UNC/NCSU

VT has to lose to Duke or UVA, Duke already pasted UVA when they were all out of sorts earlier in the season.

UVA plays Clemson, you have it backwards.

 

So okay, so there is no real way to settle the issue of which team is the ACC’s best. With three-quarters of the league sporting three losses, and one team with two losses, a lot of teams have a case to make. Some suggest that it is a case of twelve midgets arguing over which one is the tallest. That’s sort of an unflattering way to put it, isn’t it? In any event, if those are the stakes we’re arguing over, here is the case that North Carolina has been the best ACC team so far this season.

ESPN”s Bruce Feldman, showing how much of an ignoramus he truly is (and rep’ing ESPN well in that regard), ranked the ACC behind the Mountain West at the beginning of the season. Dennis Dodd said at the beginning of the year that bashing the ACC was “easier than kicking the cane out of blind man’s hand.” The national and local media continue to insist that the ACC won’t regain their affection unless or until Florida State and Miami start thumping everyone in it again – an argument I really don’t get, but it’s out there.

That’s a bit of an unfair assessment of the ACC, since Sagarin’s computers say that – top to bottom – the ACC is actually the strongest in the land. In terms of top to bottom strength, it isn’t really all that debatable – the ACC is the best in the nation. Maybe that doesn’t make the ACC the strongest, and perhaps they suffer by not having a marquee, dominant team, but they certainly aren’t the conference that the national media portrayed them to be at the beginning of the year.

And with that understanding, I’d argue that the results to date support the idea that North Carolina has so far been the strongest team in the ACC and deserves to be the highest-ranked team in the BCS standings. Here’s why: they’ve been the most consistent team in the strongest conference – top to bottom – so far this year. Consider:

Maryland lost to Virginia, 31-0.

Wake Forest lost to Maryland, 26-0

Florida State lost to Boston College, 27-17

Clemson lost to Florida State, 41-27

Boston College lost to North Carolina, 45-24

N.C. State lost to Clemson, 27-3

Georgia Tech lost to North Carolina, 28-7

Miami lost to Georgia Tech, 41-23

Virginia Tech lost to Florida State, 30-20

Virginia lost to Duke, 31-3

Duke lost to Georgia Tech, 27-0

North Carolina has lost three games by a total of 8 points, one of those games in overtime. On the list of blow-out losses above, the Tar Heels were on the giving end of a couple of the woodshed whippings. When so little separates the teams in terms of records, you have no choice but to look at the wins and losses as the next best estimate of the teams’ relative strength throughout the year – by that measure, UNC is the best team in the conference.

It has been a year of close games in the ACC. Up until last night, the average margin of victory in conference games was the lowest in its history, which further diminishes the ability to pick which of these teams is first among equals. However, North Carolina is the only team in the ACC that hasn’t experienced a league loss of 10 points or more.

It’s not about which Atlantic teams UNC did not play this year – Clemson, Florida State, and Wake Forest have been no more powerful that any number of Coastal Division teams, including Virginia Tech, Virginia, Miami, and Georgia Tech. The Coastal Division teams hold an edge over the Atlantic Division in head-to-head contests. As it turns out, UNC’s strength-of-schedule is currently ranked 10th in the country (Sagarin’s ranking).

UNC isn’t a dominant team, it isn’t Miami in the 80’s or Florida State in the 90’s, but in the ACC this year, it has the has a very good argument that it is first among equals.

 

the Hokies travel well. There were games a couple years ago where the amount of maroon gear in Kenan was embarassing...

 

come again? schedule you say?


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm

 

Thats the visiting fan section you stupid dipshit. The same section that NCSU had to return tickets for this year because they couldn't sell them.

 

Considering that I wasn't allowed to drive as a child, yes I did.

At the time that I went, UVA was the toughest public school in America to get out of state admission. ECU was for grad school, as they're the only terminal Masters program in the state for anthropology.

Do you not realize how that exposes you as even more of a loser? If you have the time and money to do those things, then you could make the trip to Tuscaloosa once in a while. Instead you don't do that and just spend your time on the internet talking about what a big Alabama fan you are. The reality is that you're a middle-aged douchebag who has never achieved anything, who people will tolerate to be around but don't actually like as a person, and whose wife is cheating on him. But instead of fixing your pathetic excuse of a life, tell me again how I'm not a real Carolina fan.

 

You should've gone to the game. Looks like about every other seat has a State fan in it.

 

I don't know where people have been hearing that but it is blatantly not true.

 

Quite a bit of red in the stands today. Gets pretty loud when the Pack does something too.

 

Actually it looks like barely more than the visitor's allotment, but you're going to pretend that there are more because you want to pretend like State's fans are something other than front-running losers. But while the fans are inbred morons, I do have to acknowledge that the Wilson kid is a good looking quarterback. NCSU's offensive line has been doing a nice job of giving him time to work, but he makes good decisions and has accuracy. He has a bright future ahead of him.