Picking the ACC: The Rest of September

Statement of Unintelligence
The First Half of September

September 23rd

Self-evident: Boston College at N.C. State, Rice at Florida State, Georgia Tech at Virginia, Florida International at Maryland, and Virginia Tech at Cincinnati.

North Carolina at Clemson: We've already covered my unreasonable optimism for this, and all, Tar Heel football teams, but I have my limits. Although I can see UNC slipping by (c.f. grandeur, delusions of), I can't say with a straight face they'll make it out of Spetember undefeated. And since I've already christened Virginia Tech "Worse-Than-Clemson", I have to go with the Tigers here. Well, than and them being the better team and all.

Wake Forest at Mississippi: It's the one winnable SEC game on the ACC slate, so there's definitely a degree of wishful thinking involved here. Ole Miss's offense is built around a transfer from Tennessee and another from Indiana, with a fair amount of new position coaches being thrown into the mix, so I really have no idea which way this team will go. Better to throw your lot in with the deacon you know, in this case.

September 30th

Self-evident: Maine at Boston College, Louisiana Tech at Clemson, Houston at Miami and Liberty at Wake Forest.

Duke at Virginia: Here's a challenge to my legions of readers. And by "legions" I mean you. In the back. You can get back to looking for the South Carolina cheerleading hazing photos later. Do this for me. Find an ACC preview, any ACC preview, that has Duke winning a conference game. Because I'm sure not about to write one.

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech: This is where the three weeks up cupcakes pays off for the Yellow Jackets. They face a Virginia Tech that is either completely untested (if I'm wrong) or already exposed by UNC (if I'm right) a few weeks prior. Either way, the Hokies are still solely a defensive team, and Georgia Tech has the weapons to overcome the best of defenses. This is where Georgia Tech returns to the national stage.

So after the month of September, I'm looking at:

Team Overall ACC Team Overall ACC Georgia Tech 4-1 2-0 Clemson 5-0 3-0 Miami 3-1 1-0 Wake Forest 5-0 1-0 North Carolina 3-1 1-1 Boston College 4-1 1-1 Virginia 3-2 1-1 Maryland 3-1 0-0 Virginia Tech 3-2 1-2 N.C. State 2-2 0-1 Duke 1-3 0-3 Florida State 2-2 0-2 You can't imagine how much amusement I get from putting Wake Forest at the top of the Atlantic and Florida State at the bottom. Alas, it won't last, but it should make for some interesting reading going into October.