ACC Roundtable - Ineptitude Edition

The fine folks at the Georgia Tech blog From The Rumble Seat are hosting this week's roundtable. In their words it's all about, "admitting that your team is flawed, accepting this fact, and moving forward". Expect a roundup of everyone's answers to be posted on their site tomorrow. I'll update here with a link when it drops.

1. Enough with the MVP's and the National Title Talk... What ACC teams are going to be bowl eligible by November Who will be left out in the cold?

Eligible:

1. Miami
2. Boston College
3. Florida State
4. Clemson
5. Maryland
6. Georgia Tech
7. Virginia Tech
8. NC State

Yay, for another year of parity.

2. What team performance (or lack thereof) this weekend shocked you the most? What individual's performance impressed/depressed you the most?

I should say Virginia Tech's pitiful performance against I-AA James Madison. But that horse has been beaten dead, in fact I'm selling glue and dog food out of the back of my car. In hindsight it's not all that surprising the Hokies lost. They played a ranked (I-AA poll) JMU on a short (3 days of practice) week, after losing a heartbreaking game to Boise State while a talent equalizing rain fell in Blacksburg all afternoon.

Instead I'm going to say Boston College, because I'm disappointed BCI hasn't pulled the respect card out at least seven times this week and maybe this will inspire them.

3. The ACC is fifth out of the Big 6 conferences in terms of out of conference winning percentage. Is this a function of a difficult out of conference schedule or are we legitimately the 2nd worst conference in the BCS?

It's both. If the primary criteria are non-conference games then it's impossible to argue for the ACC being any better than the second worst BCS conference. Florida State and Miami losing on the road to Oklahoma and Ohio State respectively is the result of teams not quite there scheduling tough. However, the Virginia and Georgia Tech losses were nothing short of pathetic and they embarrassed the league.

4. James Madison's victory was the 13th I-AA victory over an ACC squad since 1984 (out of 160 total games). It was also the 5th I-AA victory over a I-A opponent in 2010. Is it really worth scheduling I-AA opponents to start the season particularly I-AA juggernauts like App. State, James Madison, or Villanova?

I never liked the idea of playing a I-AA team. To be the best, you have to beat the best. And now that you can't pay for a guaranteed win, what's the point?

5. Have your expectations for the 2010 season or your team's place in the ACC changed after Week 2's round of games?

After we lost to Boise State I expected to finish 10-2, as of right now I'm unsure if we'll win four games. That's not me being dramatic either. We can't block or tackle. If somehow we become fundamentally sound those expectations will steadily rise.

6. What's a bigger mismatch: You vs. Ralph Friedgen in a competitive eating matchup or the Iron Dukes versus Nick Saban on Saturday?

You leave our future offensive coordinator alone.