Not much to brag about
After two weeks of the Atlantic Coast Conference football season, one thing is clear.
It's a good thing that we have basketball season to look forward to.
The football members are 11-5 against nonconference foes through two weeks - and it's not like they've been facing Murderer's Row here, folks.
The only nonconference game involving an opponent in the Top 25 came in Week 1 when Georgia Tech gave second-ranked Notre Dame everything that it could handle in a 14-10 loss.
Aside from that, Virginia and North Carolina went out and lost openers against a pair of midlevel Big East teams (Pitt and Rutgers), Duke was shut out at home by I-AA Richmond, and then North Carolina State, which struggled in its opener, a 23-10 win over I-AA Appalachian State, lost at home in Week 2 to Akron.
Even when we did win, it wasn't always all that impressive - for instance, we have Florida State, which won on the road at Miami in their season opener before having to come back from a 17-10 fourth-quarter deficit at home against Troy to win 24-17.
Virginia's 13-12 overtime win over Wyoming, meanwhile, set the game back a couple of decades - and Maryland's 24-10 triumph over Middle Tennessee State wasn't much more impressive.
This weekend could be come-to-Jesus time - the nonconference slate features Maryland at fifth-ranked West Virginia, Miami at 12th-ranked Louisville, Boston College hosting traditional Western power BYU and North Carolina State on the road at Southern Mississippi.
Basketball practice begins on Oct. 15.
- Chris Graham