ACCweekly.com

"Taylor's Rant" by Taylor Zarzour

<<AUDIO BLOG>>

Triangle Sports Talk 1490/1090's Morning Sports Drive host, Taylor Zarzour, rants about the poor state of football in North Carolina versus the rest of the ACC.

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"Taylor's Rant" by Taylor Zarzour

<<AUDIO BLOG>>

Triangle Sports Talk 1490/1090's Morning Sports Drive host, Taylor Zarzour, rants about the UNC's turnaround and what it really means in the long run.

Click here for audio.

"Taylor's Rant" by Taylor Zarzour

<<AUDIO BLOG>>

Triangle Sports Talk 1490/1090's Morning Sports Drive host, Taylor Zarzour, rants about the State-UNC game this past weekend.

Click here for audio.

"Instant Replay, Instant Success" by Drew Smith

<<Audio Blog>>

Instant Replay isn't perfect, but...

• Different from the NFL
• It can help the game

Click here for full details

"Around the ACC in Week 2" by Joe Johnson

AROUND THE ACC IN WEEK TWO

   MAYBE NEXT TIME: After waiting to start his first game for North Carolina, quarterback Matt Baker finally got his chance on Saturday against Georgia Tech. The senior bided his time as Darian Durant’s backup for the past three seasons and when he finally got his chance, Baker wasn’t quite able to help pull out a win for the Tar Heels. Twice Baker was intercepted as North Carolina was driving in for scores. Those opportunities lost were costly for the Tar Heels, who lost by six points.

   PLAYING FOR MOM: Georgia Tech receiver Damarius Bilbo played with a little more inspiration against North Carolina on Saturday. With his mother in the grandstands, Bilbo had a career day with eight catches for 131 yards. And what made it more special for Bilbo was that his mother,  Deborah Ann Coney, made the drive from Moss Point, Miss., through the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
   Defensive end Eric Henderson and fullback Ace Eziemefe are from New Orleans. Others from the Gulf Coast region include free safety Dawan Landry of Ama, La., and defensive tackle Darryl Richard of Destrehan, La.

   DEVIL BEATER: Virginia Tech tight end Jeff King matched his point total against Duke on the basketball court last winter with a touchdown against the Blue Devils on the gridiron. King scored six points as the Hokies upset Mike Krzyzewski’s roundballers and he matched that total with a touchdown reception in the first quarter of Virginia Tech’s 45-0 drubbing of the Blue Devils.

   BLANKETED: Duke has been bad before but not this bad. The Blue Devils managed only 35 yards on 53 plays against Virginia Tech. And to make matters worse, Duke committed nine penalties for 68 yards. It’s been nine years since Florida State held Duke to less than 100 yards of offense and against Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils crossed midfield only one time in the whole game. The shutout also was the third for Duke in the last five years.

   CLOSE WIN AGAIN: For the second week in a row, Clemson refused to accept defeat late in the game. Tiger running back Reggie Merriweather’s 38-yard touchdown run with 2:58 left gave Clemson a 6-2 mark in its last eight games that have been decided by less than a touchdown.

   ALL PASS, ALMOST NO RUN: Maryland wasn’t nearly as effective running the ball against Clemson as it was against Navy in the first week. One game after Mario Merrills rushed for a career-high 149 yards against the Midshipmen, Merrills found the running tougher against the Tigers. Clemson hemmed Merrills in and allowed him to gain only 21 yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Sam Hollenback accounted for 288 of Maryland’s 344 offensive yards.

   WAYBACK MACHINE: It’s been five years since Clemson won its first two games to start the season. Don’t you know Memorial Stadium will be rocking next week when Miami comes to town.

   WAY TOO GENEROUS: Wake Forest stepped outside the ACC and stubbed its big toe on each foot in losing to Nebraska. The Demon Deacons allowed three turnovers to be returned for touchdowns and that accounted for just about all of Nebraska’s points. Benjamin Mauk was picked off three times in the game. Freshman running back Micah Andrews couldn’t follow up his 254-yard performance from the first game with another triple-digit rush total. Andrews managed 64 yards and had a fumble that Nebraska safety Daniel Bullocks returned for a touchdown.
   Wake Forest’s only score came when Sam Swank made a 51-yard field goal at the end of the first half. It was the first game in five years that the Demon Deacons didn’t score a touchdown.

   BROTHERS IN PADS: It isn’t unusual for brothers to play football together but it is a little more rare for the brothers to play against each other. It happened in Florida State’s 62-10 thrashing of The Citadel. Another oddity is that the brothers play the same postion — senior Myles Hodish of Florida State and freshman Jeff Hodish of The Citadel — long snapper.

   BOUNCING BACK: Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford shook off a bad season opener and threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in the Seminoles’ win over Division I-AA The Citadel. Weatherford and his backup Xavier Lee combined to put up the most points and most yards in a game since 2000. Weatherford as 26 of 37 against the Bulldogs, which was a far cry from his 7-of-24 performance in the opener against Miami. Lee chipped in with 143 more passing yards.

   LOOK AHEAD A LITTLE TOO FAR: Boston College has a showdown with Florida State next week and the Eagles started the game against Army like they were thinking ahead. Army took the opening kickoff and drove it for a touchdown against the Eagle defense and that left head coach Tom O’Brien nothing left to say except it was bad football. Luckily, Boston College didn’t get down on itself and it came back to score the next 30 points in the game.

"Move big games later in the season" by Richard Hamilton of Raleigh, NC

<<GUEST BLOGGER>>

   Eveyone loves to see a big blockbuster game like Florida State and Miami and having these games early provides the conference with more opportunities to have multiple BCS representatives but the truth of the matter is that the quality of football this time of year is not as good as it would be towards the end of the season.  There's too much rust!  Imagine how much better last night's game would've been if both offenses were humming.

   We've got plenty of powerhouse teams that can make a legit run at a BCS position now: FSU, Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College and I'm sure there'll be times where other teams have a magical Maryland run as they did a few years ago and make that run to the big game.

   Schedule these super blockbuster games later in the year!  The football will be better and there will be more on the line...it's better for the fans!

"Power Conference Questions" by Rick Fields

   Well, here we are...2005 football season is upon us and thank goodness.  Last year around this time, the debate was loud and resonating about how the ACC could argubly be the best football conference in the country.  As the year played out, those arguments began to fade and it soon became a distant memory as the ACC had somewhat of a down year.

  This year, we begin anew and the conversations were not nearly as focused on the strength of the conference, at least not like it was last year.  With Wake Forest already dropping a game to an SEC team...what can we expect from the rest of the conference as many ACC teams take on SEC and Big XII opponents?  If our door mat loses to their door mat, does that indicate anything?

   I suspect the ACC is near the top in terms of quality teams but the jury is still out as to whether they're truly the best.  What's your take?