Big Football Games in the ACC

Currently, the ACC Atlantic division is one of the tightest division races in college football. It's too bad there aren't any good teams in the division. Clemson is the best team in the division but Florida State, Boston College, and Wake Forest are very much alive for the division title, all with 2 or 3 conference losses. Clemson actually has a very good team but they were very inconsistent early in the year. They seem to have gotten it together a little bit now and could give Georgia Tech a very good game in the conference championship.

Clemson's game against FSU is probably the biggest game in the ACC this weekend. It's between 2 teams that have struggled early in the year sometimes looking like a top 10 team and other times looking like an FCS team. It's hard to understand. That's what's great about ACC football. It's harder than any other conference to predict games. CJ Spiller has re-emerged as a Heisman candidate in this year where there are no real front-runners. Christian Ponder, in contention for ACC player of the year, is an exciting quarterback to watch. It's too bad the rest of the FSU team has been horribly inconsistent. So, if you're looking for a good game to watch tonight, this is the one.

Obviously there is LSU vs. Alabama this afternoon, which is the biggest game in the country by far. And also Ohio State at Penn State play today, which should be very good games to watch. Personally, I'll be watching GT vs. Wake Forest this afternoon because I'm kind of partial to GT and the Clemson game tonight. I expect Clemson will roll over FSU today in a fairly high-scoring affair. I'll be looking for a score like 38-21. FSU's defense is in disarray and Clemson's offense is looking the best it has all season. Besides, it'll be good for the conference to have a legitimate Heisman candidate.

It seems like the ACC Atlantic division has been totally up for grabs every year it has been in existence. The ACC has lacked a dominant team but overall the ACC has been as good top to bottom and as competitive as any other conference. Years ago when the ACC expanded to 12 teams, they divided the divisions to separate the teams they thought would be good, putting Miami and FSU in separate divisions, Virginia Tech and Maryland, and Georgia Tech and Clemson in separate divisions. Now, however, it is quite clear that the Coastal division with VT, GT, Miami, UNC, Duke, and Virginia is far superior to the Atlantic. I would like to see them realign the divisions according to geography, the way the SEC and Big 12 do it. There may still be some unbalance like there currently is in the Big 12 but it's too hard to predict which teams will be good and we shouldn't keep realigning as teams go through rebuilding phases.