Week 5 Pick 5

Once again yours truely, was truely bad with his picks last week. But to my credit, I did pick BC right and was their really anyone outside of the USF fans who thought that they would beat an FSU team that just blew out a good BYU team.

Anyway here are my results from last week:
ACC: 3-2
National: 1-4

Here are my overall records:
ACC: 6-14
National: 6-12-2

So here we go again, if you are actually betting on a game, all you need to do is pick the opposite of what I pick and you got a sure thing!

All Odds taken from USA Today's NCAA Football Odds:
ACC Games (my picks in Bold)
Clemson -13 at Maryland
Virginia Tech -15.5 at Duke
Florida State -5 at Boston College
NC State at Wake Forest Pick 'em
Oklahoma -7 at Miami (Fl.)

National Games (my picks in Bold)
Southern Cal -6 at California
Auburn at Tennessee -2
Air Force at Navy -3.5
Penn State -6 at Illinois
UCLA at Stanford -5

Come back tomorrow for my game preview and links!! Go Eagles!

Week 4 Pick 5

Sorry guys, have been extra busy with my classwork this week so I haven't been able to update until now but I wouldn't miss out on a chance to make my weekly picks! So lets take a look at how I did last week:
ACC: 1-4
National: 3-1-1

Once again I was brutal in the ACC, so pick the opposite of what I pick. But I finally made some progress in the national scene!Overall I am:
ACC: 3-12
National: 5-8-2

So lets take a look at my picks for this week, so you can figure out who NOT to pick.

All Odds taken from USA Today's NCAA Football Odds:
ACC Games (my picks in bold)
South Florida at Florida State -14
North Carolina at Georgia Tech -2.5
Wake Forest -2.5 at Boston College
TCU at Clemson -3
Miami -2 at Virginia Tech

National Games (my picks in bold)
California -7 at Oregon
Fresno State at Cincinnati -15
Iowa at Penn State -10
Washington at Stanford -7
Notre Dame -8.5 at Purdue

These you have it. Come back tomorrow for my Knowing your Enemy series and a preview! Go Eagles!

Know your Oppoents: Clemson Tiges Defense and Special Teams

In continuing what I strated in part one of this series, today I am going to take a look at the Clemson Defensive side of the ball and their Special Teams. Lets just right into things by looking at the Clemson defense.

Defensive Line: The Clemson defensive line is definitely one of the strengths of the Tiger team. Lead by heralded defensive end Ricky Sapp, the Tigers can get pressure on the QB and stuff the run. Last weekend vs. Georgia Tech, the Clemson comeback was led by defensive tackles Jarvis Jenkins and Brandon Thompson. So even though Sapp gets the most notoriety, these guys are no slouches by any means. Sapp will be complimented by Da'Quan Bowers at the other defensive end position.

Linebackers: If there is any weakness on the Clemson defense Linebacker would probably be that weakness. This corp is led by sophomore Middle Linebacker Brandon Maye, who a big, athletic, quick guy who is all over the field. He is flanked on the field by Will Linebacker Kavell Conner and Strong Side Linebacker Kevin Alexander. They are both good players, but they aren't guys who will blow you away with their skill.

Defensive Backs: The Clemson defensive backfield is led by strong safety DeAndre McDaniel. He is a big hitter and he is their leading tackler and also leads the team on defense in interceptions. He plays alongside free safety Marcus Gilchrist. Those two play in the inside while cornerbacks Chris Chancellor and Crezdon Butler play on the outside. Chancellor is a 5th year senior and is a great cover corner who will get the occasional interception. It will be in Boston College's best interest in throwing the ball to the other side of the field at Butler's side.

Now we are going to take a look at the dynamic special teams that Clemson puts out on the field.

Kicker: Junior kicker Richard Jackson is starting for the first time since coming to Clemson he have been good thus far this year hitting 5 of 7 kicks but he has yet to have to kick in a pressure situation. His inexperience as a starter and lack of experience in pressure situations must be alarming to Clemson fans.

Punter: Dawson Zimmerman has been decent for Clemson this year. Averaging 36.3 yards per punt in 8 punts this year. He will need to get a little more yardage however, once we get into ACC play.

Kickoff/Punt Returns: The dynamic duo of C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford are what make this part of the game very scary for opposing teams. Both of them having blazing speed who can break "the big one" on every kickoff/punt are a huge threat and make teams have to plan around kicking off to them.

