The Confidential

ACC Roundtable of the Confidential Correspondents: Week 8/9

Welcome to the ACC Roundtable of the ACC Correspondents!  As is and will be the plan for the remainder of the football season, the Confidential correspondents will discuss the Week that was (Week 8) and the Week that will be (Week 9) for the ACC and their respective schools.  Tell us what you think below.

1. What was most notable about your school’s performance in Week 8?

• HHuntley (NC State): Well we finally broke the streak of losing at Wake Forest. Moreover, it was refreshing to win a game like that. The past two weeks haven’t been great, but this one was nice.
  
• Lenville (Louisville):Louisville fumbled twice setting up a BC TD & threw 2 interceptions, one in the end zone. BC also blocked a punt & returned it for a TD. The Cards lost the turnover battle 4-1, not including the blocked kick, & had only one offensive TD & yet still won 17-14. How? The Cards defense held BC to -14 yards rushing & just 79 total yards for the game. DT Rankins also returned the lone BC turnover, a fumble by the BC QB, 46 yards for a TD while hurdling a fallen OL along the way. BC picked up only 4 first downs for the game. It was a defensive slugfest in the rain at Papa Johns Cardinals Stadium.
• Commander/ACaffrey (Syracuse): The Syracuse defense once again failing to stop an opponent from driving nearly the full length of the field.  The defense is bend and break right now, especially in crunch time.  It may be time to mix up the schemes somehow.   Syracuse demoted an Offensive Coordinator for less last year.
  

• HHuntley (NC State): It’s a nationally televised game against a top 10 ACC team. That has all the makings of a improbable NC State upset. Really, there’s no bad outcome of this game. Either theyll lost really bad like they’re supposed to, or they’ll pull an amazing upset and become bowl eligible.
  
• Lenville (Louisville): Improvement & some consistency from the Cards offense as they travel to Wake Forest this Friday night. Can the Cards defense smother WF like they did BC & keep up that intensity level?
• Commander/ACaffrey (Syracuse): FSU should win easily.  But don’t sleep on Syracuse and Shafer making a game out of it… or FSU may, like LSU, allow Syracuse to make a game out of it.  In the end, no matter the result, it will be interesting to see if Syracuse’s offense can move the ball against the superior athletes on FSU’s defense (who are similarly inexperienced).  If Syracuse can put up 20 or so points, then perhaps Syracuse will be able to move the ball against FSU as both units grow in experience over the next few years.

• HHuntley (NC State): I think the Virginia schools showed us how competitive the Coastal really is. Two of the worst teams staying close with two of the best makes for a really fun year in the ACC.
  
• Lenville (Louisville): Clemson destroying Miami on their field, giving the Canes their worst loss in their history while sealing Golden fate.
  
• Commander (Syracuse): Florida State losing to Georgia Tech.  The Seminoles have flirted with upset defeats all too often during the past two years and it finally caught up.  Georgia Tech is reeling this year.  FSU was undefeated.  This is not the end of the world for FSU, but it does show a vulnerability that may turn the season into a single-digit win total.
  

• HHuntley (NC State): Down goes Utah, and that makes the picture a little clearer. Give me the AP top 4 as it stands today: Ohio State, Baylor, Clemson, and LSU.
  
• Lenville (Louisville): 1 Clemson 2 LSU 3 Michigan St 4 Baylor 5 Ohio St 6 TCU. In my opinion these are the best & most deserving teams today. With Utah loss the PAC should be on the outside looking in. There are some 1 loss powers waiting on the sideline (Alabama, Notre Dame & Stanford to name a few) should chaos rain supreme down the stretch. Should Clemson stumble I would put Notre Dame in at this point. My pick for the ACC CCG is Clemson vs North Carolina. The Heels are putting things together since their season opening loss to the Gamecocks.
  
• Commander (Syracuse): Season ends today: 1. Ohio State; 2. Baylor; 3. Clemson; 4. LSU.  By season’s end, do not be surprised to see TCU beat Baylor at home and leapfrog them.  Meanwhile, one of Ohio State and Michigan State WILL lose when they play and Michigan/OSU should be interesting.  This may cost the Big 10 a spot ultimately.  If so, perhaps 2 Big XII or 2 SEC schools slide into the playoffs to fill the void.  The Pac-12 is in the worst position right now of the P5 conferences.
  

What do you think?  How would you answer these questions?