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Big East Coast BiACC - ACC Preview, Week 10
November 4, 2010 | By Benjamin Miraski
Much like its East coast partner the Big East, the ACC has become almost impossible to predict from week to week.
Is it parity? In some sick and twisted version of reality, yes. But it is also a commentary on the state of the leagues.
Both conferences are struggling with identity issues. The Big East wants to expand west of the Mississippi river. The ACC already sold its soul — the highest caliber basketball league in the country — in order to grab a sniff of extra revenue from a football championship game.
Before the Big East goes too far, maybe they should ask the ACC how that has worked out for them? A yearly half-empty stadium for the title game in a league that was marginally good to begin with, a league that wasn’t much more than Florida State, sometimes Clemson, sometimes Georgia Tech and everyone else.
And so there exists this morass of junk, a league where the best team according to the numbers, lost to an FCS school. A league where the best team according to the numbers isn’t better than the best team from three leagues that the conference deems less than worthy.
A league which would find itself repeatedly choking on the scraps from the big boys if and when the Big 10, Pac-10 and SEC decide to stop carrying the rest of the nation.
When the power grab was made for Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College, who would have thought that the ACC would not once have garnered a second BCS bid since its expansion. They were adding three giants on the football field. This should have been a no-brainer.
Instead Miami and Florida State collapsed, Boston College lost its edge moving south and no other team stepped up to fill the void. Virginia Tech remained the lone bastion of strength.
And so the ACC has become the second laughing stock of college football.
If a touchdown is scored in the conference and no one is around to see it, does it still count for six points?
The MRI went 1-3 last week, in a testament to how sadly unpredictable this league has become (Duke over Navy? Virginia over Miami?) It must have been Halloween, since the Blue Devils and Cavaliers dressed up as real football teams. So far the experiment is 4-5 overall.
To the picks!
Thursday night:
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (-12) - Virginia Tech loves Thursday night football at home. This is what the program was built on when they were still in the Big East. It is what they have thrived on ever since. In 21 ESPN Thursday night games, the Hokies are 16-5. In home games, they are 9-3. So is it any doubt that the MRI loves Virginia Tech to the tune of 77.94 percent in this game. The 12-point line is a pretty big one, especially considering that the clock won’t stop running in this one. But this team has come a long way from Boise State and JMU at the start of the year. Take the Hokies and lay 12.
Saturday:
Virginia at Duke (PK) - Our two costumed teams meet in a clash of Coastal bottom dwellers. It is too bad that Virginia had to ruin the matchup of winless schlubs by taking out Miami last week. The win earned Virginia enough MRI points to have it safely ahead of the Blue Devil home field advantage bonus. The Cavs have the love of the microchips at 58.39 percent. In this pick ‘em battle, that is enough to go with the Wahoos.
North Carolina State at Clemson (-3.5) - Russell Wilson should be getting more attention nationally except that he plays for a team that hasn’t been relevant since 1983, and even then it was in a sport played indoors. (No, we aren’t counting 2002’s 11-3 overall record, when the Wolfpack played two 1-AA teams and somehow snuck in a 13th game despite not playing at Hawaii that season. When you lose three straight in the conference to blow a great season, you don’t get to be relevant. I only wish there had been an MRI for that season to have some concrete numbers on why that team didn’t count, but there wasn’t. Instead you get this long aside.) The good new for North Carolina State is that they are bowl eligible and the Micro PC bowl, which they loved to go to all those mediocre years, no longer exists. You might get a real bowl with a name like Papajohns.com! Clemson has decided to do what it is known for and shut down its season a little earlier than the schedule says they should. How they are favored in this one is anyone’s guess. The MRI like North Carolina State to win outright 58.39 percent of the time. So take the Wolfpack and the 3.5 points.
Maryland at Miami (-8.5) - Maryland is my favorite paper tiger, or make that turtle. The Terrapins like to put up a gaudy record without any substance behind it. Their fans who read MRISports.com complain and complain about the lack of respect for their beloved team. They can go on complaining. Even Vegas doesn’t like them. In case you missed it, Miami quarterback Jacory Harris (remember when he was a Heisman candidate. Or was that only in the minds of ESPN? I think so.) is likely out after sustaining a concussion against Virginia. First stringer Damien Berry will also not be in the backfield against Maryland. And so with two fourth-stringers stepping in, the Hurricanes are still more than a touchdown favorite. Really? Is Maryland that bad? I mean, the MRI doesn’t account for injuries and likes Miami (72.88 percent). But these are humans who make their living on setting odds, and they don’t seem to care that almost all of the offense is off the field. Maryland, my Maryland, how sad. How about this. I feel for you. Take the Terps and the 8.5 thanks to the injuries. Pray the line doesn’t move too drastically before you can get your money down.
North Carolina at Florida State (-10) - This should have been a great game. This was the game everyone circled as the preview of the ACC championship game. This was the big one, only a few weeks early. Only it won’t be thanks to a lack of institutional control. Is Florida State over its loss to NC State? I would hope so since they had a couple of extra days to absorb everything that they did wrong in stopping the Wolfpack. The good news is that North Carolina’s offense is a little more vanilla than their State cousins. The Seminoles had the love of the computer (72.88 percent to win). They have the love of the human to give ten. Take the Noles.
Boston College at Wake Forest (+3) - Wasn’t it nice that the league schedule two games with the bottom two teams in each division this week? Did they want any television viewers anywhere? Remember those recent seasons when the Demon Deacons were actually decent. They had a defense that could actually stop people. This isn’t any of those teams. This team gives up 40.8 points per game, good enough for 117th in the country. Here are a couple of numbers that will make your eyes bleed: 48 (Duke, and Wake won that one), 52 (Virginia Tech), 62 (Maryland, yes that Maryland that I just disparaged). Those are points allowed, the last two coming in the last two games. Had Boston College not just struggled to get 16 on the board against Clemson, this one could get ugly. I don’t care if Wake is at home in this one (hence their gift three points), this one is all about the Eagles. The MRI gives BC a slight edge (58.17 percent) and that is all they will need to cover in this one.
Posted November 4, 2010 5:00 PM