The good news for the Atlantic Coast Conference is that things will never be any worse for the league than they were this past weekend. Knowing what “bottom” is has some value, doesn’t it? If not, then there’s nothing productive to take from Week 1 of the 2008 season. To summarize …
• Clemson, thought by most to be the best the ACC had to offer, took a vicious ass whipping from Alabama, the SEC’s fifth- or sixth-best team. And I mean one of those down home, South Georgia beatings. The 34-10 final score gives only a vague indication of what Clemson was suffering on both lines of scrimmage. Charges should be filed after what the 72,000-plus in the Georgia Dome witnessed Saturday night.
• For the few not drinking Kool-Aid from the Clemson pitcher, Virginia Tech seemed to be the pick in the ACC. The Gobblers were promptly smacked in the forehead by a purple-and-gold Conference-USA 2X4. And don’t think for a moment that Skip Holtz and his East Carolina Pirates are a “feel good” story. They’re not. What they are is an aggressive, fast football team. But they’re still C-USA and Virginia Tech has to win that game. Hokie quarterback Sean Glennon reeked.
• Maryland had to hang on to preserve a 14-7 win over … Delaware. In a ghastly outing, Terrapin starting quarterback Jordan Steffy was able to manage just 115 yards passing vs. the Blue Hens, with two interceptions and nary a touchdown.
• Even more wretched, North Carolina had to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit vs. McNeese State and then hang on for dear life as the ‘Heels escaped with an amazingly unimpressive 35-27 victory.
• Virginia and NC State got worked by a combined score of 86-7.
And maybe the most damning evidence in this indictment …
• The ACC’s best moment from the opening weekend—by far—was one of its member schools beating Baylor. Congrats to coach Jim Grobe and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. You took a pipe to the one of the worst BCS schools in the land.
I’m on the verge of completely discounting the wins posted by Georgia Tech, Miami, Duke and Boston College because they came against Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, James Madison and Kent State. But Maryland and UNC have me rethinking that policy.
The reality is that the ACC has been there for the taking the past three seasons – just ask Wake Forest. With no great teams, some absolute dogs in the lower half of the league and a conference title game now moved to a second city that truly couldn’t care less about the contest, the ACC is at a crossroads. Ralph Friedgen, Al Groh, Tommy Bowden … there are a lot of guys getting paid seriously long coin and simply not producing enough and that’s where a lot of the league’s problems start. They aren’t fatal and can be corrected, but that requires leadership from the sidelines and, more specifically, the man under center. For far too many ACC schools, there’s simply no reason to expect that to happen.
Oliver can be heard on 790 The Zone’s “Afternoon Saloon” weekdays from 4-7 p.m. and can be reached at coliver@790thezone.com.
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