Week 7 ACC Predictions

For the week 4-2 straight up and 4-2 against the spread. For the season: 36-14 straight up and 23-14 against the spread.

On to week 7 we go.

Wake Forest (-3) 20 Clemson 16
East Carolina (-5)24 Virginia 16
Georgia Tech 44 Gardner-Webb 6
North Carolina 23 Notre Dame (+7) 17
Miami 33 Central Florida (+15) 20

ACC Update

vs. FCS Teams 14-0
vs. Big 12 4-0
vs. MAC 2-0
vs. C-USA 2-1
vs. PAC 10 1-1
vs. Big East 2-2
vs. Independents 1-1
vs. SEC 2-3
vs. Big Ten 0-1
vs. Sun Belt 0-1

The non-conference action is done for the most part, at least for now, but it was again interesting to here the "mouths" perspective. Somehow, Kansas rallying to beat a horrible Iowa State team was a "shoot-out", while a thoroughly entertaining Florida State 41-39 win over Miami supposedly showed how bad the ACC was. Such is life when your conference is struggling.

Conference Power Rankings after week 6

1. SEC 39.00
2. Big Ten 40.73
3. Big XII 42.83
4. Big East 51.00
5. ACC 51.50
6. Mountain West 53.89
7. PAC 10 56.50
8. WAC 69.11
9. Conference USA 81.58
10. Sun Belt 85.63
11. MAC 90.38

Power Rankings after week 6

1. Vanderbilt 163.8655
2. Alabama 158.1232
3. Boise State 156.0925
4. Utah 151.4006
5. Missouri 145.5462
6. Michigan State 145.3782
7. Texas 144.7059
8. Oklahoma 142.8572
9. Pittsburgh 140.1681
10.Ohio State 139.0756
11.Oklahoma State 138.9916
12.BYU 138.8235
13.Georgia 138.4874
14.South Florida 135.8543
15.Ball State 133.4734
16.Northwestern 132.7731
17.Notre Dame 132.1009
18.Virginia Tech 131.3726
19.Connecticut 130.5322
20.USC 129.6219
21.Minnesota 128.7115
22.LSU 127.3109
23.Florida 126.8907
24.North Carolina 126.5546
25.California 122.6891

Checking in on the prognosticators

Since there is no Clemson game this weekend and we are near the midway point of the season, I thought it might be a good time to do a quick review of the preseason predictions that we are tracking.

A couple of notes –

1. The list below does not contain all of the predictions we are tracking mainly because some only predicted things that won’t be determined until the end of the season (i.e. conference champions).

2. Green means the associated prediction is correct. Red means the prediction was incorrect. Orange means there is some doubt (in some cases SERIOUS doubt, as to whether that prediction will be correct. Black means the end result remains outstanding.

3. In some cases (see Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), part of a prediction came true (or still could come true) and part did not. For example, Georgia COULD go 11-1, but if so, the one loss would not be to Auburn during the regular season.

Colin Cowherd has the early lead in my mind, but he’s still got some huge hurdles ahead, including his final five predictions. 4 of the teams Cowherd picked in the top 5 had losses in September. They still could work out, but the chances aren’t high at this point. He has, however, been very good at picking individual games (in this context), which is not good news for Texas fans.

Pulling up the rear at this point would be Roy Philpott of CUTigers.com, which you expect from a site that is dedicated to one team (homerism) and Phil Steele who is widely regarded as an “expert”. Steele doesn’t have any outright misses yet, but with the predictions he has left, there would have to be a parting of the Red Sea to save him at this point.

Colin Cowherd -ESPN
1. Colorado will beat West Virginia.
2. Michigan State will beat Notre Dame soundly.
3. Alabama will beat Clemson.
4. Missouri will beat Texas handily in Austin.
5. SC will beat LSU.
6. The end of year rankings will look like this: 1. Florida, 2. USC, 3. Ohio State, 4. Oklahoma, 5. Wisconsin.

Mark Bradley – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1. Alabama will beat Clemson.
2. Auburn will win the SEC West.
3. USC – Ohio State winner will play in the BCS Championship Game.
4. USC will beat Ohio State.
5. Tim Tebow will win another Heisman.
6. Wake Forest will win the ACC Atlantic.
7. Virginia Tech will win the ACC Coastal.
8. Wake will win the ACC Championship Game.
9. West Virginia will beat Auburn on October 23.
10. Texas will win the Big 12.
11. Georgia will go 11-1, win the SEC East (losing to Auburn in regular season), beat Auburn in SEC Championship Game and defeat USC for the National Championship.

