ACC Nation was in Greensboro, NC, recently for the ACC’s Operation Basketball. Patrick and Chris got to talk with all 12 men’s basketball coaches, plus select players from each school, and over the next few days we’ll let you know what they found out. ACC Nation will preview each of the 12 men’s basketball programs, going in reverse order of last year’s final regular-season standings, with one preview a day as we approach the start of the season.

Wake Forest
(2005-06 season: 3-13 ACC, 17-17 overall; lost in first round of the NIT to Minnesota, 73-58)

Not many thought they would see the day that Wake Forest’s basketball program would have to find a way to keep up with the football team, but that may be the case this season. With the Deacons playing sensational football, at least by the school’s standards, it will be tough for the basketball team to answer.

But Wake’s Skip Prosser thinks the success in football may carry over to the winter.

“There are times when the football team does well in the fall, it’s got a real ripple effect throughout the school,” said Prosser, who watched his team fall to 3-13 in the conference last year. “There’s no bigger Wake Forest football fan than me.”

It will take more of a tidal wave rather than a mere ripple effect for the basketball team to have the same kind of season as Jim Grobe’s football team is having this season. Not only did Wake finish in the cellar of the ACC last season, but its top three scorers – Justin Gray (18.2 ppg), Eric Williams (16.3 ppg) and Trent Strickland (11.6 ppg) – are all gone

While the freshmen – six true ones are on the roster to start the season – are talented, Prosser isn’t sure what to expect just yet from his young team, which also includes a redshirt freshman and seven sophomores. He said the freshmen are used to playing lots of minutes in high school, and that may or may not be the case in college, one of the many things to which they’ll need to adjust.

“Guys who think it’s their birthright to start – that hasn’t been determined yet, or how many minutes they’re going to play,” said Prosser. “We haven’t lost two in a row yet. It’s those adversity things that will eventually occur, as they will of all teams, that’s really when you test the character and the fiber of your team. I’m curious to see how we’ll react when that does happen.”

Still, the Wake coach did note that some of the freshmen will have to have an impact if this team is to improve on last year’s record.

One of those freshmen, Ishmael Smith, will be important as Prosser hopes his team can increase the offensive tempo this season. The coach said the 5-11 guard out of Concord, NC, gets the ball up the court as quickly as any player in Prosser’s tenure at Wake, but the questions come once he gets the ball in the frontcourt.

“Most of the time he has no idea what to do when he gets down there, but I’m hoping that by the time the other guys catch up he’ll figure it out,” said Prosser, who added that sophomores Shamaine Dukes and Harvey Hale will also see time at the point.

Up front, one of the team’s two seniors, 6-11 Kyle Visser, will see a change in his role with Williams gone. Visser will likely move from forward to center, a role he likes.

“I feel more comfortable back to the basket, in the paint, than I do outside,” said Visser.

Prosser is rooting for his big man, who has been inconsistent throughout his three years in Winston Salem. Last season, Visser averaged just over 17 minutes a game, scoring 5 points and pulling down 4.3 rebounds a contest.

“It will be a real benefit to our team if he can be a low-post presence because to have a good team you need to have both an inside and outside presence,” Prosser said. “He is certainly the most experienced guy who can perhaps give that to us.”

- Patrick Hite

Around ACC Nation

QB change in Miami? Meanwhile, Xavier Lee will remain the starter as FSU hosts Virginia Saturday.

The ACC's yo-yo team, NC State, is looking for some solutions with Georgia Tech and Clemson next up on the schedule.

Rich Rodriguez is one possibility for the next North Carolina football coach.

October was a big month for Boston College.

And Chuck Amato told reporters this week he wasn't yelling at his players in the locker room at Virginia Saturday because he was upset with them.

Yannick Reyering hopes to help Virginia win another ACC soccer title.

