The Confidential

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13 Sep 2012
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ACC Football Predictions for Week 3

The Confidential’s football predictions for this week’s games featuring ACC teams.

Last week was a bit better at 10-3… making it an 18-7 start to the season.  On to week 3:

September 15, 2012

Wake Forest (2-0) @ #5 Florida State (2-0), noon.  Florida State has not played a competent foe yet, and Wake Forest has had the Seminoles’ number.  Still, this might be the year that Florida State returns to the glory days of the 1990s.  Prediction: Florida State 30, Wake Forest 17.

#13 Virginia Tech (2-0) @ Pittsburgh (0-2), noon.  Pitt is a disaster right now.  They looked woefully undercoached against Cincinnati.  Virginia Tech usually does not have that problem.  This is a bit of a “rivarly” game, so maybe Pitt will rally.  Nah.  Prediction: Virginia Tech 28, Pitt 13.

Bethune-Cookman (2-0 FCS) @ Miami (1-1), noon.  Miami was exposed by Kansas State.  But the Hurricanes will protect their home turf against this FCS foe.  Prediction: Miami 40, Bethune-Cookman 10.

Connecticut (1-1) @ Maryland (2-0), 12;30 p.m.  Look, UConn looked offensively incompetent against NC State.  And Maryland looked very good against Temple.  Odds are that NC State is much better than Temple though.  Prediction: UConn 17, Maryland 12.

Furman (0-2) @ #11 Clemson (2-0), 3:00 p.m.  Clemson looked very good against Auburn and Ball State.  And now Sammy is back.  Going to get ugly for Furman.  Prediction: Clemson 45, Furman 9.

Virginia (2-0) @ Georgia Tech (1-1), 3:30 p.m.  Georgia Tech looked pretty good in a losing cause against Va Tech.  Virginia looked pretty bad in a winning cause against Penn State.  These both seem like 8 win teams, so we’ll give the edge to the home team.  Prediction: Georgia Tech 24, Virginia 13.

North Carolina (1-1) @ #19 Louisville (2-0), 3:30 p.m.  Louisville is the premiere team in the Big East, which is a little like being the thinnest person in Wal*Mart.  But North Carolina is not yet ready for prime time.  The heart says upset, but the brain says that the Cardinals are not ready to be upset just yet.  Prediction: Louisville 28, North Carolina 17.

Northwestern (2-0) @ Boston College (1-1), 3:30 p.m.  Northwestern is willing to play any non-ND, non-USC private school.  Syracuse, Vandy, and now B.C.  Really, Northwestern has a chance to be a top Big 10 team.  Boston College is still trying to find itself.  Prediction: Northwestern 27, Boston College 21.

Stony Brook (2-0) @ Syracuse (0-2), 4:00 p.m.  Wow, how can the Confidential pick an 0-2 team over a 2-0 team?  Well, Stony Brook beat Pace last week.  Syracuse was playing the NFL’s Pac-12’s Trojans.  Syracuse struggles with FCS teams and Stony Brook is a good one.  Prediction: Syracuse 38, Stony Brook 21.

South Alabama (1-1) @ North Carolina State (1-1), 6:00 p.m.  After struggling to move the ball against a stout UConn defense, NC State gets an easier foe this week.  Much easier.  Prediction: NC State 37, South Alabama 13.

North Carolina Central (1-1) @ Duke (1-1), 7:00 p.m.  NC v Duke?  Nope.  Just NCC v Duke.  Oh well.  Duke should win and probably will.  Yawn.  Prediction: Duke 30, NC Central 14.

The Confidential apologizes in advance for not picking your team.  There is also a lot of chalk here.  However, predictions are made to be accurate, not controversial.  Feel free to share why we are wrong. 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Predictions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
10 Sep 2012

ACC Football Rankings: September 10, 2012

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  With only two weeks of games played, this is how we rank the ACC football schools as of September 10, 2012:

1.  Clemson (2-0)–Clemson had the toughest two opponents of the top teams, defeating Auburn and Ball State.  Nary an FCS opponent.  So they hold their position.

