It’s official, the whole conference outside of Clemson is bad. Even Wake Forest, who I believed in with all my heart, let me down in Blacksburg. And Louisville, just as I thought you were on the rise, I see your most recent outcome. Anyways, here we go.
Note: Since Duke did not play a conference game, they do not get analysis for their performance against Notre Dame.
Note 2: For basketball predictions, I’m just going to pick a few games that I find interesting for the upcoming week.
Virginia
It wasn’t pretty for the Hoos, but a 5 point win over Georgia Tech is a win nonetheless, and they are a win against Virginia Tech away from their first ever ACC Championship game appearance. They have a tune-up game against Liberty next week to prepare for what will inevitably be a tough battle with the Hokies the final week of the season.
Virginia Tech
Like Virginia, the Hokies control their own destiny in their effort for an ACC Championship game appearance. The Tech defense locked down Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman, and Deshawn McClease’s two touchdown carries led a dominant rushing attack for the Hokies. It seems like Virginia Tech is finally hitting their groove at the right time.
Florida State
Didn’t expect to see these guys in the winner’s circle this week, but alas, here they are. The 38-31 win over Boston College is big for Florida State as that likely secured them bowl eligibility with FCS Alabama State up next. Now, the real question for FSU now is who their next head coach will be. If it’s Deion Sanders, I will laugh harder than I have my entire life.
Miami
Miami is good! A dominating victory over what has been a surprisingly solid Louisville team seems to show that with Jarren Williams becoming a better passer day by day, and with tailback Deejay Dallas right there for OC Dan Enos to lean on when things are tough, it seems the Miami offense is good enough to win football games. This is something that wasn’t there for Miami in early season losses to Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia Tech. It’s there now, and Miami is going to be dangerous down the stretch because of it.
Clemson
After the playoff committee decided to put Clemson at number 5 in their initial rankings, Clmeson decided they had something to prove, and boy did they play like it. With Dabo already not liking Dave Doeren, this was shaping up to be a blowout for a week and the Tigers could have easily beaten NC State much worse than by the 45 point margin they did. Clemson is really good, and State is really bad, that’s all there is to it.
Wake Forest
Sigh, Wake Forest was just asleep all day against Virginia Tech, and in a place that’s as hard to win in as Lane Stadium, if you aren’t on your A game you aren’t going to win. With a game against Clemson next week likely to knock them out of the Top 25, the Wake Forest Orange Bowl dream seems to be slipping away.
Boston College
If only the Eagles defense could be as good as their offense has been, with the most recent negative result coming at home against Florida State. This has been a weird season for a Steve Addazio coached team, hopefully the Eagles can steal a win against either Notre Dame or Pitt and snag a bowl bid. That Kansas loss from early on looks worse and worse by the day.
Louisville
Defense wins championships, and that is why Louisville won’t be winning any championships this season. Giving up 52 points to Miami, regardless of how highly I think of Miami right now, is embarassing. Javian Hawkins is still super fun to watch though, so at least Louisville had that going for them this past Saturday.
Georgia Tech
Yep, they lost again. That being said, the Jackets are getting better and better every week. They played UVa at Scott Stadium better than anybody else has this season, and I think that speaks to how well Geoff Collins is doing in instilling that drive into these GT players. Tech could have easily just given up after the loss to The Citadel, but they kept fighting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Yellow Jackets get a third win on the season over their last 3 games here.
NC State
Everybody is injured, all 3 quarterbacks are bad, and the coaching staff has no idea what to do right now. All these things lead to bad football, and I know they were playing Clemson, but they were flat out embarrassed at home. I think Doeren definitely gets at least one more year after this one due to the circumstances he was dealing with, but I don’t exactly blame State fans for being sick of him right now.
Football Power Rankings1. Clemson, duh.2. Virginia3. Virginia Tech4. Wake Forest5. Miami6. North Carolina7. Pitt8. Louisville9. Florida State10. Boston College11. Duke12. Georgia Tech13. NC State14. Syracuse
Football Predictions
North Carolina at Pitt: North Carolina 31-28
Alabama State at Florida State: Florida State 42-14
Wake Forest at Clemson: Clemson, 49-20
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech: Virginia Tech, 28-24
Syracuse at Duke: Duke, 30-17
Louisville at NC State: Louisville, 38-27
Last week’s predictions: 3-3
Season total: 19-15
Basketball Power Rankings1. North Carolina2. Duke3. Virginia4. Louisville5. Florida State6. NC State7. Miami8. Syracuse9. Notre Dame10. Pitt11. Georgia Tech12. Virginia Tech13. Boston College14. Clemson15. Wake Forest
Basketball Predictions
Miami at UCF: Miami, 75-70
Colgate at Syracuse: Syracuse, 67-55
Marshall at Notre Dame: Notre Dame, 78-65
West Virginia at Pitt: West Virginia, 82-76
Belmont at Boston College: Belmont, 71-66
Wake Forest at Charlotte: Charlotte, 61-59