ACC Buy, Hold or Sell: Week 2

Well, week 2 was a much better week for the league than week 1, but obviously it wouldn't have taken much to top the bed-wetting extravaganza from the opening frame of the season.

Boston College: Sell
It didn't take long for coach Jags to post a disappointing loss for the BC fanbase, but I had a suspicion that Georgia Tech could win this one. When your offense is so totally different than anything else a team will face, it makes your job that much easier. But even more than that, the Jackets showed toughness and resolve when they fell behind in the second half. Credit to the Jackets for gutting out a tough win on the road. For Boston College, they must now find a way to make their offense work with "fifth year freshman" Chris Crane. Judging from the BC boards, they're not too optimistic about those prospects.

Clemson: Hold
The Tigers won 45-17. That's good. They allowed over 400 yards of offense from the Citadel. That's bad.

Luckily for the Tigers, they open the ACC season against a struggling N.C. State team. But if the Citadel can put up 427 yards of offense, is there hope for the Pack in Russell Wilson's return to the lineup?

(Continues)
Hold
I'm not quite ready to ditch the Blue Devils just yet, but they got a cold dose of reality this weekend against Northwestern. The reality is that, in my best Pete Gillen voice, "Duke is Duke," i.e they still have a long way to go to dig out of the hole they've been in for the better part of two decades. But there's fight in this team we haven't seen in a long time, not since the early Goldsmith years. So up next for Duke is another winnable game when a Paul Johnson-less Navy comes to town.

Florida State: Buy
This was an impressive win for the Seminoles; the 69 points were nice, but more so it's for pitching a shutout against a lower tier opponent in Western Carolina. They scored, scored and scored and refused to let the Catamounts get anywhere close to doing the same. When teams like Maryland are losing to Middle Tennessee State, there's something to be said for putting your foot on an opponent's throat and not letting up.

Georgia Tech: Buy
Big win for the Jackets. Huge. I'm about ready to declare the Yellow Jackets my new favorite to represent the Coastal in the ACC title game, but I'm reticent to do so just yet. A team with a first-year coach and a radically different offense is bound to hit a couple of road bumps along the way. Nevertheless, an impressive start to the Paul Johnson era in Atlanta.

Maryland: Sell
Man, it's BAD right now in College Park. A weak win against Delaware St. is nothing compared to a road loss to Middle-freaking Tennessee St. The Terrapins are eating their own right now, and with Ralph Friedgen, it just means there's plenty to go around.

Miami: Buy
Bumping Miami from Hold to a Buy status after a loss is a bit unusual, you might say, but I thought the Hurricanes gave the Florida Gators all they could handle for most of the game. With 85 five-star players filling out their roster (I bet even their long snapper is a blue chipper) and Tim Tebow at quarterback hosting the 'Canes, it was going to be a long night no matter what. But I saw some good things from Miami that can probably propel them forward into the conference schedule. This team isn't as fragmented as I once thought. It's tough to know if the showing in Gainsville was on raw emotion or not, but I think the 'Canes have a shot at the Coastal title.

North Carolina: Hold
The Heels were off this weekend, resting up for their Thursday night game against Rutgers.

N.C. State: Hold
Two good things about this weekend: We scored, and none of our quarterbacks were injured. Hopefully breaking the seal on the scoreboard for 2008 will portend more offense from here on out. Good news on that front: Russell Wilson will be starting under center against Clemson. So I'm holding the Pack for now, waiting to see how Wilson will perform after his first hard hit. Will he respond with confidence, or become a bit gun shy?

Virginia: Hold
Virginia gets a win against cross-state rival(?) Richmond, 16-0, but it took a late interception to squelch the Spiders in what was a far-too-close-for-comfort game for the Hoos. Given how much they got beat down by USC, I can't really downgrade them any further.

Virginia Tech: Hold
Tyrod Taylor made his return to action for the Hokies, rushing for 112 yards out of the quarterback slot, in their 24-7 win against Furman. We'll see if Sean Glennon continues to get action at quarterback as the Hokies move forward from here, but for now I'm going to hold on Virginia Tech until we see more against capable competition.

Wake Forest: Buy
The Wake Forest train keeps on a rollin', picking up a huge come-from-behind win against Ole Miss in Winston Salem. Sam Swank is ice when it counts, and forget Cullen Harper--Riley Skinner is the best quarterback in the ACC. He looked as cool as a cucumber on that final drive to put the Deacs in position to win it at the end. The Clemson-Wake game on October 9th is shaping up to be the "true" ACC title game unless a worthy contender can emerge from the Coastal.

View the complete entry of "ACC Buy, Hold or Sell: Week 2"

ACC Buy, Hold or Sell: Week 1

Each week I plan to take a look at the conference teams to see how their faring, and assign them a Buy, Hold or Sell ranking akin to the rankings used by stock market analysts. You've no doubt seen this before; I ain't exactly breaking new ground here. But let's give these a whirl.

Think I'm full of it? Tell me why (my wife does all the time).

Boston College: Hold
As much as I can't stand the Boston College fanbase (supplanting Maryland fans for the time being as #2 on the sh*t list), the boys from Chesnut Hill did manage to actually win their football game, which was apparently a lot to ask of teams from the ACC this opening week. I'm still not sold on Jags as a head coach, and I think we'll see them falter along the way this year at some point because of it, but for right now I'm keeping them as a Hold.