2. Florida State (2-0)–Due to scheduling issues, the Seminoles have not been remotely tested yet.  But they have looked awfully good.  Can they topple nemesis Wake Forest?

3. Virginia Tech (2-0)–A good, standard FCS drubbing against Austin Peay keeps the Hokies at a solid #3.  They get reeling Pitt next.

4. Georgia Tech (1-1)–Georgia Tech took care of Presbyterian, which is nice.  We’ll keep them #4.  Barely.

5. Wake Forest (2-0)–The Demon Deacons have been far from dominant.  But they have not been losers yet.  Seminoles loom though.

6. Virginia (2-0)–Virginia beat Penn State, but barely.  Penn State’s leftovers beat themselves, particularly on special teams.

7. North Carolina State (1-1)–Well, the Wolfpack has a win over a BCS foe and a loss to a BCS foe.  We give them the edge over Syracuse and Maryland.

8. Syracuse (0-2)–If you watched the game, Syracuse more than held their own against USC.  Moral victories are not worth much, but if Syracuse played the schedule of most teams, they’d be 2-0 or 1-1.

9. Maryland (2-0)–Hard to believe, but the Terps are 2-0, with wins over William & Mary and BCS newbie (renewbie?) Temple.  Next up?   A winnable game against UConn.  Going to be some fired up players and coaches for that game.

10. Miami (1-1)–Of the four 1-1 teams, only Miami has beaten a team from a BCS conference (B.C.), and that was a road game.  So we’ll give the Hurricanes the benefit of the doubt for one more week.

11.  North Carolina (1-1)–Played valiantly against Wake Forest, before losing.  They did handle Elon pretty handily.  Yippee.

12.  Boston College (1-1)–Boston College did what it needed to do against Maine.  And then some.

13. Duke (1-1)–One step forward with the win over Florida International.  Three steps backward in getting walloped by Stanford.

14. Pitt (0-2)–Pitt looked lost for parts of the game against Cincinnati.  The talent is there, this is all about coaching right now.

Do you agree with these rankings?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
09 Sep 2012

ACC Football Week 2 Recap

Well, with Week 2 in the books, here is how it all went down in ACC-land:

GOOD NEWS:

The ACC elite beat up on lesser opponents handily.  There were no Arkansas-like upsets.  Florida State defeated Savannah State before the mercy rule kicked in, 55-0.  Georgia Tech destroyed Presbyterian, 59-3.  Virginia Tech took care of Austin Peay, 42-7.  Does the Confidential even need links to these games?  Just go here.

Don’t look past the fact that Boston College won convincingly, defeating Maine 34-3.  Maine usually gives FBS schools fits, as further confirmed by leading after the first quarter 3-0.  But BC did what it needed to do.

Clemson looked the part in defeating a decent Ball State squad, 52-27.  So now Clemson sits at 2-0.  Oh and they get Sammy Watkins back next week too.

ACC>Big East.  Nobody is claiming that UConn/Temple are LSU/Alabama, but two underwhelming ACC schools with a host of their own problems rolled into the home stadiums of two 1-0 Big East schools and pulled out victories.  North Carolina State rebounded nicely from its Tennessee loss by defeating a UConn team that has an outstanding defense, 10-7.  And how about Maryland getting to 2-0 by defeating Temple 36-27.  After last week’s offensive debacle against William & Mary, putting up 36 points on Temple is not too shabby.

Tough call here, but let’s put the Syracuse loss to USC in the “good news” department.  Losing 42-29 to a team with more offensive talent than several NFL rosters is nothing to be ashamed about.  In fact, despite being 0-2, Syracuse seems to be ready to return to college football relevance.  They MUST win the next two games though.

THE OK NEWS:

Virginia beat Penn State 17-16, which is a heck of lot better than losing to the undermanned Nittany Lions.  But this is not your grandfather’s Penn State team.  Frankly, this is not even your 2011 Miss America’s Penn State team.  And it’s hard to get too excited about a win over a team that misses an extra point and four field goals, including a 42-yarder.  With Penn State’s best players scattered throughout the country, Virginia did not look too good.

