I didn't watch the Georgia Tech v. Miami game tonight, because I was at work until 8 p.m. writing a probably unreadable opus about the No Child Left Behind Act. Seriously. That's my excuse.
That said, I took the time to read up on it and watch the highlights, and this is what I've gleaned: the ACC is totally going to suck this year.
Case in point: Georgia Tech stuns Clemson. Miami stuns Georgia Tech. Who will now stun Georgia Tech? NC State? This does not bode well. Every conference needs the teams that dominate, and the teams that are foils off of which those teams can rack up massive yardage. Or, alternatively, there must be a bunch of really good teams. Instead, it appears that this year the ACC will feature a bunch of really mediocre teams, and the result will be that everyone beats everyone else, then the ACC Champion will go to the BCS bowl and be stomped upon.
The ACC wasn't very good last year. I mean, they can't hold a candle to the SEC, for example. But it kind of annoys me that right after BC left the Big East, that annoyingly large conference decided to have a bunch of breakout teams. As a rule, I will always believe that Rutgers was overrated. Still, it's kind of weird, right? Back when Boston College was in the Big East, we knew our place. We snuck up a bit on some of the really good teams, we beat up on Rutgers, then we lost our chance to go to the BCS bowls by losing to Syracuse by like 7 touchdowns.
So what's next? If one of the traditional powerhouses in the ACC loses to Duke, what remains sacred? It will be like dogs and cats living together. Anarchy. Then Tom O'Brien will start going for it on 4th downs or something. It's nonsensical. I won't be able to keep it straight.
Also, here's the first thing that should come to your mind when you see Miami start winning games: NCAA violations, free shoes, impending murder probably about to take place on campus, grading scandal.
But I actually think (hope) that could be changing, thanks to their coach, Randy Shannon. He's had a couple tough years getting the program going, but can you blame him? He's seemingly trying to do it without letting his team be overrun by guys like this:
Miami - Florida International brawl set to music
Here's how Donna Shalala describes Shannon on the Miami web site: "Randy Shannon is Miami - tough, disciplined, smart, caring, passionate, enthusiastic, and no-nonsense."
Now I don't particularly think of Miami as any of those things, but if Randy Shannon is like that, then more power to him.
And check out this (awesome and incredibly well-written) profile of him in Sports Illustrated a while back: Hiding in Plain Sight
I hope he's the real deal. I also hope that BC lays Miami out at the end of the season.
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