The Confidential

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Archive for the tag “Virginia”

27 Oct 2011

Big Tests This Saturday

There are a number of interesting games this Saturday.

College football is about having elite teams.  Having a 9-3 conference champion may show that your league has parity, but the nation only cares about the undefeated teams.  Clemson has a chance of reaching that elite status this year, which would be huge for the ACC.  This week, Clemson will be tested by Georgia Tech.  While the Yellow Jackets are reeling right now, they are a formidable foe.  The league would benefit from having Clemson win this game.  And win out until the conference championship game.

In the 1990’s, Florida State could be counted on for 10 and 11 win seasons.  Now?  Not so much.  A game against North Carolina State is the type of game that the old Florida State would handle. The ACC needs Florida State to return to elite status.  Losing a game like this is another step in the wrong direction.

Wake Forest has been a surprise team this year.  After narrowly losing to Syracuse in the opener, Wake Forest has acquitted itself well this year.  North Carolina did well out-of-conference, but has struggled within the conference.  This should be a great matchup.

Boston College v Maryland is not a good game because of the prowess of the two schools.  But it may represent Boston College’s best chance of winning a conference game this year.  Recall that Maryland lost to Temple.  And it was not even close.

Virginia Tech gets Duke.  Duke is improved this year, so Virginia Tech has to be careful.  The Hokies’ can occasionally be vulnerable in games that the rest of the country considers “easy wins.”

After losing to Maryland in the opener, Miami has done reasonably well this year.  The ACC needs Miami to step up and win the winnable games.  While Virginia is on the upswing, the ACC needs its elite programs to return to prominence.

For the new members, Syracuse heads to Louisville this week.  For ACC fans, the rooting interest is easy.  A return to national respectability for Syracuse will help the conference.

And congrats to Pitt for beating UConn in a rare Wednesday night game.  I am sure Pitt will not miss having to play midweek games.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
26 Oct 2011
1 Comment

As Lee Corso would say… “NOT SO FAST” West Virginia…

Apparently, West Virginia to the Big XII has hit a snag.  According to ESPN:

West Virginia has been notified by the Big 12 Conference that its expansion process is on hold, a school source told ESPN’s Joe Schad on Wednesday.

The Big 12 is waiting on Missouri formally to withdraw from the conference and that there has been some late “hard lobbying” by Louisville for Big 12 inclusion, the source told Schad.

Interestingly, it looks like politics is becoming a factor, as Kentucky’s politicians are getting involved.   This conference realignment stuff has always been very heated.

The ACC knows firsthand about this.  Recall the expansion efforts to include Syracuse and Boston College that were derailed (temporarily in both cases) when Virginia politics got involved.

This could get ugly.

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , , ,
26 Oct 2011
2 Comments

ACC Football Rankings

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  Here is how we view the ACC football schools as of October 26, 2011:

1.  Clemson–hard to argue with 8-0.

2. Virginia Tech—  again, hard to argue with 7-1.

3. Miami–the Kansas St. loss looks more impressive with every week.  The win over Georgia Tech makes this an easy selection for #3.

4.  Georgia Tech— this starts to get more difficult.  The losses to Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Miami cause some concern.  But with games against #1 and #2 coming up, we’ll find out real soon whether this team was a mirage.

5.  Syracuse– Fresh off the win over previously ranked West Virginia, and coupled with an early season win over Wake Forest, I’ll give the Orange the nod here.

6.  Wake Forest– That season opening loss to Syracuse looks better now, but the win over Florida State is key here.

7.  Florida State–  The most impressive wins are Duke and Virginia.  This is not your father’s Florida State team.

8.  North Carolina State– The loss to Cincinnati is looking more justifiable now.  At some point, this team needs an upset though.

9.  North Carolina– With a win over Rutgers and a win over Virginia, we’ll discount the three losses to teams at the top of these standings.

10. Virginia– The win over Georgia Tech may say more about Georgia Tech fizzling, but it is the best win among the remaining teams.

11. Maryland– This gets REALLY tough down here.  Maryland did beat a rattled Miami team Week 1.  They also rallied against West Virginia.  Grasping at straws at this point.

12. Pittsburgh— Pitt has played a tough-ish schedule, so we’ll give them the nod here.  The win over South Florida is now looking less impressive though.

13. Duke— Overcoming a loss to Richmond is progress.  The win over Boston College certainly helps.  The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Devils though.  Hard to see them leapfrogging anyone.

14. Boston College– The anti-Clemson.  No wins over a FBS school yet.  Ugh.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
25 Oct 2011

West Virginia to the Big XII?

Nobody can call this a surprise.  I have never quite understood why the Big XII would select Louisville–a relative newcomer to competitive football–over a school with the history of West Virginia. West Virginia has equivalent academics, an entire state fanbase with no real competition, good basketball, and football on a level to compete with anyone (except Syracuse, apparently).

The disappointing thing is that I am sure that Syracuse and Pitt would have loved to see West Virginia join Notre Dame in moving the ACC to 16 teams someday.  While West Virginia’s academics are subpar, Notre Dame would make up for that.  Plus, it is not hard to salivate over a conference division like this:

  • North: BC, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, ND, Virginia, Va Tech, and Maryland
  • South: Duke, NC, Wake Forest, NC State, Clemson, Ga Tech, FSU, and Miami.

That surely would have made FSU and Clemson happy.  A strong commitment to football. The single greatest threat to the ACC is either (a) the Big Ten wooing Maryland or Va Tech; or (b) the SEC wooing Florida State or Va Tech.  Anything that can keep the football powers (historically, if not recently) happy is good for the entire conference.  While Rutgers may have superior academics and UConn has superior basketball, it is West Virginia that is best suited to placate the football schools.

Of course, Notre Dame has not let out any suggestion that it is ready to give up treasured football independence.  If they are even a few steps away from considering a conference affiliation for football, it is being done entirely behind the scenes. It sure does not seem imminent.

And… it would be naive to think that West Virginia to the Big XII would be permanent.  As long as Texas and Oklahoma have wandering eyes, that conference will always be the least stable conference not named the Big East.  So the ND/WVU dream scenario can always resume in 2018 or 2025 or whenever.

Posted by acaffrey in Conference Realignment and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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