While the Confidential is proud to have picked Wake Forest to beat North Carolina, this still means that North Carolina lost.  Wake Forest showed little in their 28-27 victory to suggest that they can repeat last year’s upset of Florida State next week.  Still, 2-0 is better than the alternatives.

THE BAD NEWS:

The ACC had two games where it traveled to ranked, out-of-conference opponents.  The results were tough to swallow.  Miami completely imploded against Kansas State in the Little Apple, losing by an embarrassing score of 52-13.  Nothing good to take from this game.  And Stanford walloped Duke, 50-13.  Nobody expected Duke to win, but there was hope that this would be a competitive game.  Instead, the two ACC games featuring road games against ranked opponents resulted in a combined 104-26 trouncing.

Meanwhile, the ACC can pretend to ignore Pitt this year, but the Panthers are 0-2 and looking fairly inept in the process after losing to Cincinnati on Thursday, 34-10.  If you watched the game, you saw a coaching staff that appears overmatched.  At the very least, all of these coaching changes have Pitt a step behind its opponents.

On to Week #3…

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
06 Sep 2012
2 Comments

ACC Football Predictions for Week 2

The Confidential’s football predictions for this week’s games featuring ACC teams.

Last week was a bit tough… only 8-4.  And with all the ACC-FCS games, that’s not even good.  Although the Confidential did predict the Pitt game to be a two touchdown affair.  On to week 2:

September 6, 2012

Pitt (0-1) @ Cincinnati (0-0), 8:00 p.m.   This is an absolute disaster to predict.  A lot of improvement can happen between Week 1 and Week 2.  Meanwhile, Cincy has to go through its Week 1 jitters.  Can Ohio be responsible for three defeats of Pennsylvania teams (Youngstown St. and Ohio)?  The Confidential says “yes.”  Prediction: Cincinnati: 27, Pitt 17.

September 8, 2012

North Carolina State (0-1) @ UConn (1-0), noon.  Credit NC State for playing a tough couple of opening season games.  But a win would be nice too.  UConn supposedly has an outstanding defense.  Edge to the home team.  Prediction: UConn 17, NC State 13.

Maryland (1-0) @ Temple (1-0), noon.  Sheesh… there is an article about Temple not “looking ahead” to its game against Penn State.  Wow, how far has Maryland fallen?  Not that Penn State has not fallen even farther.  Temple’s schedule is breaking pretty well.  Prediction: Temple 24, Maryland 10.

Penn State (0-1) @ Virginia (1-0), noon.  Penn State has fallen, but Virginia is a program on the rise.  Perhaps the Nittany Lions just need to get out on the road?  Nah.  Prediction: Virginia 28, Penn State 13.

Miami (1-0) @ # 21 Kansas State (1-0), noon.  Is Miami back?  This game will tell the world quite a bit.  The Confidential believes that Miami is the better team and will pull it out.  Prediction: Miami 30, Kansas State 27.

Ball State (1-0) @ #12 Clemson (1-0), 12:30 p.m.  Clemson looked very good against Auburn.  Ball State is a good team, but not as good as Auburn.  Clemson wins its home opener.  Prediction: Clemson 41, Ball State 28.

Maine (0-0) @ Boston College (1-0), 1:00 p.m.  Boston College better be very careful, as Maine always plays well on the FBS stage.  An upset here should shock nobody.  Prediction: Boston College 27, Maine 19.

Austin Peay (0-1) @ #15 Virginia Tech (1-0), 1:30 p.m.  Virginia Tech has been upset early before.  Still, it’s not happening this week.  Prediction: Va Tech 44, Austin Peay 10.

North Carolina (1-0) @ Wake Forest (1-0), 3:00 p.m.  The only ACC game of the week features two in-state rivals.  North Carolina looked great in destroying Elon, Wake Forest looked poor in barely beating Liberty.  Naturally, this means that North Carolina must win, right?  Wrong.  Prediction: Wake Forest 28, North Carolina 20.

