- The ACC Opens Weakly
- Last season, I made the argument --successfully, I think-- that the ACC was a good league. Though they didn't have any teams in the national title race, they had about 12 teams (out of 12) that were good enough to go to a bowl game. The #5-12 teams in the ACC would dominate the #7-12 teams in any other league, even though #s 1-4 would struggle. Despite the effectiveness of that reasoning last season, the ACC's national profile took another hit on opening Saturday when most of the teams lost.
- The ACC was 4-6 in games against teams from other leagues Saturday, including 0-3 against teams from BCS automatic-bid conferences.
- The ACC was 0-2 against the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision ("the minor leagues"), as the University of Virginia got thumped 26-14 *_at_home_* by the College of William & Mary, and Duke got whipped *_also_at_home_* by the defending FCS champion Richmond Spiders.
- Wake Forest fell *_at_home_* to the Baylor Bears, allowing that team to snap its 12-game/3-year road losing streak against BCS squads.
- Virginia Tech, the ACC's flagship school, was beaten by Alabama in Atlanta. The lost by a smaller margin than Clemson did in this game last season, but still, they lost
- Among the ACC's up-and-coming schools, Maryland was massacred 52-13 at Cal, and NC State was shut down *_at_home_* by South Carolina.
- The ACC schools that did win did so against lower division foes, as BC, Clemson, UNC & GaTech beat up on Northeastern, MTSU, The Citadel, and Jacksonville State, respectively.
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2009
College Football 2009 Arrives At Last!
A few thoughts on the opening weekend of the 2009-2010 college football season:
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Southern Conference Smackdown
Re: #3 Wofford at #2 Appalachian State
I do not recall ever seeing a college football game matching two teams in the top FIVE of the national rankings with an outcome quite like this one. In short, Appy State delivered a beatdown of possibly unprecedented proportions. That is, the Mountaineers from mountainous western North Carolina pulverized the Terriers from hilly northwestern South Carolina by a whopping score of 70-24 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina last night.
ASU opened a can of whoop-ass on Wofford, and in front of a national television audience watching the game as broadcast on ESPN2, no less. And folks, it could've been worse. Appalachian's star quarterback Armanti Edwards sliced up the Terrier defense with 367 yards passing on ONLY 19 attempts (!!!) and tacked on 73 yards rushing as well. But, after Edwards tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brian Quick to stretch the ASU lead to 56-24 with a full FOURTEEN MINUTES left in the fourth quarter, Appalachian pulled the quarterback out of the game. The backup proceeded to lead two more touchdown drives with a strictly all-rush offense. Staggering.
Especially considering that Wofford came into the game ranked THIRD nationally in the Division I College Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA). The Terriers were 6-1 and had averaged 45.0 ppg against their six FCS opponents. Their only loss was by a mere ten points, 23-13, on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) foe South Carolina! In short, ASU beat Wofford by 36 pts MORE than South Carolina did.
Of course, it should be pointed out that even in this game, Wofford's offense played strong. They rolled up an impressive 497 yards of total offense, including 393 yards on the ground, behind TWO 100-yard-rushers. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold on to the ball, and their four fumbles and three interceptions repeatedly set up Appalachian State with great field position. ASU converted enough of those turnovers into scores to turn this anticipated "showdown" into a laugher.
I do not recall ever seeing a college football game matching two teams in the top FIVE of the national rankings with an outcome quite like this one. In short, Appy State delivered a beatdown of possibly unprecedented proportions. That is, the Mountaineers from mountainous western North Carolina pulverized the Terriers from hilly northwestern South Carolina by a whopping score of 70-24 at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina last night.
ASU opened a can of whoop-ass on Wofford, and in front of a national television audience watching the game as broadcast on ESPN2, no less. And folks, it could've been worse. Appalachian's star quarterback Armanti Edwards sliced up the Terrier defense with 367 yards passing on ONLY 19 attempts (!!!) and tacked on 73 yards rushing as well. But, after Edwards tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brian Quick to stretch the ASU lead to 56-24 with a full FOURTEEN MINUTES left in the fourth quarter, Appalachian pulled the quarterback out of the game. The backup proceeded to lead two more touchdown drives with a strictly all-rush offense. Staggering.
Especially considering that Wofford came into the game ranked THIRD nationally in the Division I College Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as I-AA). The Terriers were 6-1 and had averaged 45.0 ppg against their six FCS opponents. Their only loss was by a mere ten points, 23-13, on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) foe South Carolina! In short, ASU beat Wofford by 36 pts MORE than South Carolina did.
Of course, it should be pointed out that even in this game, Wofford's offense played strong. They rolled up an impressive 497 yards of total offense, including 393 yards on the ground, behind TWO 100-yard-rushers. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold on to the ball, and their four fumbles and three interceptions repeatedly set up Appalachian State with great field position. ASU converted enough of those turnovers into scores to turn this anticipated "showdown" into a laugher.
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