ACC Football: Week 6 Recap, Things We Learned, and ACColades
Separation.
Week 6 has come and gone and we finally have some separation in the ACC.
The Atlantic Division is officially a two-team race between Florida State and NC State. Clemson looked like a legit contender after losing in overtime to now No. 7 Auburn but has dropped back to back conference games to Miami and North Carolina. Boston College is just flat out bad on offense and is now sitting at 0-2 in conference play. Winning out doesn't look promising; they still have to play Clemson and Florida State. Maryland is intriguing. The Terps are 4-1 and 1-0 in the ACC, but that record is deceiving. They haven't really faced a true test other than West Virginia, a game they lost 31-17.
The Coastal is not quite as clear cut but Virginia Tech seems to be the team to beat. The Hokies still have tough games against Miami, North Carolina, and Georgia Tech, but they seemed to have gelled defensively and are playing like the team everyone predicted to win the ACC. Miami and Georgia Tech are still in the picture. Both have one conference loss, but Miami looks to be the better team of the two. North Carolina moved to 1-1 after a close win against Clemson, which can be marked a major accomplishment considering they are still missing a ton of players.
Week 6: ACC Football Game Quick Hitters
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(Full Week 6 Predictions were HERE)
NC State 44, Boston College 17
PREDICTION: NC State 31, Boston College 10
Not much of a surprise here. Coming in, these two were polar opposites. The Wolfpack were rolling offensively and the Eagles were just offensive on offense. NC State QB Russell Wilson upped his potential Heisman campaign by completing 38 of 51 passes for 328 yards and three TD's. It's looking more and more like the Pack are legit contender in the ACC this year and quite the opposite for Boston College.
The Wolfpack's road to the ACC Title Game is promising. They've already knocked out three of their 'tough' conference games, walking away with a 2-1 record. Left on the slate is a now dismal looking Clemson team and Florida State. The matchup with the Noles will likely be the key game this year providing us with the Atlantic Division Champion.
Virginia Tech 45, Central Michgan 21
PREDICTION: Virginia Tech 38, C.Michigan 17
As expected, the Hokies rolled in their out of conference slate. I can assure this though: When tied at 7-7 after the 1st quarter, Tech faithful had to be thinking 'oh no - not James Madison all over again'.
Cue QB Tyrod Taylor. He led an attack, through the air and on the ground, to led the Hokies to outscore the Chippewas 38-14 over the final three quarters. Taylor finished the day 161 yards passing and a TD to go along with 127 yards on the ground and two more scores. It was the fourth win in a row for Tech.
Georgia Tech 33, Virginia 21
PREDICTION: Georgia Tech 24, Virginia 14
Coming into 2010, RB Anthony Allen was supposed to be THE guy. He was pegged to replace All-ACC back Jonathan Dwyer, but through five games, he had only topped 100 yards once and had zero TD's. Fast forward to mid-afternoon Saturday, and Allen is celebrating his breakout game.
He rushed for 195 yards and three TD's and amazingly enough averaged nearly 8 yards per touch. QB Joshua Nesbitt had no need to air it out like last week in a come from behind win against Wake. He only attempted six passes on the day. It was the typical 'run it down your throat' Paul Johnson offense. The Jackets finished the day with 477 yards on the ground.
North Carolina 21, Clemson 16
PREDICTION: Clemson 24, North Carolina 21
Folks in Tiger Town have to be sitting back and scratching their head after this one. North Carolina came in missing a massive amount of their starters, and sporting a horrid rushing defense. Clemson came in with the ACC's No.1 rusher in Andre Ellington. Logic says run, run, run the ball. Apparently Coach Swinney didn't get the memo.
Ellington only touched the ball 12 times finishing with 55 yards. The Tigers as a team didn't even hit 100 yards. The Tar Heels didn't fare much better offensively, only racking up 255 yards of offense but they put up numbers where it counted - the scoreboard. RB Johnny White rushed for 89 yards and 2 TD's and Carolina utilized multiple fourth down conversions on a crucial late game drive to put this one away.
Navy 28, Wake Forest 27
PREDICTION: Navy 17, Wake Forest 14
Back to back games against high powered rushing attacks. Back to back last second losses via a passing TD.
The Deacons have been the epitome of heartbreak the last two weekends. They were ahead of Georgia Tech last weekend for a majority of the game only to lose on a passing touchdown (of all things) with 15 seconds left. Their game against Navy was a mirror image. They led the Midshipmen for a majority of the game but surrendered a go-ahead TD from Navy QB Ricky Dobbs with 26 seconds left to drop their fourth game in a row. And things won't get any easier next weekend with a trip to Virginia Tech.