Clemson: Sell
Expectations for the season crushed the Tigers in week one; they had everything to lose in that game against Alabama and did. So they lose ground here, as well. The most disappointing aspect of the game for the Tigers had to be their lineplay. We knew they were breaking in four new offensive linemen, but we all expected them to at least perform up to a level that would give Spiller and Davis some opportunities to make plays. Epic fail in that regard. It would take a convincing win (like 50+ to nuthin') in their next game against The Citadel to get them back into even a Hold status, let alone Buy.

(Continues)

Duke: Buy
Well, Coach Cut is off to a great start as Duke head coach. He's got his players believing that they can play big-boy football for the first time in their college careers. The question is can they now take that next step: beating a I-A opponent. Luckily for the Devils, their first I-A opponent in the Cutcliffe era is Nothwestern, a very beatable team for them, and it's at Wallace Wade. Can the Blue Devils keep the ball rolling? We'll see...

Florida State: Hold
No sense downgrading or upgrading a team that has yet to play. They'll kick things off against the Catamounts of Western Carolina, the football powerhouse that's given us Brad Hoover and...

Georgia Tech: Buy
Well, at least one team in the league kicked the crap out of somebody in I-AA. And the fact that it was a collection of talent likely learning the triple option for the first time in their football lives, that has to be a very comforting sign for the folks in Atlanta. I like Georgia Tech as a school (depsite some of their hollier-than-thou fans), and I like Paul Johnson. We'll see how Tech's new offense fares against BC this weekend, but I expect BC to fold like a cheap napkin.

Maryland: Sell
Wow, 14 whole points against Delaware? AND you let them score? What is it about fat offensive geniuses that can't coach college football after they get a new contract (Charlie Weiss, I'm looking at you)? After relenquishing his playcalling duties to new offensive coordinator James Franklin this year, he can't be too pleased to see his offense only put two TDs on the board against a I-AA opponent. Maryland goes on the road(?) to Middle Tennessee State to see if they can kick start the O in week two. Until then, the Fridge is getting a Sell

Miami: Hold
This was the toughest call for me. Miami blasted Charleston Southern 52-7, but most of the high school teams in Dade Co. could post a similar score against the lowly Bucaneers. If I were doing incremental Buy-Hold-Sell ratings, Miami would be a "slight" Buy, but until I decide I need that kind of nitpicky rating, I'll play it safe and keep it at Hold. The reason being is that I'm not yet sold on Randy Shannon as head coach. I've always maintained that a coach needs to show me he can win as a head coach, all things being equal, before he gets the benefit of the doubt, and Shannon hasn't done that yet. Miami will always win 7-9 games a year on sheer talent...it's what happens in the other 3-5 games against comparable skill that I'll be judging him on. So for now, Miami's a Hold.

North Carolina: Sell
Just as Shannon needs to show me he can win when the talent is equal, the same can be said for Butch Davis. To this point, he has not done that. If anything this weekend, he showed me that he can almost take a more talented football team and direct them to a loss. That's not good. The Heels perhaps were feeling the weight of a lot of preseason hype heading into their game against McNeese St., it showed. Well, it showed on everyone but Brandon Tate, who posted 397 total yards to lead the Heels to a win. Can the Heels rely on someone to bail them out every game? Nope. If you play that way you ultimately end up disappointed (see also: N.C. State's three losses in 2002). Davis admitted the team's poor play was his stubborness to establish the running game at all costs. He has to show me he won't make those kinds of boneheaded mistakes in future games before he gets any love from me as a coach. A recruiter? Hell yes, one of the best. Coach? We'll see...

N.C. State: Sell
Woe is the life of a Wolfpack football player. If it's not you taking a serious blow to the head, leaving you unconscious and out for the next four weeks, it's your teammate who provided you the only hope at quarterback for the season. With Russell Wilson out for a while, it looks like the man under center will be Daniel Evans. Again. With Harrison Beck backing him up. Yikes. The game against South Carolina was closer for most of the game than the final score showed, but it brought two glaring deficiencies of the Pack to the forefront: 1) Beyond Wilson, they have virtually no answer at quarterback, and 2) They are woefully thin on the defense. The front four of the Pack is pretty stout, but with an offense that couldn't stay on the field longer than 3-and-out, they wore down pretty quickly and the subs were pretty ineffective. State gets William & Mary at home this weekend, thankfully, and they should win easily, but the bigger questions will remain until Wilson returns, most likely before the South Florida game.

Virginia: Sell
52-7. Damn.

Virginia Tech: Sell
This wasn't as bad a loss as folks outside the state of North Carolina may believe it to be. They see an L against East Carolina, a Conference USA opponent, and think the world has come to an end. But truth be told, the Pirates are pretty darn good and showed it against the Hokies. Nevertheless, there's no way they should've lost that game, in front of a stadium 2/3 full of their fans. Sean Glennon did not look good at all, hence the decision by Beamer yesterday to put Tyrod Taylor back in the mix after planning to redshirt him for the year. Their offensive line looked bad, and if they don't get markedly better there over the course of the year then it could be a disappointing year for the Hokies.

Wake Forest: Buy
Thank God SOMEONE from the ACC posted a solid win for the league. The Deacs pummeled Baylor at their house and continued to prove why they're the class of the league. They just win, baby. Skinner looks solid at QB again, and at the position it counts the most on the field, the Deacs have the best trigger man in the league. Ole Miss comes to Winston this weekend, and provides a solid litmus test for this team. Win two weeks in a row against a Big 12 team and an SEC team and you'll be the toast of Tobacco Road, for sure.

View the complete entry of "ACC Buy, Hold or Sell: Week 1"