2010 College Football Preview: ACC

The ACC is known as the conference where national contenders play, with most league games having major implications. One or more ACC teams end up playing at the end of the season, with a league school often hoisting the national championship crystal ball after the final game.

Oh, sorry. This isn’t the ACC Basketball preview: it’s the one for ACC Football.

Yet again, the ACC season will begin with five teams nationally ranked, but expect only one or two of those teams to be in the final poll after the BCS Championship. Both divisions are wide open, but deeply unbalanced. four of the six Coastal Division teams have BCS aspirations, while the Atlantic Divisions teams will be happy just to make the ACC Championship Game and have a shot at playing in the Orange Bowl.

Virginia Tech is my pick to win the ACC this year. Here are some people to watch in the league:

Best Offensive Player: Tyrod Taylor QB-Virginia Tech. The ACC is chock full of talented QB’s. Players like Christian Ponder (FSU), Jacory Harris (MIA), Josh Nesbitt (GT), and Kyle Parker (CLEM) are all experienced signal callers. But, the best of them all is Tyrod Taylor. He has an explosive arm and the ability to pull it down and run. Combined with running backs Ryan Williams & Darren Evans, plus an experienced WR corps, expect Tech to have an offensive juggernaut this season. In fact, I’m picking Taylor to be a sleeper for the Heisman Trophy, especially if he keeps making plays like last year against Nebraska.

Best Defensive Player: Luke Kuechly MLB-Boston College. He stepped in as a freshman and led the league with 142 tackles, while being named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year. He’ll be even more of a force with a year of experience behind him and moving to the Middle from the weak side position he played last year.

Freshman to Watch: Roderick McDowell RB-Clemson. The Tigers may have taken a loss with C.J. Spiller going to the NFL, but this guy is a strong runner and may be a better pass receiver than CJ was. He’ll start the season as the backup, but expect him to be the starter for the Tigers by the end of the season.

Coach Least Likely to be in the League in 2011: Ralph Friedgen-Maryland. I’m a Maryland grad and a huge Terps fan, but I’m not going out on a limb to say his seat is extremely warm. Two winning seasons in the last six will do that to a coach. With a new school president and AD arriving, he has to win quickly to save his job. A new QB and sketchy defense will make doing this extremely difficult.

Storyline to Watch: Jimbo Fisher- Florida State. Bobby Bowden built Florida State from nothing to national power, only to watch them fade to irrelevance in the last few years. Now Bobby is gone, but his shadow still looms over Tallahassee. How Fisher does with the players Bowden left will be worth watching. Fisher made a very good move bringing in Mark Stoops from Arizona to run his defense.

ACC Darkhorse: Boston College. Picked by many to finish last in 2009, then rocked by the cancer diagnosis of Mark Herzlich, the Eagles could have gone nowhere under Coach Frank Spaziani. Instead, they rallied to win eight games. With Herzlich returning, the Eagles will have arguably the best LB corps in college football. If 27 year old QB Dave Shinskie improves, and his OL stays healthy, combined with the weakest schedule in the league; the Eagles will make a strong push to return to the Championship Game.

Game of the Year: Virginia Tech at Miami, Nov 20. This game will mark the end of Virginia Tech’s November gauntlet, as they face Georgia Tech, UNC, and Miami consecutively. It also should settle the Coastal Division championship, as well as being a battle of rivals going all the way back to Big East days. For this game to have any national meaning, the Hokies must beat Boise State on Labor Day Night at FedEx Field. There are thousands of Tech grads living in the DC area, making this a virtual home game for Frank Beamer’s boys. If they knock off the Broncos, and get a young defense in shape, the Hokie offense should carry them into the running to play in Phoenix on January 10, 2011.

Heads Are Starting To Roll

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried and Georgia coach Dennis Felton were fired mid-season. Well now we have the first coach fired after the season.

According to Foxsports.com writer Jeff Goodman, Virginia has fired their caoch Dave Leitao.

Leitao was hired at Virginia four years ago after spending time as the DePaul head coach. In his second season he lead Virginia to a regular season first-place finish. But after two mediocre seasons, Leitao is out at Virginia.

Just goes to show you how competitive the ACC is. Leitao led Virginia to a first-place finish in the ACC two years ago, and now he is out of the job.

Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel and Xavier coach Sean Miller are expected to be the front runners for the Virginia job.

Capel would be the logical choice, especially after he coached at Virginia Commonwealth. But Capel has a great job at Oklahoma in a great conference in the Big 12. Miller would be a great choice.

Miller could join a line of former Xavier coaches who left that program to lead at a bigger school. He would join Skip Prosser and Thad Matta, if he leaves, as former Xavier coaches leaving for a bigger school and bigger conference.

Selection Sunday Open Thread

Today is the last day of conference championships. By 3pm today, the selection committee will choose 34-at large teams to go along with the 31 conference champions to make up the field for the NCAA tournament.

Championships determined today:

ACC Championship

Big Ten Championship

SEC Championship

Southland Championship

Here is an open thread for your comments or you can go over to the live blog over at Fire Andy Reid Now!.

Have fun

Conference Tournament Open Thread

I will be in and out today so I am posting an open thread for today.

The main games being played today are:

ACC Quarterfinals

Big Ten Quarterfinals

Big East Semifinals

Pac-10 Semifinals

Patriot League Championship

Please leave your comments on today's action.

Updated, 11:08: North Carolina has just snuck by Virginia Tech with the help of the refs. The ACC refs just flat out stink. This loss though will knock Tech into the NIT.

Updated, 11:12: Michigan St. has gotten by Michigan. The most shocking thing of this game is a Big Ten team reached the 60 point plateau.

Updated, 11:29: A shocker! Jeanine Edwards is at the ACC tournament and not at the SEC tournament making Billy Gillispie mad. ESPN might have finally learned.

Updated, 1:42: Florida St. needed every second to beat Georgia Tech. And the good news for them. They play North Carolina tomorrow, should be fun for them.

Updated, 1:46: Ohio St. escapes with a win against Wisconsin. They play Michigan St. next. The most shocking part of the game, Brent Musberger saying the Big Ten could have eight teams in the tourney. Yes! Eight teams! I don't know if Brent was drinking already, but that would be crazy if the Big Ten gets eight teams in the tourney. I could make a case for Michigan St. Illinois, Purdue, and Penn St. but no one else. Brent needs to lay off the Johnnie Walker so early in the day.

UNC-Duke Live Blog

Who: North Carolina vs. Duke
When: 3PM Eastern, Sunday, 3-8-09
Where: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Why: This game is always about respect and the ACC championship.

So I hope you can join me today. You can go to the live blog by clicking here.

In the meantime, enjoy the greatest YouTube video of all-time:

The ACC Is Better Than Expected

While everyone at the beginning of the college basketball said the Big East was going to be the deepest conference of the year. They forgot about the ACC.

The ACC has four teams in the Top 25 and three teams in the Top 10. While Wake Forest lost last night to Virginia Tech and will lose out at the top spot, Duke will take over as the number one team in the nation.

The ACC is one of the deepest conferences in the nation. And many would say that the conference is deeper than the Big East. North Carolina, who was the unanimous number one team at the beginning of the year, lost their first two ACC games. Just goes to show what the conference is all about.

Besides North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, and Clemson other teams in the ACC could crash the March Madness party.

Florida St., Miami, Virginia Tech, and Maryland could also reach the tournament. This would give the ACC eight teams in the tournament. While the Big East was over hyped at the beginning of the year, the ACC is finally starting to get looked at.