There is your look at the Clemson Tigers! Hopefully you gained at least a little bit of knowledge for the game this weekend, but either way it was still fun researching this stuff. Go Eagles!

Week 3 Pick 5

Last week was an improvement on the first week (Had no where to go but up) but it was still very ugly. Happily, the ACC teams on the field didn't look as bad as they did in week one! Here is a look at my records from last week:
ACC: 2-3
National: 2-2-1

Overall I am:
ACC: 2-8
National: 2-7-1

So lets take a look at my picks for this week, so you can figure out who NOT to pick.

All Odds taken from USA Today's NCAA Football Odds:
ACC Games (my picks in bold)
East Carolina at North Carolina -7
Boston College at Clemson -7
Nebraska at Virginia Tech -3
Florida State at Brigham Young -6
Middle Tennessee State at Maryland -7

National Games (my picks in bold)
Michigan State at Notre Dame -11.5
Boise State -10 at Fresno State
Utah at Oregon -4
California -14 at Minnesota
Tennessee at Florida -27.5

Once again, lets hope atleast one right this week!! GO EAGLES!

ACC had a decent day

After the brutal week the ACC had last weekend, the ACC had a better weekend this weekend, albeit you couldn't get much worse. The ACC for the most part took care of business this week.

UNC won an ugly game 12-10 vs. UConn with a last minute safety on a holding call in the end zone.
Wake Forest turned things around this week coming from behind to beat Stanford 24-17.
Duke found its offense at took out Army 35-19.
Virginia Tech absolutely smoked Marshall 52-10.
BC of course beat Kent State 34-7.
Florida State almost suffered one of the biggest upsets this century being down 9-7 to Jacksonville State with under a minute left but they ended up winning 19-9.
Maryland also alomst suffered a big upset against another FCS team but wound up beating James Madison 38-35 in OT.
NC State pounded FCS Murray State 65-7.

The only blemish on the ACC's record this week was Virginia losing again 30-14, although this team it was expects against TCU.

Many of the games may not have been pretty but you can't argue with the fact that the ACC going 8-1 this weekend wasn't an improvement after the debacle last weekend.

Week 1 College Football Picks

Each week I am going to be predicting the results of 5 ACC games and 5 National Games each week. I will keep track of my record and if enough people get involved I would even keep track your your picks and maybe even give out a prize for the winner. But we need some people to play in the comment section below. YOU MUST PICK THE SAME GAMES I PICK OR NONE OF YOUR PICKS WILL COUNT!

All Odds are taken from USA Today's odds page.
ACC Games (My Picks in Bold):
Alabama -5.5 vs. Virginia Tech
Maryland vs. Califorina -21.5
Baylor vs. Wake Forest -2.5
Middle Tennessee State vs. Clemson -20.5
Miami vs. Florida State -3.5

National Games (My Picks in Bold):
Brigham Young vs. Oklahoma -21
Connecticut -3 vs. Ohio
Missouri vs. Illinois -6
Georgia vs. Oklahoma State -5.5
Minnesota -6 vs. Syracuse

There you have it. My week one picks for both 5 ACC games and 5 national games. I will be back next week with the results and some new picks!

2009 ACC Football Predictions Part 3

(Let me preface this saying, these are preseason predictions, I'm having fun with it. Although VT fans probably hate me now)

Here for the 3rd and final part of my short series taking a look at the ACC and making predictions for this football season. In this editions I am going to take a look at the ACC title game and make a prediction on that. Then I am going to take a look at the bowl eligible teams this year in the ACC and figure out who is going to go to what bowl.

In my two previous parts of this series I predicted the results of the standings in both the Atlantic and Coastal divisions in the ACC. In those I also had two definitive winners in each of those divisions. In the Atlantic I had Florida State finishing 9-3 at a 6-2 clip in the ACC alone at the top and In the Coastal Division I had Virginia Tech at 11-1 with a undefeated season in the ACC and battling to make the National Championship game.

So in my ACC Championship game we would have 2 highly ranked teams playing in the title game. If Florida State wins they could help the ACC in a huge way allowing two ACC teams to get to the BCS but if Virginia Tech would win the game it could send them to the BCS National Championship game, although they would likely knock FSU out of a BCS game. Both would be a great for the ACC but I think having 2 teams in the BCS would be better, as long as they both won. However, My Prediction: Virginia Tech beats Florida State 24-14.