ACC gets no respect come tournament time
The Atlantic Coast Conference has won three men's basketball national championships in this decade - Duke in 2001, Maryland in 2002 and North Carolina in 2004.
Sprinkle in a glittering nonconference record and utter domination of the Big 10 in the leagues' annual challenge, and you would figure that the ACC would be sitting pretty come NCAA Tournament time every March.
So how was it, then, that the conference was able to land only four teams in the Big Dance this past season - as many as the midmajor Missouri Valley?
"We have more national champions in this conference than any other conference in the United States. We've had more number-one seeds - more, more, more, more. I just don't think in the last five years that our conference has gotten rewarded," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told "ACC Nation" at the ACC Operation Basketball media day held in Greensboro, N.C., earlier this month.
"You have three national champions in this decade - three different schools. Somebody plays against those people. Somebody loses close games, or wins some - but whatever, if you have three programs that are winning national championships, you've probably lost more than won. How did you lose - did you play all three of those programs in one week or 10 days? That's the weighted stuff that has not been considered fully enough by the people who make decisions," Krzyzewski said.
"Our conference deserves more than - in any year - more than four teams. Closer to six or seven. But never four. I don't know what's happened - but that's been a mistake, I think," Krzyzewski said.
Duke was one of the four teams to receive a bid into March Madness at the end of the 2005-2006 season - along with Boston College, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
Left off the list was Florida State, which finished with a 20-10 overall mark and 9-7 league record, and Maryland, which was 8-8 in league play and 19-13 overall.
FSU coach Leonard Hamilton clearly still feels the pain of the decision of the tournament-selection committee to leave his squad on the outside looking in.
"Obviously, we were disappointed that we weren't selected - but there was no doubt in our mind that we earned the right. Every coach in the country knows that we deserved to be in the NCAA tournament," Hamilton told "ACC Nation" at ACC Operation Basketball.
"We got caught up in some political issues. We got caught up in the tweaking of the formula that's used to evaluate. That's kind of a moving target that you have no control over. We scheduled people who were in the NCAA tournament, who were preseason picked to have great years, who had bad years. You can't do anything about that," Hamilton said.
"The perception of our league is that Duke and North Carolina has earned the right to be the face of our league. They are two of the top five winningest programs in the history of college basketball. And they are driving our league. But the fact of it is that they have reached down and they have pulled everybody else up - and that has gotten lost in the shuffle. People don't realize how much this gap has narrowed," Hamilton said.
"There were 105 games in our league last year where the games were decided by five points or less. That gets absolutely no recognition from the media whatsoever. It means that there are 105 games going on in the ACC where the game's in doubt going down the stretch regardless of who you're playing. That says to me that the top teams are struggling with the so-called teams that are not supposed to be very good," Hamilton said.
"There's a mindset in the league that's gone unnoticed by the media and everyone else that has not given this recognition," Hamilton said.
Maryland coach Gary Williams - one of three ACC coaches to have a national championship on his resume, along with Krzyzewski and North Carolina coach Roy Williams - thinks coaches and administrators need to do more to try to change that perception.
"I think we have to talk about it. I don't think it's something that you can just hope goes away," Williams said. "Times have changed. There's a lot of leagues lobbying against the ACC now. There's a lot of new teams that spend enough money to be good basketball teams - in other words, they've increased their budgets and things like that to match teams in the so-called major conferences."
Williams, like his ACC coaching brethren, professed to not being able to understand how the conference could land only four teams in the big tournament.
"We were rated the third-best conference in the country. We beat the Big 10 for the seventh straight year in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge, but the Big 10 has gotten more teams in five of those seven years," Williams said."A team like Florida State going 9-7 in our league and not going - that's not right," Williams said. "You look at the makeup of the NCAA tournament last year, and it was really different than previous years. And things seemed to count more than counted before. Our strength of schedule was 10th in the country on Selection Sunday - but it didn't seem to have any effect. So maybe that's not as important as getting 23 or 24 wins, like the Air Force, for example, who did not beat a top 50 team during the year."
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt was nowhere near the bubble last spring - his team finished 11-17 in 2005-2006 - but the Yellow Jackets did factor in to one midmajor's at-large berth.
"We played Air Force, and we lost to Air Force, and that was a quality win for Air Force. Maryland beat us twice, it wasn't a quality win for Maryland," Hewitt said.
"For some reason, I don't know why, there are different theories, but over the last couple of years or last few years, people have devalued the quality of ACC basketball - regardless of the fact that we have the best recruiting classes year-in and year-out across the board, regardless of the fact that we have more and more draft picks, again, across the board, top to bottom in our league. For some reason, when we get them, we screw them up. They're good before we get them, and they're good after they leave us - but when they're with us, our league is down," Hewitt said.
"I can't figure that out," Hewitt said.
ACC commissioner John Swofford feels the level of play in the conference in '06-'07 will do a lot to reverse the trend of the past few seasons with regard to NCAA berths.
"The standards are so high in this league. There are a lot of leagues out there that would like to have this league's down years in basketball, to be very honest with you," Swofford told "ACC Nation." "But you compare yourself to what you have come to consider the norm - and in this league, that's an awfully high standard. We didn't quite meet it last year in terms of the number of teams we feel like we should have in the NCAA tournament.
"It's almost gotten to a point where if there's not a team from the ACC in the Final Four, something seems to be missing. And that's a good thing," Swofford said.
- Chris Graham

