If you think the Big Ten had a bad start, and I do, then you have to label the ACC under the category of “horrendous” as far as starts go.
The two most glaring knocks against the conference come in losses to Division I-AA (FCS) teams.
Knock #1:
Duke, a team that many though could be a darkhorse in the ACC this year, laid more than an egg in Saturday’s opener again Richmond. They looked like District 5 in Mighty Ducks before Emilio Estevez became head coach after drinking and driving.
The Blue Devils managed only a safety in the first quarter and trailed 7-2 going in to the second. The Devils then traded twouchdowns with the Spiders in the second quarter, trailing 14-9 at halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, Richmond outscored Duke 10-7 in the fourth to win 24-16.
An eight-point loss to a I-AA team is a big deal, regardless of your preseason standing.
Knock #2:
If Duke was District 5, then Virginia was the entire D3 movie (the biggest mistake in film). The Cavaliers lost by 12 points … 12 POINTS! … to William and Mary, more or less ending Al Groh’s career as a head coach.
Virginia led 14-13 at halftime and were subsequently shut out in the second half, 13-0.
The combination of both were enough to cloud the Big Ten’s weak showing. That’s not all for the ACC, though.
Knock #3:
North Carolina St. started the college football season off with just three points in a Thursday night loss to South Carolina.
Knock #4:
Wake Forest dropped a rather large game at home to Baylor, 24-21.
Knock #5:
In one of the marquee games in Week 1, Virginia Tech could not produce much offensively, nor hold off Alabama’s offense in a 34-24 loss.
Knocks #3, #4, and #5 are just as damaging to the conference as losing to Division I-AA teams. They show that the conference can’t compete with other power conferences in supposedly equally-matched games at both the mid- and upper-levels.
Add to that the inability of the lower-tier teams to take care of clearly inferior opponents and you have a conference that — from top to bottom — isn’t very good.
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Chris | TBP