Phil Steele - Phil Steele's 2008 College Football Preview
1. Clemson will win the ACC (has the Tigers playing in the Orange Bowl vs. Missouri).
2. Oklahoma will win the Big 12.
3. Florida will win the SEC.
4. Ohio State and Florida will play for the National Championship.
5. Florida will win the National Championship.
6. Final top 5: 1. Florida, 2. Ohio State, 3. Oklahoma, 4. USC, 5. Clemson.

Roy Philpott - CUTigers.com
1. Clemson will beat Alabama.
2. Clemson will lose to Florida State
3. Miami will win the ACC Coastal Division.
4. Clemson will win the ACC Atlantic Division.
5. Clemson will go 12-1, win the ACC title and play Texas in the Orange Bowl.

Kirk Bohls - Austin American-Statesman
1. Sporting News says West Virginia rookie Bill Stewart will better the 11-2 mark of Rich Rodriguez last year. Not a chance. He's overmatched.
2. Nebraska ranks as one of Steele's surprise teams. Agreed.
3. South Florida will beat Kansas.
4. Kansas will not be in a second BCS bowl in a row.
5. Missouri will win the Big 12 North.

Ross Lucksinger, Scout.com
1. Virginia Tech will win the ACC.
2. Missouri will win the Big 12.
3. West Virginia will win the Big East.
4. Ohio State will win the Big 10.
5. USC will win the PAC 10.
6. Georgia will win the SEC.
7. BYU will have an undefeated regular season.
8. Chris Wells will win the Heisman.
9. USC will win the national championship over Georgia.

Pat Forde, ESPN.com
1. Georgia/Florida winner will play for the national championship.
2. Nick Saban will beat either Clemson or Auburn.

Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com
1. Clemson won't win the ACC.
2. Georgia Tech will play in a bowl game.
3. Duke will win more games (at least 3).

Looking back at our preseason top 25 is also interesting. If you recall this was a compilation of 5 or 6 different sources that listed all 119 teams. Four of the top 5 have a loss. 7 of the top 10 have at least one loss (two of these couldn’t be avoided as top 10 teams played each other) and two (Clemson and West Virginia) have two losses. One top 20 team (Tennessee) finished September with 3 losses.

1. Ohio State (1)
2. Georgia (1) tie with USC
2. USC (1) tie with Georgia
4. Florida (2)
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU
7. Missouri
8. Clemson
9. Auburn
10.West Virginia
11.Texas
12.Wisconsin
13.Texas Tech
14.Kansas
15.BYU
16.Tennessee
17.Oregon
18.South Florida
19.Arizona State
20.Penn State
21.Virginia Tech
22.Illinois
23.Pittsburgh
24.Wake Forest
25.Florida State

A slight toot of my own horn. I wrote this about Duke prior to the season:

One other thing, and try not to laugh – I expect Duke to make some noise (relatively). They are surprisingly strong (relatively) coming in with the 8th most talent in the ACC. Not sure what that says about the ACC, but I expect the Blue Devils, with improved coaching, to win an ACC game this year (most likely over N.C. State) and I wouldn’t be surprised if they won 2 (the Devils play both N.C. State and Virginia at home).

Week 6 ACC Predictions

For the week 5-3 straight up and 5-2 against the spread. For the season: 32-12 straight up and 19-12 against the spread.

On to week 6 we go.

Georgia Tech (-14) 38 Duke 21
Boston College 17 N.C. State (+8) 10
Virginia Tech 34 W. Kentucky 7 (+28)
Florida State (+ 2 1/2) 19 Miami 14
North Carolina 20 Connecticut (+7) 17
Maryland (-14) 24 Virginia 7

ACC Update

vs. FCS Teams 13-0
vs. Big 12 4-0
vs. MAC 2-0
vs. C-USA 2-1
vs. PAC 10 1-1
vs. Big East 1-2
vs. Independents 1-1
vs. SEC 2-3
vs. Big Ten 0-1
vs. Sun Belt 0-1

An otherwise, decent week was wasted with the Wake Forest loss to Navy. Wins over two Big XII teams (FSU over Colorado and Virginia Tech over Nebraska) were overshadowed by the Wake loss.

Definitely a homer comment, but you have to laugh when the Wake Forest two point victory over Mississippi at home "shows just how weak the ACC is", but when the same Mississippi team beats Florida in the Swamp it somehow shows "how tough" the SEC is.