collegefootballandnascar

ACC fans [myself included] have been saying all season that our conference can hang with the so called big conferences… By big I mean the Big 1[1], SEC, Big 12, Pac [2] and don’t forget the Big Least.

Well now is the ACC’s chance to prove they are worth the hype.

Throughout the season everyon [and I mean everyone] dogged the ACC for its inconsistent and offense-less play. Funny how nobody mentioned that the Big 12 may have had some of the most high scoring offenses, but couldn’t stop a high school team from scoring on them. Kind of makes you wonder ‘why’ their offense score so many points doesn’t it?? But that’s a whole other blog to get into…

Back to the ACC. The ACC has put 10 [yes count ‘em] teams in the bowl season, from the Inaugural Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington D.C., ending with the Orange Bowl Dec. 1.

Here is a look at each bowl:

Eagle Bank Bowl [Dec. 20, 11 a.m. — Washington D.C.] Wake Forest (7-5) vs. Navy (8-4) — The Demon Deacons suffered a loss at home Sept. 27 by a final of 24-17 to the Midshipmen. It was a tough loss for Wake fans who expected an easier victory against a 1st year head coach. The Deacs’ are hoping they can travel a good set of fans to Washington D.C. and Navy should have no problem filling their allotment. Wake will probably come out the victor in this game, it’s hard to beat a team twice in the same season — see Boston College and Virginia Tech the past 2 years. Anyway, official prediction will come later, but I expect this to be a fairly decent game between 2 teams ready to play.

Meinecke Car Care Bowl [Dec. 27, 1 p.m. — Charlotte, N.C.] UNC (8-4) vs. WVU (8-4) —  North Carolina is seeking their 3rd huge win over a Big East team. This game is Pat White’s last game, however and he will be ready to play. The Mountaineers are probably feeling a bit down, having to play before New Years Day after playing 5 straight bowl games on or after, including 2 BCS wins. The Mountaineers come up big in bowl games — see the Fiesta last year against Oklahoma when nobody gave them a chance. On the other hand, UNC [who will be playing as if its a home game] hasn’t went bowling since 2004 and wants to show WVU that they belong in the Big East — not the ACC.

Champs Sports Bowl [Dec. 27, 4:30 p.m. — Tampa Fl.] Florida State (8-4) vs. Wisconsin (7-5) — FSU fans probably feel slighted by the fact that they aren’t playing in the Gator Bowl. Instead a team who barely went bowling and lost to FSU is making the trip to Jacksonville. All that aside, FSU needs to get themselves focuses for what looks to be a grind-out-the-clock type of game. Both teams have won when their running games could get going, but have struggled when its stopped. This is an interesting match-up between a Wisconsin team that at one point was a top-10 team before losing 4 straight. The Badgers feel like they need to prove their season wasn’t a total bust, while FSU needs to show the ACC is one of hte premiere conferences. Should be a close game, down to the wire.

Emerald Bowl [Dec. 27, 8 p.m. — San Francisco, Calif.] Miami (7-5) vs. California (8-4) — This is another game the ACC should fare very well in. Miami has come a long way since Randy Shannon took over 2 seasons ago. They at one point had the ACC Coastal locked up [who didn’t this season right?] but faltered with 2 straight losses to GT and NC State. Miami will be looking to redeem itself against a very powerful California. Cal has relied on sophomore running back Jahvid Best who has racked up nearly 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns. Miami will, however, feel like the road team at this game as Cal should bring a large number of fans and Mia will probably bring minimal — they couldn’t fill their own stadium at home, so I don’t see swarms of fans traveling cross-country. I think it’s a bit odd that the ACC has a bowl tie-in with a game so far away, but they are happy to get Miami who may not be large crowds, but will hopefully bring high television ratings.

PapaJohns.com Bowl [Dec. 29, 3 p.m. — Birgmingham, Alabama] N.C. State (6-6) vs. Rutgers (7-5) —  N.C. State was the hottest team in the ACC at the conclusion of the regular season, winning 4-straight games to become bowl eligible. Rutgers was 1-5 after 6 games, before ripping off 6-straight wins to make a bowl game. NC State was selected for this game after the Pac 10 failed to have enough bowl eligible teams to meet their commitments. This game features the 86th overall offense in NC State and 38th in Rutgers and appears to be a fairly matched game. The Wolfpack’s Russell Wilson has looked like a professional the last few weeks, earning him Rookie of the year in the ACC and a spot on the All-ACC conference team. This game should be a solid game with a decent turn out by both fan bases. NC State may have the edge, being a lot closer to Alabama.

Humanitarian Bowl [Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. — Boise, Idaho] Maryland (7-5) vs. Nevada (7-5) — Ahh the battle on the Smurf Turf in Boise, Idaho… A very interesting game here for the Terps. Believe it or not, Nevada comes into this game with the 5th ranked offense in the land, Maryland is a mediocre 74th [of course which ACC teams isn’t that far back right?]. Nevada also owns the 2nd best rushing attack in the FBS. Maryland is going to have their hands full in this game, and the Terps haven’t fared so well on the road. Nevada is also the #5 rushing defense in the country. No surprise here if an ACC team falls to a very well coached WAC team with WAC Player of the Year Colin Kaepernick.

