 loss.  Not many teams are going to look good against Alabama.

Maryland.  Don’t look now, but the Terps are 3-0.  While UConn continues to retreat into irrelevance, Maryland’s dual threat QB CJ Brown did it all for Maryland.  The Randy Edsall hire is looking a little better in 2013.  Halfway to bowl eligibility, with several winnable games left.  A mortal West Virginia team looms next, in a truest test of where Maryland is right now.

Boston College.  There was plenty to feel good about after two weeks, but reality returned in Week 3, as the Eagles lost big to a reeling USC squad.  But kudos to the Eagles for having the cajones to schedule this game.  A good barometer of where the Eagles need to get to.

Wake Forest.   Not looking good.  Louisiana-Monroe is not a pushover, but the Demon Deacons have to beat the Sun Belt teams on the schedule.  There are not many opportunities for wins.  One wonders if it is not time for a coaching change.  Unfortunately.

On to Week 4….