Virginia football news and notes

THEIR KIND OF GAME: Al Groh told Chuck Amato that the 14-7 slugfest that their two teams played on Saturday in Scott Stadium was their kind of football game.
"I said, 'Yeah, it was yours a little more than mine," Amato told reporters after his North Carolina State team came up on the short end of the decision against homestanding Virginia.
"From our perspective, that game had everything that we would like," Groh, the Virginia coach, told reporters afterward. "It was a clean game. We had one penalty, no turnovers. We ran the ball proficiently if not prolifically. We played real good defense - which is something we're working hard to be able to do on an ongoing basis. And obviously, we were able to finish the game strong there. So we're very proud of the effort, very happy for the players. I thought they were very tough-minded today."
It certainly wasn't pretty - neither team broke the 300-yard mark in total offense, and they combined for 17 punts on the afternoon.
"It feels good to have a win. I'm just worried about the win," said UVa. quarterback Jameel Sewell, who struggled at times in a 12-for-22, 111-yard performance that saw him and counterpart Daniel Evans (21-for-35, 220 yards) have issues with winds gusting over the 30-mph mark.
Virginia (4-5, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter lead on the strength of a 75-yard drive that senior tailback Jason Snelling capped with a 1-yard run.
The scoreboard didn't see anything more in the way of activity until Evans connected with John Dunlap on an 8-yard scoring pass with 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter to tie the game at seven.
After going nearly 45 minutes without putting anything on the board, the 'Hoos went 80 yards on nine plays - with Snelling scoring from 17 yards out at the 1:31 mark to put Virginia back on top.
Tony Franklin intercepted an Evans pass on the ensuing drive to seal the deal for UVa.
"Throughout the circumstances, the defense had to keep on playing, keep on playing, keep on playing. Offensively, we had to come back and answer there at the end. And they stepped up and did everything just right," Groh said after the game.

THINGS STARTING TO COME TOGETHER? After the 31-21 loss to Conference USA foe East Carolina earlier in the month, things were looking pretty bleak for Groh and his team.
Virginia stood at 2-4 - with losses to ECU and equally unheralded Western Michigan standing out among the four - and fans were calling for Groh's head.
A strong performance in a 28-26 loss to Maryland on Oct. 14 signaled that a possible turnaround was around the corner. Back-to-back wins over North Carolina and N.C. State now have fans thinking about bowl possibilities.
"We really, to a large degree, have played the '06 season with the '07 team," Groh said after the State game. "Certainly, we'll miss players who were so big today for us - like Jason (Snelling) and Tony (Franklin) and Deyon (Williams) and Fontel (Mines) and so forth. But that's pretty much the team - plus quite a few very talented young players that I'm not using this year who will be added to the mix. So certainly it's going to have long-range value - because very few players who got that confidence today are going to leave.
"The worst thing a coach can do is kid himself - you know, and just be optimistic because that's the way you want to feel," Groh said. "But when you see players who have talent, who are working hard, who believe in what you are asking them to do, then it's easy to believe in them. Hey, look, we've got a long ways to go.
"We didn't win any championships today - but we're making progress. We're better than we were last week. Last week, we were better than the week before. Next week, if we're going to have a chance to get a similar result, we're going to have to be better than we were today."

WRINKLE ON THE D-LINE: Virginia's nickel package looked a little different on Saturday - featuring four down linemen, one more than are on the line in the base 3-4 that Groh has employed since his inaugural season in Charlottesville in 2001.
"We revamped our nickel before the North Carolina game to just try to get a little more firepower. So we moved Jeffrey (Fitzgerald) and Chris (Long) from the inside, put them out there on the edges, and brought (Kevin) Crawford and (Nate) Collins inside," Groh said.
"We're satisfied with it - it looks like that might be the mix for quite some time here. And when I say quite some time, I hope their progression is such that we're still putting the same four out there next year," Groh said.
- Chris Graham

Around ACC Nation

Beating Florida State isn't what it used to be, especially since four teams have already done it this season (and one of them wasn't Miami), but Maryland's win over the Seminoles was still huge for the Terps, for a number of reasons, including a sixth victory.

Meanwhile, for a little bit on Saturday afternoon, it looked like a weird season in the ACC might get even stranger. But Wake Forest held on and Georgia Tech rallied for victories. For Miami, the loss to Georgia Tech might mean the end for Larry Coker, writes Dan Le Batard. For Wake, the win continues a special season in Winston Salem, while the loss for Carolina continued a season that has been a nightmare.

Virginia looks to be back from the dead with a win over North Carolina State. It's clear that Jason Snelling has become the go-to guy in Charlottesville.