Music City Bowl [Dec. 31, 3:30 — Nashville, Tenn.] Boston College (9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (6-6) — Boston College fans think they deserve to be in a higher game after losing their 2nd consecutive ACC Championship Game to Virginia Tech. The problem being, fans don’t attend the games, thus the conselation prize for losing the ACCCG. BC needs to be fortunate that the ACC has a rule that the loser of that game can’t fall below this bowl game — and trust me, that rule was made for BC specifically. Anyway, BC is going against a very hungry Vandy team that hasn’t played past the regular season in 26 years. Both offenses here are less than steller with BC ranking 99th overall and Vandy 118th [yes out of 119 teams]. People though the ACCCG was going to be boring with two poorly ranked offenses — wait until they see this ’slug-fest.’ BC was one of only 2 ACC teams to take  home bowl victories last year and can do the same if their defense shows up more than it did against the Hokies.

Chick-fil-A Bowl [Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. — Atlanta, Ga.] Georgia Tech (9-3) vs. LSU (7-5) —  Georgia Tech finished the season as what most determined to be the ‘hottest’ team in the ACC. Granted, they went into Athens and beat a very tough Georgia team, but their defense has got to step up and quit letting so many points on the board — remember that team named Louisville who put 50+ points up every week last season, but gave up 55+ points every week. LSU is the defending national champions, far from what they were a year ago, but still a very tough opponent for GT. Overall offenses rank 52nd [GT] and 53rd [LSU], but GT with their Triple-Option is #3 in rushing offense. This game should see a lot of points on the board and it’ll be interesting to see if GT can back up all their “we deserved to be in the ACCCG” talk they’ve done in recent weeks.

Gator Bowl [Jan. 1, 1 p.m. — Jacksonville, Fl.] Clemson (7-5) vs. Nebraska (8-4) —  Clemson players and coaches need to thank their fans mightily for getting them to a New Year’s Day Bowl. This is the same Clemson team who started the season #9 and fell the hardest of all teams in the country. Granted, after getting rid of Tommy Bowden and putting Dabo Swiney in they recovered well and pulled out the critical wins to become bowl eligible, but Gator Bowl… really? FSU fans were horrified to learn that the glorious in-state bowl game passed over them and have since sworn off watching the game… Funniest comment on an ESPN message board I saw from an FSU fan — “the Gator Bowl is dead to me” — a little harsh considering the economic times and the fact that the Gator simply wanted fans in the seats, and knew Clemson would fill the stadium. Anyway, this game is going to be an exciting one. Virginia Tech traveled to Lincoln, Neb. and came out a winner against the Corn Huskers, and Clem should be able to as well [doesn’t count as official prediction does it?]. Nebraska ranks #11 in total offense and #18 in points scored, Clemson on the other hand ranks 77th and 71st… I know that doesn’t sound like a competitive game, but Clemson’s defense is better than a lot of the Big 12 teams Nebraska faces and will keep the score down. Should be a game to remember.

Orange Bowl [Jan. 1, 8 p.m. — Miami, Fl.] Virginia Tech (9-4) vs. Cincinatti (11-2) —  Most ACC fans would agree that if there is one team they are hoping can pull off a bowl victory this season it’s the Hokies. The ACC desperately needs a BCS win, having gone 0-8 since FSU’s National Championship over — none other than VT. It’s time for Frank Beamer to get his boys ready and ignore the media comments about how boring of a game this will be. Cincy looked sluggish in the season finale vs. Hawaii and had to rely on some late scores to over come what could have been a devastating crush of confidence to end the season. The key to this game will be which teams offense can get it going first and get a lead. The Hokie’s offense has been like a Jeckyl and Hyde all season. Meanwhile, Cincy coaches, players and fans will be having nightmares about Bud Foster’s defense attacking them, if Cincy can catch the Hokies off guard and get some quick slants and/or screens off, they can put up some huge plays against Virginia Tech. This game has already gotten the tag of ‘most likely not to watch’ of the BCS games, but could really be interesting. There are two teams fighting very  hard for respect in this game. Cincy has never appeared in a BCS game and VT has lost both times they’ve shown up, including a loss to undefeated Auburn in the 2005 Sugar Bowl, and a crushing 24-21 loss to Kansas last year.

That’s a look at the ACC Bowl games… I think the ACC is out to prove some people wrong and have the opportunity to win some games in some favorable match-ups. The ACC needs to represent the league well and prove that having 10 teams in the bowls is more than just having 10 teams who beat up on each other and became bowl eligible. They need to show that each team got there because they beat the teams outside of the conference.

The ACC is an up and coming conference and if one of league’s teams aren’t contending for a national championship by the 2010 season — I’ll be surprised.

That’s all for now.

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