Syracuse (0-1) @ #2 U.S.C. (1-0), 3:30 p.m.  Coming off a win over Hawaii, and with Syracuse already saddled with a loss, it’s easy to predict a USC win.  Still… this is one game that has some upset potential.  It really does.  No balls to predict it… but do not discount an upset.  Prediction: USC 37, Syracuse 23.

Savannah State (0-1) @ #6 Florida State (1-0), 6:00 p.m.  You probably read that Savannah State struggled a bit against Oklahoma State, losing 84-0.  It will be better this week, but not by much.  Prediction: Florida State 59, Savannah State: 7.

Presbyterian (1-0) @ Georgia Tech (0-1), 7:00 p.m.  Well, only one of these two teams has a win.  Neither of these teams will have two wins next week.  Prediction: Georgia Tech 31, Presbyterian 10.

Duke (1-0) @ #25 Stanford (1-0), 10:30 p.m.  Duke looked OK in its opener, while Stanford survived Game 1 of the post-Andrew Luck era.  Duke will not handle the road trip well.  Prediction: Stanford 38, Duke 23.

The Confidential apologizes in advance for not picking your team.  There is also a lot of chalk here.  However, predictions are made to be accurate, not controversial.  Feel free to share why we are wrong. 

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04 Sep 2012
1 Comment

North Carolina Academic Issues: No Punishment Looming For Now

Previously, the Confidential observed that North Carolina’s academic “scandal” seemed highly overblown.  Then, the Confidential had some fun at North Carolina’s expense.  But now it looks like North Carolina has a good chance of being cleared of any wrongdoing.  Indeed, it issued a statement yesterday indicating that the university and the NCAA did not find any violations.  This means no punishment is currently looming for North Carolina.

The key parts of the statement are as follows:

The University first notified the NCAA that it had identified potential academic issues involving student-athletes in African and Afro-American Studies courses on August 24, 2011.  We asked the NCAA to join us in our investigation of these issues, and they agreed to do that. A member of the NCAA enforcement staff traveled to Chapel Hill several times in the fall of 2011 and participated throughout the investigation.

* * *

Based on the joint review, UNC and the NCAA staff concluded there were no violations of current NCAA rules or student-athlete eligibility issues related to courses in African and Afro-American Studies. As a result, the NCAA did not add any allegations or include this issue during the University’s appearance in October 2011 before the Committee on Infractions.

* * *

On Aug. 23, 2012, University Counsel Leslie Strohm and Senior Associate Dean Jonathan Hartlyn provided an update to the enforcement staff.  The NCAA staff reaffirmed to University officials that no NCAA rules appeared to have been broken.

The boldface was added by the Confidential.  The import is that the NCAA will not be punishing North Carolina.

Yet.  Indeed, the statement concludes that North Carolina will keep the NCAA informed as developments warrant.  So, if anything new develops, the Tar Heels may yet run into trouble.

But, for now, Tar Heels fans can rest easily.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Scandal and tagged , ,
04 Sep 2012

ACC Football Rankings: September 4, 2012

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  With only only one week of games played, this is how we rank the ACC football schools as of September 4, 2012:

1.  Clemson (1-0)–Clemson had the toughest opponent of Week 1 (Auburn) and still won.  Not sure that Florida State will wait long to  surge past, but Clemson gets the nod for Week 1.

2. Florida State (1-0)–Hey, a 69-3 drubbing of Murray State could be worse.  See the bottom part of the standings.

3. Virginia Tech (1-0)–An important 20-17 win over Georgia Tech in overtime gets the Hokies off to a good start.

4. Georgia Tech (0-1)–Despite stumbling to Virginia Tech on the road, the Yellow Jackets get the nod over Miami and Virginia due to the opponent.

5. Miami (1-0)–Miami went on the road to B.C. and avenged last year’s loss.  32 points was a lot to give up, but the offense looked good.

6. Virginia (1-0)–Richmond is a tough FCS foe, but Virginia handled them appropriately.  Started strong and ended strong, en route to a 41-16 win.

