Week 8 recap - ACC

Since we still have scores trickling in from other conferences, I'm easing back in with just analysis of the ACC.

It hasn't been quite the season anyone predicted, as we see Duke on top of the Coastal Division.  I'm sure this has happened before, but only in September, when Duke was the only ACC team to play a conference game and win.  But this is late October, basically the end of the month for any team with a bye next week.

Coastal
Duke and Miami control their own destiny.  Even though Miami has one more loss, they have yet to play Duke, and a win would give them the head to head tiebreaker.
Virginia Tech needs to win out and have Duke lose another game.  VT has the head to head tiebreaker.
GT and UVA might still have a chance if everyone else loses, but it's so complicated, we can probably say they're unofficially out.

Atlantic
NC State controls their destiny.
Clemson needs to win out and have FSU lose one more.
FSU and Maryland need to win out and have NC State lose one more.

bowl eligible:  Duke, FSU, Clemson
one win away:  NC State
not eligibile:  UNC
one loss away:  UVA, Boston College

Games to watch that could determine who plays in Charlotte:
-NC State at Clemson, 11/17
-Miami at Duke, 11/24

Update on the Logan Thomas drinking game:
After four weeks of averaging 6 shots, we got 1.5 shots last week, and only 1 shot this week.
We're setting the over/under at 4.25 shots for the Thursday night game against Miami.

Logan Thomas drinking game

If you have watched a Virginia Tech game on television during the last two seasons, you have no doubt heard the commentators repeatedly remind you of the height and weight of quarterback Logan Thomas.  (6'6, 260)

Of course, such repetition leads to a drinking game.  Take a shot every time his height and weight are mentioned.  If only one of those is mentioned, take half a shot.  If you don't value your liver or your life, you can up it to a full shot for either stat.

This season, we are keeping track as best as we can of every mention.  I don't have numbers for the first two Tech games, since I was at the first one, and had to work during the second and did not have access to the game on ESPN3.  These numbers might not be exact, since sometimes they get slipped in casually, or I lose track between long stretches.

Pitt - 5.5 shots
Bowling Green - 7.5 shots

Two things seem to affect the number of mentions:
-The quality of announcers/the tier of broadcast.  (i.e. ESPN3 and ESPNU announcers are more likely to mention it than ESPN announcers)
-How many VT games the announcers have called in the last two or three years.

This could be the start of a new feature here.  The over/under on the LT drinking game.

I'm placing the over/under for the Cincinnati game at 6.5.  Will the announcers go over, under, or exactly at 6.5?

Games to Watch: Week 5

Hard to believe that we're still not out of September.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of matchups that look interesting on this side of the weekend.  I'm sure that will lead to a crazy day if you just want to flip around the various ESPN, Fox, and regional channels.  But I can't predict anything right now, so we'll have to forgo the usual list this week.

There are several conference games across all leagues, but not too many marquee games.  Ohio State at Michigan State would be a lot bigger if Ohio State wasn't banned from the postseason.  Baylor at West Virginia also seems like the closest "big" game, but that's mainly due to WVU's recent entrance to the conference.  I'm sure several of the games will help shape the conference races, but ACC matchups of NC State at Miami and Duke at Wake Forest do not really look all that appealing on paper.

Virginia Tech plays Cincinnati at FedEx Field at 3:30 on ESPNU, and I'm hoping to finally see a Cincy team go home from that stadium with a loss this weekend.  If I have access to a TV that can pick up the ESPNU channel, I'll be watching.

Week 4 recap

We still have yet another week in September, but we're already seeing some separation in conference races.

Games to Watch: Week 4

Another week, another list of games.  As we near the end of September, this list gets more interesting.  I'm not sure if that's because we have better matchups, or because we actually have some storylines.  Unlike last week, we're back to being primetime heavy.

Week 3 recap

Week 3 didn't exactly go as I had hoped, or even predicted.  While I'm not sad to see some predictions turn out wrong (USC), VT's loss to Pitt is still stinging.

College Football Online - 9/13/12

Random bits from the interwebs...

#1: 
Notre Dame joins the ACC, except in football. This Ivan Maisel piece summarizes the deal and the history pretty well.  Both sides say it doesn't mean ND eventually joins for football, but no one is really buying that.

There are many pieces to this puzzle to keep in mind:
-the NBC tv deal.  NBC needs every decent sports property they can get, for both the main network (lagging in 4th place), and it's sports channel.  The deal is up for renewal in 2015, which is the same year that Notre Dame can leave the Big East if they abide by the full 27 month notice.
-a 16th team.  The ACC is at a size where it needs an even number of teams in football.  This gives them time to look for one other team.  Plus, this is the first time the ACC has allowed someone to join but not be all in.
-5 ND vs. ACC games per year.  Could this affect the ACC's 9 game conference schedule proposal?  Meanwhile, ND is one school that seems to care about it's long rivalries - which includes USC, Navy, Michigan, and Michigan State.  If ND joins the conference, it won't be able to schedule any other games, and might have to lose one of those.
-playoffs.  2014 changes everything.

#2:
Florida Atlantic will be the Savannah State of the next two weeks.  Or not quite.  FAU is not an FCS school.  Instead, they are a poor Sun Belt school.  In fact, I'm not really sure if there should be an outrage, since the primary reason for the Sun Belt's existence is for the SEC to schedule a second cupcake without resorting to a second FCS school.  And in this case, they are playing Georgia and Alabama back to back.

#3:
The Pac-12 Commissioner has the exact same opinion I have about the Coaches Poll.  I've long said that Frank Beamer (for example) only cares about 13 teams a year (and usually one of them is an FCS team).  Sometimes 14 or 15, depending on how the postseason goes.  Yet, this is one of the polls that still counts for the BCS.

Games to Watch: Week 3

We're back with a preview of the upcoming weekend.  This looks like one of those weekends with a more interesting early slate than primetime.

week 2 recap

You may have noticed I didn't post a list of games to watch for week 2.  That's because I didn't find a lot going on that had any significance going into the week.  However, week 2 had plenty of action that became apparent while watching.

Week 1 recap

Not a lot to speculate about yet, since week 1 was mostly cupcakes and tune up games.  But still a few notes on the long opening weekend.