Belk Bowl 2011: NC State Will Prove ACC's Superiority with Win over Louisville

Although it may not be a marquee matchup, the 2011 Belk Bowl should be a competitive game as it will pit two 7-5 teams against each other in the form of NC State and Louisville. Ultimately, however, the Wolfpack will affirm the ACC's superiority over the Big East.

Louisville missed out on a BCS bowl based on a tiebreaker as West Virginia won the Big East due to being ranked higher by the BCS system. Despite the fact that the Cardinals were merely an eyelash away from such a high-profile game, NC State will come out on top.

The ACC certainly wasn't great in its own right this season, and that has prompted some to call it the worst BCS conference. That simply isn't true, though, as the ACC has teams like Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State, all of which would have easily won the Big East.

That isn't to take anything away from Louisville's solid season, but the fact of the matter is that the Cardinals didn't beat anyone of note aside from West Virginia. Perhaps you can say the same about NC State, but the Wolfpack did beat Clemson when it was ranked seventh in the nation.

NC State had to contend with a much higher level of competition throughout the season, and I think that much will be very apparent in the Belk Bowl. The Cardinals were ranked 19th in the nation in total defense during the regular season, but the Wolfpack has enough offensive firepower to render that point moot.

Senior quarterback Mike Glennon had a fantastic season for NC State while often playing against some of the country's elite defenses in the ACC. While his 2,790 passing yards may not jump off the stat sheet, he made the most of his opportunities in throwing for 28 touchdowns.

NC State also has a decent running game to support Glennon in the form of James Washington and Tony Creecy. The Wolfpack may not have the greatest defense in the world, but Louisville is a very station-to-station team that isn't going to make a lot of big plays.

I think big-play potential is what will ultimately decide this game, and in a lot of ways it is a microcosm of how the Big East stacks up against the other power conferences. The Big East has several solid teams, but none are truly spectacular. Most of them play good defense and have good running games, but they lack explosion.

NC State is far from the most explosive team in the nation, but it very clearly has a more athletic team. I don't expect the Wolfpack to overwhelm the Cardinals by any means, but it will be very clear which team plays in the ACC and which plays in the Big East.