Conference Power Rankings After Week 5

1. SEC 38.92
2. Big 10 40.64
3. Big 12 43.75
4. Mountain West 52.22
5. Big East 52.63
6. ACC 54.75
7. PAC 10 57.10
8. WAC 68.33
9. C-USA 77.75
10. Sun Belt 85.38
11. MAC 87.69

The ACC, despite beating two more Big XII teams (ACC is now 4-0 vs. Big XII), was seriously hurt by the Wake Forest loss to Navy. The PAC 10? Crushed by USCs loss.

Free Willy

Here's to Willy Korn starting at quarterback for Clemson on October 9th against Wake Forest. Bowden's not going to do it, but the question is should he?

Even with the agonizing loss on Saturday the Tigers are not out of the ACC race - yet. One conference loss doesn't mean what it used to back in the day. In each of the last three years the Atlantic Division winner not only had a loss - two had TWO losses and one had three.

That doesn't change what's happening on the field though. The Tiger's passing offense is anemic and Cullen Harper is not the same player he was last year. Is he injured? Not according to Harper or Bowden. Has he lost his confidence? Not according to Harper. But it's plain to see that his passes just aren't the same, for whatever reason, as they were last year. His completions are a half step behind the receivers; his incompletions are downright ugly at times. Harper's completing 66.7% of his throws, but through 5 games has only 3 TDs and 5 interceptions. In 2007 he had 27 TDs and 6 interceptions with a completion percentage of 65.1.

But this is about more than stats. It's about leading a team. It's about having confidence that when you need a drive or a play your quarterback is going to deliver. I had that confidence in Harper at one time. Not any longer. So, I've come to the conclusion that Willy Korn needs to play, if not start. Not to give Korn "meaningful" snaps to prepare for next year, but rather because I believe he gives this team a better opportunity to win right now.

Power Rankings after week 5

1. Vanderbilt 161.7647
2. Boise State 154.9020
3. Alabama 153.4454
4. Utah 148.4034
5. South Florida 146.3865
6. Connecticut 144.8739
7. Oklahoma State 144.5378
8. Texas 143.6975
9. Michigan State 143.5294
10.BYU 142.8572
11.Oklahoma 142.2269
12.Georgia 138.4874
13.Virginia Tech 137.6471
14.Missouri 137.3950
15.Ball State 136.6387
16.Fresno State 132.9832
17.Northwestern 132.7731
18.Ohio State 130.5882
19.Air Force 128.1513
20.LSU 127.3109
21.Pittsburgh 126.0504
21.Minnesota 126.0504
23.Wisconsin 125.2101
23.Kentucky 125.2101
25.Oregon 124.8740

Vandy is about to be tested, but they could be 6-0 as they play Auburn and it's anemic offense this week and Mississippi State the following week.

Finding New Ways to Lose

Never let it be said that the Clemson coaching staff isn't inventive. Yesterday, they conjured up a way to turn a 200+ yard first half rushing effort into a loss.

Some of the worst play calling I can recall in the second half. Our coaches coach scared. They try not to lose instead of trying to win.

Not trying to bash any player in particular, but I think it's time to "Free Willy".

ACC Update

As previously mentioned, the ACC had it's best week last week going 6-0 vs. non-conference teams including wins over an SEC team and a Big XII team. For the year the ACCs record against non-conference opponents look like this:

vs. FCS Teams 12-0
vs. Big 12 2-0
vs. MAC 2-0
vs. C-USA 2-1
vs. PAC 10 1-1
vs. Big East 1-1
vs. Independents 1-0
vs. SEC 2-3
vs. Big Ten 0-1
vs. Sun Belt 0-1

Week 5 ACC Predictions

That thud you heard was my game picking record heading towards "bolivia". Horrible week, just when I thought I knew it all. Let's look at the scoreboard: For the week I was 5-3 straight up and a paltry 2-5 against the spread. For the season: 27-9 straight up and 14-10 against the spread.


On to week 5 we go.

Clemson 27 Maryland 24 (+ 11 ½) 17
Duke (-7) 20 Virginia 10
Miami 27 (-7) North Carolina 18
Boston College (NL) 38 Rhode Island 3
Florida State 17 Colorado (+6) 14
Wake Forest 31 Navy (+16) 17
South Florida (- 8 ½) 27 N.C. State 10
Virginia Tech (+ 6 ½) 20 Nebraska 17

Conference Power Rankings After Week 4

A big shift this week. The Big 12 drops to 3rd, mainly due to a weak non-conference schedule and two weak teams - Texas A&M (#107) and Kansas State (#97).

One other interesting thing. There is one conference that doesn't have a team ranked lower than 75th in our power rankings. Which conference is it? The ACC. At least in part dispelling the theory of how weak the conference is. Make no mistake - Virginia is horrible right now and they will probably fall past 100 soon. The only thing propping them up at this point is their strength of schedule. We'll write more about this soon, but it doesn't appear that the ACC is as weak as everyone thought. The ACCs "weakness" is that there is no dominant team or teams, but a bunch of middle of the road type teams that can beat anyone one week and lose to anyone the next. I'm not foolish enough to suggest that the ACC can hold a candle to the SEC, Big 12 or even the Big 10 to some extent, but I have no problem saying at this point the ACC is improving.

One final note: The ACC has two more games vs. the Big XII this week, which will go a long way in determining the true strength of the league - Florida State plays Colorado in Jacksonville and Virginia Tech goes to Nebraska.

1. SEC 38.25
2. Big 10 41.45
3. Big XII 46.58
4. Mountain West 49.11
5. ACC 53.58
6. PAC 10 58.20
7. Big East 61.25
8. WAC 68.33
9. C-USA 75.08
10. Sun Belt 79.50
11. MAC 85.85