This is going to be an abbreviated the Good, the Bad and the Ugly this. I’m not in a good mood… When my teams (Georgia Tech and Clemson) lose badly and it’s late I’m not happy, so let’s make this quick.
The Good
* crickets *
Ok there is some good I can actually think of… Duke Basketball. Already this season they beat Kentucky, Louisville, VCU, and Minnesota. They beat an elite field at the Battle of Atlantis tonight, and even if they lose to Ohio State this week, Coach K’s Blue Devils are an early front runner for a NCAA number 1 seed. They are the 1 ACC team in basketball or football that didn’t faceplant against good competition this past week.
The other thing that occurred to me, John Swofford must be an absolute genius. I’m not sure any other commissioner in the country could have coaxed their conference into the big boy playoff table with choke jobs even the best ACC teams do year after year.
Virginia Tech got bowl eligible… I guess that’s good.
The Bad
Miami looks like they could have some potential to be pretty good over the next few years, but face an uncertain NCAA future….
The Ugly
Wake Forest and Georgia Tech were embarrassingly un-competitive in games against Vanderbilt and Georgia. I didn’t get to watch Wake Forest, but I caught most of the Georgia Tech game. This one is simple. If Paul Johnson doesn’t upgrade the talent level at Georgia Tech, the Jackets will be looking at alot of 5-7 win years and that’s in the ACC. He has to get better players, that’s a fact.
You know what… If you want respect you have to earn it. Clemson and Florida State have been harping all year about low BCS rankings and a lack of respect. Well they had their shot on their home fields and blew it. Both had second half leads against South Carolina and Florida, and just collapsed. I’ve heard some folks say that the ACC itself is reason why Florida State and Clemson lost. I don’t buy that at all.
If that were the case, Kentucky basketball would be terrible. Boise St. didn’t seem to have any trouble beating Georgia or Oklahoma the last few years. Utah beat Alabama… When you only need to bring your A game 1 or 2 times a year and you can’t do it, that’s on you and your coaching staff.
Clemson today was out-coached tonight up and down the field. The Gamecocks took advantage of Clemson’s soft coverage time and time again exploiting the Tiger underneath. Tajh Boyd played erratic and scared, and Chad Morris never adjusted the offensive gameplan to utilize quick hitting slants and mis-direction against an aggressive South Carolina defense.
Florida was up 20-16 on Florida, when QB EJ Manuel tried to make too much out of nothing, and fumbled. It was one of his 4 turnovers. Florida has a great defense, but when you have 5 turnovers as a team, you aren’t going to beat many teams.
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