I think Virignia Tech's win in the ACC will be good enough to get them to the National Title, yes I am calling it now. Now onto the other bowl projections, in my other predictions, I have 9 teams bowl eligible (6-6 or better, unless you have played 2 games vs. D-1AA teams). Here is how I think the teams will go to bowl games after Virginia Tech:
GMAC Bowl - Boston College
EagleBank Bowl - NC State
Emerald Bowl - Wake Forest
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Miami (FL)
Music City Bowl - Clemson
Champs Sports Bowl - Georgia Tech
Gator Bowl - North Carolina
Chick-fil-A Bowl - Florida State

And thats how I think it goes this year in the ACC, an impressive 9 bowl eligible teams, hopefully a 7-2 or 6-3 record in those bowl games with Virginia Tech headlining it with a National Title for our conference!

Come back tomorrow for a breakdown of BC's schedule and my game by game predictions to go along with my Week 1 ACC predictions that I will be doing all year long.

2009 ACC Football Predictions Part 2

Back for part 2 of my three part series where I am taking a look at the ACC and making my predictions on how I think things will fall. In this edition we will be taking a look at the Coastal division and their OOC and Atlantic division opponents and predicting how they will finish this year.

The Coastal Division once again looks to be the better division of the 2, starting the season with 3 ranked teams to the Atlantic Division's 1. Many think that Virginia Tech also has a chance to compete for the National Title and think Georgia Tech and UNC are clear threats to make a BCS bowl. We will have to wait and see but this division looks very strong. Here is a look at the teams in the Coastal and a quick peek at their OOC schedule and the games against the Atlantic teams:
Duke:
OCC Schedule: vs. Richmond, at Army, at #25 Kansas, vs. North Carolina Central
vs. Atlantic: at North Carolina State, vs. Maryland, vs. Wake Forest

Georgia Tech:
OOC Schedule: vs. Jacksonville State, at Mississippi State, at Vanderbilt, vs. #13 Georgia
vs. Atlantic: vs. Clemson, at #18 Flroida State, vs. Wake Forest

Miami (FL):
OOC Schedule: vs. #3 Oklahoma, vs. Florida A&M, at Central Florida, at South Florida
vs. Atlantic: at #18 Florida State, vs. Clemson, at Wake Forest

North Carolina:
OOC Schedule: vs. Citadel, at Connecticut, vs. East Carolina, vs. Georgia Southern
vs. Atlantic: vs. #18 Florida State, at Boston College, at Wake Forest

Virginia:
OOC Schedule: vs. William and Mary, vs. #17 TCU, at Southern Mississippi, vs. Indiana
vs. Atlantic: at Maryland, vs. Boston College, at Clemson

Virginia Tech:
OOC Schedule: vs. #5 Alabama, vs. Marshall, vs. #24 Nebraska, at East Carolina
vs. Atlantic: vs. Boston College, at Maryland, vs. North Carolina State.

Virginia Tech definitely has the hardest OOC playing two ranked opponents and one of the top 5 preseason teams in the nations. While Miami (FL) and North Carolina both probably have the toughest schedules vs. the other half of the conference.

North Carolina has the easiest OOC schedule playing 3 very weak teams and playing a 4th medicore team in Connecticut on the road. Duke probably has the easiest schedule vs. the other half of the conference, while missing the top 2 projected teams on the other half (FSU and Clemson) and only have 1 of 3 games on the road.

Here is how I think each team fares this year and how the standings will look:
Team - Record (ACC Record)
Virginia Tech - 11-1 (8-0)
North Carolina - 9-3 (6-2)
Georgia Tech - 9-3 (5-3)
Miami - 8-4 (4-4)
Virginia - 4-8 (3-5)
Duke - 3-9 (1-7)

So that is how I think this have of the league will do. Come back tomorrow for my bowl projects, the ACC championship game prediction and more!

P.S. Check out the new design on the twitter site. Superfan Gold.