7. North Carolina (1-0)–Well, that was a great way to start the Fedora era–a 62-0 drubbing of Elon.  Not sure we learned much about UNC though.

8. Syracuse (0-1)–If you watched the game, Syracuse dominated a very good Northwestern team.  Silly special teams mistakes made this game close enough for Northwestern to pull it out.

9. Duke (1-0)–Duke looked pretty good in beating a game Florida International team, 46-26.  This was not a squeaker.

10. North Carolina State (0-1)–No shame in losing to an improving Tennessee at a neutral site.  It would have been a great win to take the next step though.

11.  Wake Forest (1-0)–Looked pretty vulnerable in barely beating Liberty, 20-17.  Unlike Maryland, will give Wake the benefit of the doubt that this was just opening week jitters.

12.  Boston College (0-1)–Unfortunately, B.C.’s opening week draw of Miami was too much.  They kept it close but that’s little consolation.

13. Maryland (1-0)–A 7-6 win over William & Mary is not exactly inspiring.  Especially when that TD comes in the 4th quarter.

14. Pitt (0-1)–You lost to an FCS team, you go to the bottom.  You lose at home, but 10+ points to an FCS team?  Wow.

Do you agree with these rankings?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
29 Aug 2012

ACC Football Predictions for Week 1

The Confidential’s football predictions for this week’s games featuring ACC teams:

August 31, 2012

Tennessee vs. NC State (in Atlanta), 7:30 p.m. This is a great opening week game.  A neutral site.  Two teams that may or may not be ready to take the next step.  It’s a classic coin toss.  We’ll go “homer” on this ontoe.  Prediction: North Carolina State 28, Tennessee 20.

September 1, 2012

Northwestern at Syracuse, 12 p.m.  With all the ESPN employees that graduated from these two schools, you have to figure this will be a big gambling week in Bristol.  But this one is even more of a coin toss than Tennessee/NC State.  This Syracuse team could be 3-9 or 9-3.  Homer on the “coin toss’ again.  Prediction: Syracuse 30, Northwestern 20.

Elon at North Carolina, 12:30 p.m.  A new season dawns for the Tar Heels and new coach Larry Fedora.  There is too much talent left over for Elon to remain competitive.  Prediction: North Carolina 45, Elon 10.

William & Mary at Maryland, 3 p.m. Maryland started last year 1-0, before disaster struck.  They cannot start 0-1 this year.  Despite some offensive growing pains in the first half, they will not.  Prediction: Maryland 24,William & Mary 9.

Richmond at Virginia, 3 p.m.  Virginia head coach Mike London knows that Richmond is capable of winning.  So this game will not have any concerns about looking past an FCS foe.  Still, Virginia has too much talent to lose.  Prediction: Virginia 31, Richmond 17.

Miami at Boston College, 3:30 p.m.  Both teams really need to win this opener.  While Boston College closed strong, the Confidential has a lot of faith in Al Golden.  Prediction: Miami 21, Boston College 12.

Murray State at No. 7 Florida State. 6 p.m.  Florida State is going to be great this year.  It has been written everywhere.  This experienced, talented team will destroy Murray State.  Prediction: Florida State 45, Murray State 10.

Youngstown State at Pittsburgh. 6 p.m.  Pitt should have no trouble with Youngstown State.  But that does not mean that they will not, especially with the injuries.  Prediction: Pitt 27, Youngstown State 13.

Liberty at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m.  Wake Forest had a tough loss in the opener last year, but will avoid that this year against an FCS foe.  Wake has a chance to make some real noise this year too.  Prediction: Wake Forest 31, Liberty 14.

FIU at Duke, 7 p.m.  This is a tough game to call.  Duke should be improved, but FIU is no slouch.  This just seems like an upset waiting to happen.  Prediction: FIU 24, Duke 20.

Auburn vs. No. 14 Clemson (in Atlanta), 7 p.m.  In another Atlanta-based, SEC-ACC battle, Clemson gets a chance to move past the disappointing finish of last year by defeating a sound SEC program.  Even without Sammy Watkins, the Confidential likes Clemson to do that.  Prediction: Clemson 31, Auburn 23.