Florida State 45, Miami 17
PREDICTION: Florida State 34, Miami 31
Coming into this one, the pattern and history of this series pointed to Miami winning a close one. Florida State coach Fisher had other plans as the Seminoles jumped out to a 21-0 lead early that the Hurricanes couldn't come back from. After a blowout loss to Oklahoma on Sep.11 in Norman, the general consensus was that the Noles were as bad as last year. A 28-point thumping of a good Miami team (at Miami mind you) surely has to quiet that noise.
QB Christian Ponder wasn't spectacular but was efficient enough to keep the Cane defense honest, opening up plenty of running room for RB Chris Thompson, who finished the game with 158 yards highlighted by a 90-yard TD run in the 4th quarter. The Noles as a team rushed for nearly 300 yards. Despite what the score shows, the Canes actually moved the ball well. They finished with 424 yards of total offense, but just simply could not put points on the board.
Week 6: What We Learned in ACC Football
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- NC State QB Russell Wilson should officially be on every Heisman Ballot in America at this point. He's already passed for nearly 2,000 yards and 17 TD's, leading the Pack to a 5-1 record.
- Wake Forest is two last second losses away from being 4-2 and 2-1 in ACC play.
- The Clemson football program is nose diving - hard. Three straight losses have shown the multiple issues at key positions.
- North Carolina is showing more resilience that any other team in the country.
- Florida State is back. Apparently the loss at Oklahoma was a fluke, they've dominated everyone since.
- Miami is not. They looked shaky in their win against Clemson last week, and the Noles exposed every issue they have.
- Virginia Tech has shaken off the early season losses and regained their typical dominating style.
- Clemson coach Dabo Swinney needs to pay a little more attention to his No. 23 (Andre Ellington). He came in the ACC's leading rusher but only had 12 touches in their loss to UNC.
- The Seminoles may have found a quality RB in Chris Thompson, who went for 158 yards against Miami.
Week 6: ACC Football ACColades
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Offensive Team of the Week: Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets looked like the dominating run first team we're used to, rolling up 477 yards rushing and 536 yards overall in a 33-21 win over Virginia.
Defensive Team of the Week: NC State
The Wolfpack shut down Boston College in their 44-17 route. Now, the Eagles weren't exactly a high flying offense coming in but State did hold them to 272 total yards and 10 points (not counting BC's meaningless TD towards the end of the 4th quarter) and forced three turnovers.
Offensive Player of the Week: RB Anthony Allen, Georgia Tech
Allen finally had the breakout game Coach Johnson has been waiting on. He went for 195 yards and three TD's, averaging nearly eight yards per carry.
Defensive Player of the Week: LB Luke Kuechly, Boston College
Kuechly was the lone bright spot in the Eagles blowout loss. He racked up 20 tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss.
Specialist of the Week: KR/PR Greg Reid, Florida State
Reid played a crucial part in the Noles big win at Miami, giving them constant good field position doing what he does best. He tallied 161 total return yards and averaged 36.3 yards per kickoff return.
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Week 7: What's on Tap
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12:00 - Boston College (2-3, 0-2) at Florida State (5-1, 3-0) ESPN or ESPN 2
12:00 - Maryland (4-1, 1-0) at Clemson (2-3, 0-2) ACC Network
12:00 - NC State (5-1) at East Carolina CBSC
1:00 - Miami (3-2, 1-1) at Duke (1-4, 0-2)
3:30 - MTSU at Georgia Tech (4-2) ESPN3.com
3:30 - Wake Forest (2-4, 1-2) at Virginia Tech (4-2, 2-0) ESPNU
6:00 - North Carolina (3-2, 1-1) at Virginia (2-3, 0-2) ESPN3.com
Game of the Week: Boston College at Florida State
Ok, so it's not Five-Star worthy. On paper, the Seminoles should demolish Boston College. The Eagles are struggling horribly on offense this year and are off to an 0-2 start in ACC play. Florida State is the polar opposite; their offense is clicking and are first in the Atlantic with a 3-0 mark after a huge win at Miami.
But games aren't won on paper. The Noles are coming off a HUGE win at Miami, and we all know it's games like this where let downs happen. Then you have to think Coach Spaz will hold back nothing to keep his team from starting league play 0-3.
Florida State likely wins this by three TD's BUT keep in mind, the Eagles have won three of the last four in this series. A win here would shake up the Atlantic in a huge way.
Other than a slightly intriguing game between FSU and BC, there really aren't any high profile games in Week 7. Maryland at Clemson could be a good one. Former Clemson superstar CJ Spiller is getting his jersey number retired. As for the game itself, no one saw the Tigers starting 0-2 in ACC play and loss to Maryland to move to 0-3 would rattle Tiger Nation to its core.
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