Yesterday, we barely dipped our toes into the BCS water by projecting Notre Dame and its independent cousins Army and Navy. Today is the first of my projections for BCS conferences. We begin in the ACC.
The ACC has begun its expansion era with a thud. The conference originally expanded to 12 teams with the idea of matching Florida State and Miami in a championship game most years, if not every year. Instead, Virginia Tech won the league in 2004, an 8-4 Florida State team won the first championship game over favored VT in 2005, and Wake Forest beat Georgia Tech last year in a 9-6 snoozer at a half-full Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. Needless to say, the ACC didn't expand for Wake Forest to win championships in front of an empty stadium. It expanded in an attempt to become a mid-Atlantic version of the football revenue-generating SEC. Instead, it has diluted its product. Whereas before it was Florida State and the Eight Dwarfs, now it is just a bunch of good but not great teams, with a horrible Duke team thrown in for good measure.
In the Atlantic Division, Florida State looks to rebound after an uncharacteristic 7-6 season. Bobby Bowden brought in four new assistants to provide new blood. The Seminoles always recruit well, and will bounce back to win this division. Wake Forest won't go away quietly. They'll represent themselves well, and may be a bit better than last year's conference champion. Maryland will have a good season, Clemson and Boston College look to be middle-of-the road, while N.C. State looks to rebuild after stealing coach Tom O'Brien from conference rival Boston College.
Florida State 10-2 7-1
Maryland 8-4 6-2
Wake Forest 9-3 5-3
Clemson 7-5 4-4
Boston College 6-6 3-5
N.C. State 3-9 1-7
In the Coastal Division, Virginia Tech is top dog (no Mike Vick pun intended). They'd have a great chance to go undefeated, but they have this thing called a date at LSU in Week 2. Good luck with all that. Still, they'll earn a date with Florida State in Jacksonville on December 1. Georgia Tech will earn their normal 7 wins. Miami will bounce back in the future, but not this year. They'll also win 7 games. North Carolina and Virginia look to be below average, while I expect Duke to go winless for the second year in a row. That doesn't really matter, as Duke is a basketball school.
Virginia Tech 11-1 8-0
Georgia Tech 7-5 5-3
Miami 7-5 4-4
North Carolina 5-7 4-4
Virginia 5-7 1-7
Duke 0-12 0-8
Editor's Note: I will be blogging more sporadically for the next four days. I leave Sunday evening for a work-related trip to the City of Brotherly Love, a/k/a Philadelphia. I will have my computer with me, but cannot guarantee any posts after Sunday. More BCS conference projections are coming, as are NFL projections.
2 comments:
Duke should have at least one win, come on!
I also hope that VaTech's loss comes early in the season so they make a run for the BCSing.
VT's loss will be to LSU in the second week of the season. That will give the Hokies plenty of time to move up in the polls.
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