September 3, 2012

Georgia Tech at No. 16 Virginia Tech, 8 p.m. Virginia Tech is capable of losing to anyone in September.  Georgia Tech is a very tough foe.  But Virginia Tech’s defense will rise to the occasion.  Prediction: Virginia Tech 24, Georgia Tech 20.

The Confidential apologizes in advance for not picking your team.  There is also a lot of chalk here.  However, predictions are made to be accurate, not controversial.  Feel free to share why we are wrong. 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Predictions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
27 Aug 2012

The Confidential ACC Football Rankings (Week # 1)

With the football season a mere three days away, the time has come for the Confidential’s First Football Rankings.  As with last year, Syracuse and Pitt will be included in these rankings.  Here they are:

  1. Florida State: It’s put up or shut up time for Florida State.  Well, not really.  After all, the Big XII may be crossing its fingers when it says it is not interested in expansion.
  2. Virginia Tech:  Until someone proves otherwise, you might as well pencil in Virginia Tech every year for the conference championship game.
  3. Clemson: After a long off-season trying to forget about the Orange Bowl, the Tigers get to take it out on an opponent.  Unfortunately, it’s not a cupcake–it’s Auburn.
  4. Virginia:  Virginia hopes to maintain the momentum it regained last year.  Need to care of business against FCS Richmond.
  5. North Carolina State: A win against Tennessee, even if the SEC foe is down, would be a great start.  The ACC needs wins like this.
  6. Georgia Tech: It’s hard to predict a win over Virginia Tech in the opener, but Virginia Tech can be vulnerable early in the season.  Ask James Madison. Well, not the former President.
  7. North Carolina: Elon?  Ugh.  Enjoy that game.
  8. Pittsburgh: Because of WVU leaving the Big East, Pitt has two games against FCS foes.  First up… Youngstown State.
  9. Wake Forest: After the disappointing opener loss at Syracuse last year, Wake gets an easier foe in Liberty.  Should start 1-0 obviously.
  10. Miami: Boston College is a tough opener.  At least Miami will not have to deal with all the suspensions like last year.
  11. Syracuse: With Syracuse’s schedule, they pretty much NEED to win against a good Northwestern team.  We’ll see.
  12. Boston College: BC went 0-6 against FBS foes to start last year.  A win over Miami would be a great way to start this year out.
  13. Duke: Florida International may not be a strong team, but Duke has no business looking past anyone.
  14. Maryland: If Maryland is going to turn it around, they absolutely cannot lose to William & Mary.  Last year they opened with a win and the season imploded.

This will get all mixed up soon enough.  Let the games begin….

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
21 Aug 2012
2 Comments

Ranking the ACC Out-of-Conference Schedules

The 14 ACC schools certainly have different scheduling philosophies for out-of-conference games.  However, there is not one team that has a truly embarrassing slate, especially relative to the program at issue.  Here is the Confidential’s ranking of teams and the degree of difficulty for their OOC schedules:

Syracuse–USC and Missouri.  That alone puts them atop the list.  Add in Northwestern and Minnesota as two more BCS-level opponents.  Even Stony Brook is a high-level FCS opponent.  Syracuse gets the AC/DC Honorary “Big Balls” Award.

Miami–Kansas State, South Florida and Notre Dame are three high quality opponents.  Only Bethune-Cookman is a sure win.

Florida State–Florida and South Florida are very challenging opponents.  And FSU gets points for being willing to schedule West Virginia, even though that game was cancelled due to West Virginia fleeing the Big East.

Clemson–Auburn and South Carolina are two high-quality OOC opponents also.  Ball State may be tricky too.

Boston College: Notre Dame and Northwestern will be challenges.  Maine is good for an FCS program.  Army may or may not be good.

Virginia–Penn State was supposed to be the key game, but that is now weaker. TCU remains as a very tough opponent though.  Louisiana Tech and Richmond round out the schedule.

Pitt: Virginia Tech and Notre Dame are tough opponents.  Youngstown State and Gardner-Webb mean two FCS opponents.  Buffalo is not an overly difficult game for OOC #5.

