Brian and Jeff of BC Interruption are taking time off from clipping coupons from the Sunday paper to host this week's ACC Blogger Roundtable. It focuses on the ACC's non-conference play so far and BC's big game against Florida State this weekend with ESPN GameDay in attendance.
Now that most ACC teams' non-conference schedules are winding down and we are starting league play, it's time to take the vitals of the ACC's play in non-conference action. Here is how the ACC fared against the rest of college football through 4 weeks (based on my back-of-the-envelope math):BCS Conferences
vs. Big East 2-2 (.500)
vs. Pac 10 1-1 (.500)
vs. Big XII 1-2 (.333)
vs. SEC 0-2 (.000)
The Rest
vs. I-A Indep. 1-0 (1.000)
vs. MAC 1-0 (1.000)
vs. Conference USA 2-1 (.666)
vs. Sun Belt 1-1 (.500)
vs. Mountain West 1-2 (.333)
vs. FCS 9-2 (.818)
Overall 19-13 (.594)
Comment on your team's (if applicable, sorry Miami) and the conference's non-conference performance through 4 weeks. As a conference, what head-to-head record against another conference stands out to you most?
The Hokies are 2-1 in non-conference play so far with wins over Marshall (CUSA) and Nebraska (Big 12) and a neutral site loss to Alabama (SEC). The Hokies looked good against the Thundering Herd, likely the worst team Tech will play all year, had a miracle win against the Huskers and kept the game close against the Crimson Tide. The Hokies are facing one of the tougher non-conference slates in the ACC and have played to seed, thus far. The win over Nebraska was huge, even if it was ugly.
The league as a whole is taking a beating. FSU's win over BYU was a big one, but TCU has gone on the road to beat two ACC teams and the bottom quarter of the league has been downright embarrassing. But a Miami win on Saturday against Oklahoma would go a long way to righting the ship. It would give us a .500 record against the Big 12 and the ACC still has plenty of chances to get wins against God's Conference as well.
(Because we like to fan the ACC vs. Big East flames ...) The only BCS conferences the ACC has a .500 record against so far this year is the Big East (4 games) and the Pac-10 (2 games). Yikes. In a weekend where 2 of 3 Big East teams knocked off ACC teams, we have to ask. The ACC is still > Big East, right? Right??
Of course it is. The loss to Rutgers hurts because I don't think Rutgers is very good this year, but Maryland is looking downright brutal. The Big East has one very good team (Cincinnati), one team that could be very good (South Florida) and a bunch of teams who will end up being mediocre this season. The ACC is better because it's better from top to bottom. The problem is, if Cincinnati somehow goes unbeaten and makes a cast to be in the BCSCG, then the Big East will have a trump card.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is losing to a CAA team and 10 is getting the ACC some much needed street cred by winning the BCS MNC, how satisfied are you with your AD's non-conference scheduling this year? With the non-conference opponents your program has lined up over the next few years, will you be more or less satisfied?
I give it a 10. I love getting to play in big games like the ones against Alabama and Nebraska. CUSA is a respectable mid-major conference and the game against ECU will be a tough one. But that will give us non-conference games that gave the Hokies plenty of exposure. The Alabama game was on national over-the-air TV, the Nebraska game was available to a good portion of the country on ABC and ESPN2 and the ECU game will be on ESPN. Not many other teams can claim that with three of their four non-conference games.
The loss to Alabama makes it very tough for the Hokies to get to the BCSCG. They have to win out and get help, but they're already No. 6 in the country. If they win the rest of their games, they have a decent chance at getting to Pasadena. But, I'm not getting my hopes up for a 13-1 season and a trip the the Left Coast.
The Hokies need games like the ones against Alabama and Nebraska to get them on the national radar. They've never won a national title and don't have the reputation other schools have. Without big-name non-conference pelts, they won't be able to get the BCSCG. However, the Hokies won't play another BCS OOC game until 2012 when they travel to Cincy and Pitt in the same year. However, Kansas State, Ohio State and Wisconsin are all on future schedules.
Last one, ESPN's College GameDay is heading to Chestnut Hill this week for Florida State (2-2) at Boston College (3-1). Both teams are unranked. Parts of the blogosphere are going completely ape shit over the WWL's selection. Justify the selection (if you can). If not, tell us why you dislike the selection.
I love that GameDay will be at BC this Saturday. Yes, there are better games out there, but GameDay hits enough SEC schools through the year and if they went to Miami, they'd be broadcasting from an empty parking lot. Herzy's story is definitely worth a trip to Chestnut Hill and the BC students will give a good showing for the live telecast.
If Washington had won against Stanford, you could make an OK argument for the Willingham Bowl as GameDay location, but the Huskies' showing in the Willingham Bowl before the Willingham Bowl made that a no-go. The only other worthy location was USC at Cal, but my guess the 7 a.m. West Coast start time for GameDay turned ESPN off to the idea.