2009 ACC Football Predictions Part 1

Its that time of the year, summer is ending, school is starting up again but most importantly another year of ACC football is starting up again. Teams are finishing up practice and are now gameplanning for their first game. The ACC as a whole is looking to prove that it is once again one of the top conferences in the NCAA and that is can compete with the SEC, the Big XII, the Big Ten and the Pac-10 for the national title. The ACC looks to have some strong teams this year that can do just that, with Virginia Tech starting the year off at #7 overall in the polls, Georgia Tech at #15, Florida State at #18 and North Carolina at #21 overall. In this edition, we are going to take a look at the Atlantic division and how I think it will pan out.

The Atlantic Division continues to look as close as ever. The past two years the top teams have finished a game or less apart and it looks to be the same again this year. Here is a look at the teams in the Atlantic and a quick peak at their OOC schedule and the games against the Coastal teams:

Boston College:
OOC Schedule: vs. Northeastern, vs. Kent State, at #23 Notre Dame, vs. Central Michigan
vs. Coastal: at #7 Virginia Tech, at Virginia, vs. #21 North Carolina

Clemson:
OOC Schedule: vs. Middle Tennessee State, vs. #17 TCU, vs. Coastal Carolina, at South Carolina
vs. Coastal: at #15 Georgia Tech, at Miami (FL), vs. Virginia

Florida State:
OOC Schedule: vs. Jacksonville State, at #20 BYU, vs. South Florida, at #1 Florida
vs. Coastal: vs. Miami (FL), vs. #15 Georgia Tech, at #21 North Carolina

Maryland:
OOC Schedule: at #12 California, vs. James Madison, vs. Middle Tennessee State, vs. Rutgers
vs. Coastal: vs. Virginia, at Duke, vs. #7 Virginia Tech

North Carolina State:
OOC Schedule: vs. South Carolina, vs. Murray State, vs. Gardner-Webb, vs. Pittsburgh
vs. Coastal: vs. Duke, at #7 Virginia Tech, vs. #21 North Carolina

Wake Forest:
OOC Schedule: vs. Baylor, vs. Stanford, vs. Elon, at Navy
vs. Coastal: vs. Miami (FL), at #15 Georgia Tech, at Duke

Wake Forest has the easiest schedule by far facing only 2 ranked teams (only one on the road) and having the weakest Non-Conference schedule.

Florida State has by far the hardest schedule in this half of the conference. They play 2 ranked teams in Non-Conference play (one on the road) and they have to play 2 out of the 3 ranked teams in the other half of the conference.

Here is how I think each team fares this year and how the standings will look:
Team - Record (ACC Record)
Florida State - 9-3 (6-2)
Clemson - 8-4 (5-3)
Wake Forest - 8-4 (4-4)
NC State - 7-5 (4-4)
Boston College - 6-6 (3-5)
Maryland - 3-9 (2-6)

There you have it, the Atlantic division in my view. Florida State definitely looks to be the strongest team this year. Let me tell you this too, I will be the happiest man in the world if BC proves me wrong but this is just how I see it right now.

The move to the ACC

In response to the link I posted earlier about the West Virginian writer saying that the BC move to the ACC hasn't worked, I am going to list the pros and cons of being in the ACC vs. the Big East.

The first few years of being in the ACC have been very good to the Eagles there have been much more pros then cons. Here they are:
Pros:

1. More Revenue
2. Better competition
3. Better bowls (although we may never get selected to them)
4. More and Better Recruits (although our former coach didn't help this last year)
5. Improvement in our sports outside of Football and Basketball
6. Better TV contract
7. Better places to watch BC play an away game
8. More National Exposure

Cons:

1. A lot of Travel
2. Bowls prefer lesser teams because of the amount of travel we have to do.

Then there is the Big East. I am going to give some hypothetical cons towards being in the New Big East.
Pros:

1. Less Travel
2. More Natural Rivals
3. Play good old basketball Rivals such as St. Johns, Georgetown, Villanova and Providence
4. Being at the top of the conference year in and year out.
   

Cons:

1. Playing UConn
2. Less money in our pockets
3. Weaker competition in Football
4. WAY to many teams in Basketball
5. Lesser Bowls
6. Less appeal to new recruits
7. No way BC gets the money they have from the ACC to do their current expansion project.

So in review, there isn't much that makes the Big East more appealing to Boston College than the ACC. The move to the ACC has been a HUGE success for the Eagles thus far and BC will not be switching conferences again any time soon. No matter how hard the members of the Big East was them too.