Virginia Tech–returned to its Big East roots with games and Pitt and Cincinnati.  The other games are against Bowling Green and Austin Peay.  Meh.

Maryland–West Virginia and UConn, which gives Maryland the edge over NC State.  Temple is not a shabby third OOC game.  William and Mary round out the schedule.

North Carolina State–Tennessee and UConn will be OK opponents, but this is not the Tennessee of the 1990s and UConn did not exist back then.  South Alabama and Citadel are decent for their mid-major/FCS levels, respectively.

Georgia Tech–Georgia is always tough.  Brigham Young may or may not be a challenge, but Middle Tennessee State and Presbyterian are not going to be.

Wake Forest–Notre Dame will be tough, and you can never look past Vanderbilt.  Army and Liberty are also on the schedule.

Duke–Besides Stanford, the Blue Devils play a soft Florida International, Memphis, and North Carolina Central.

North Carolina–Louisville will be good, but Idaho, Elon, and East Carolina are underwhelming.  North Carolina gets the Beck Honorary “Loser” Award for 2012.  [And let’s not talk scandal either.]

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Aug 2012

The Confidential ACC Football Rankings (Week # -1)

With the football season a mere two weeks away, the time has come for the Confidential’s Pre-Preseason Football Rankings.  As with last year, Syracuse and Pitt will be included in these rankings.  In any event, here they are:

  1. Florida State: Sooner or later, the King must be the King.  It has been a long time since the Seminoles were dominant.  Not sure it will happen this year, but they have the inside track for the ACC Championship.
  2. Virginia Tech:  While Miami and Florida State have been the ACC Kings, it is Virginia Tech that has carried the ACC most seasons since the realignment.  The Hokies slide above Clemson due to divisional differences.
  3. Clemson: The first thing Clemson needs to do is forget about the late-season collapse.  The second thing it needs to do is look at all the talent on both sides of the ball.  It’s going to be fun.  Don’t count the Tigers out.
  4. Virginia:  The Confidential likes what happened with Virginia last year and envisions the team building off that success.  It is amazing what a good coaching hire can do to rejuvenate a program.  That Penn State game looks a lot less daunting right now too.
  5. North Carolina State: The Wolfpack have a fairly talented crew returning.  The difficulty of the schedule is questionable.  Tennessee and UConn could go either way.
  6. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets open the season with Virginia Tech.  If the Tech battle goes Ga Tech’s way, this #6 ranking will be low.
  7. North Carolina: The OOC game against Louisville will be tough, especially on the road.  But Elon, Idaho, and East Carolina is not too tough for the remainder of the slate.
  8. Pittsburgh: Every year, the Panthers seem ready to make a run.  Every year they do not.  So, it is #8 for Pitt until they capitalize on potential.
  9. Wake Forest: Not sure where Wake Forest is going with this OOC slate.  Anything from 1-3 to 3-1 is possible with Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Army, and Liberty.  Pencil in a win over Florida state though.
  10. Miami: A reasonably challenging OOC slate with USF, Notre Dame, and Kansas State.  But Miami gets North Carolina State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech at home.
  11. Syracuse: An insane OOC, with preseason #1 USC, Missouri, Northwestern, and even Minnesota.  Is any other team playing 4 BCS conference teams OOC?  Throw in 4 conference road games and the USC game being home but on a neutral site and this has the makings of a very difficult year.
  12. Boston College: Boston College rallied last year, showing some serious character.  This should pay off in 2013.  Just not quite bowl-ready though.
  13. Duke: Outside of Stanford, Duke’s OOC is very soft.  This #13 ranking may end up being a little low.  But Duke’s going to have to prove it on the field before the Confidential believes.
  14. Maryland: Well, it cannot get WORSE for Randy Edsall, can it?  A tough OOC slate with Temple, UConn, West Virginia and William & Mary?  That’s right… William AND Mary.

The Confidential predicts a Seminoles-Hokies battle for the ACC Championship, with the Seminoles showing the world that they are back.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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