ACC Nation preseason predictions

The guys from ACC Nation have released their preseason picks for men's basketball. Here are the results. Let us know what you think.

Chris:
1. North Carolina
2. Virginia
3. Georgia Tech
4. Boston College
5. Duke
6. Florida State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Maryland
9. Clemson
10. Wake Forest
11. Miami
12. North Carolina State

Patrick:
1. North Carolina
2. Boston College
3. Duke
4. Virginia
5. Georgia Tech
6. Virginia Tech
7. Florida State
8. Clemson
9. Maryland
10. Miami
11. Wake Forest
12. North Carolina State

Evil Q:
1. North Carolina
2. Virginia
3. Boston College
4. Duke
5. Florida State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Georgia Tech
8. Maryland
9. Clemson
10. North Carolina State
11. Wake Forest
12. Miami

Worthless preseason polls
You know what preseason polls are worth?
I would say nothing, but there has to be a stronger word for it.
I can say this with confidence after taking part in ACC Operation Basketball this past weekend.
Did you see what the writers put down as their predicted order of finish for the teams in the conference?
North Carolina in the top spot was no surprise - the Tar Heels are loaded, perhaps more so than they were in 2004 when they brought home the national title.
Two predictions stood out for me as far as showing how silly these kinds of things are - Duke at #2, and Virginia at #8.
The only reason Duke would be considered the second-best team in the Atlantic Coast Conference at this point in the proceedings is that its name is Duke.
Honestly, Mike Krzyzewski has to replace J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams - and for the moment, at least, Greg Paulus, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury.
Given that his rotation toward the end of the 2005-2006 season featured six or seven players, depending on the game, you have to wonder if this team is going to struggle mightily through the pre-ACC season and possibly well into ACC play.
The other enigma - Virginia, which returns all five starters, the ACC's best backcourt and five newcomers who are expected to plug holes in the frontcourt and offer some needed backcourt depth.
Eighth? This makes no sense - nor does the fact that the 'Hoos actually received a handful of 12th-place votes from the assembled media.
Given that I spent the weekend with our brethren of the wrinkled shirt and rumpled tie, I know where these guys are coming from when they cast their votes.
Outer space sounds about right.
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation weekend picks

While at Operation Basketball in Greensboro, NC, Patrick and Chris caught up with Noel Glasgow of the hometown WFMY for this weekend's picks segment.

Listen to the show here.

See the current standings here.

The games ...

North Carolina State at Virginia:
Noel - UVa., Chris - NC State, Patrick - NC State

Buffalo at Boston College:
Noel - BC, Chris - BC, Patrick - BC

Vanderbilt at Duke:
Noel - Vandy, Chris - Vandy, Patrick - Vandy

Florida State at Maryland:
Noel - Maryland, Chris - Maryland, Patrick - FSU

Miami at Georgia Tech:
Noel - GT, Chris - GT, Patrick - GT

Wake Forest at North Carolina:
Noel - Wake, Chris - Wake, Patrick - Wake

Hokie, Hokie, Hokie high
It wouldn't have been hard to figure the final of tonight's Clemson-Virginia Tech game to be 24-7.
That the Hokies would be on the 24 side was probably a surprise to most people watching the game - and more surprising was how dominant Tech was in posting the blowout win.
"I can't say enough - I'm really, really proud of our effort tonight," defensive coordinator Bud Foster said after the win at Lane Stadium, which saw Tech (6-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) hold the Tigers (7-2, 4-2 ACC) to 166 yards of total offense.
That might not have come through the first time, so it bears repeating, with emphasis - Clemson, which entered the game the number-one scoring offense in I-A, gained 166 yards of offense and was held scoreless the final three quarters.
Foster's D made CU look overmatched - holding the tailback tandem of James Davis and C.J. Spiller to a combined 71 yards on 22 carries and harassing senior quarterback Will Proctor into a 11-for-28, 86-yard night.
That this all took place on national TV - in front of a Thursday-night audience that saw the Hokies embarrass themselves two weeks ago in a 22-3 loss at Boston College - made it all the sweeter.
"We showed them the real Virginia Tech football - that we're able to run the ball, and great defense. That's really what Virginia Tech is all about - it's just pounding the ball and great defense," said Tech tailback Branden Ore, who sliced and diced his way through the Clemson defense for 203 yards on 37 carries and two touchdowns on the night.
"I was really proud of our kids," Foster said. "We had to come out and play with great energy. We had to be gap-sound. And our kids did that. I was really proud of how we played. The emotion we played with, the energy we played with, we played as a team - I just can't say enough about our kids."
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation (weekend of Oct. 27)
ACC Nation took the show on the road as Patrick and Chris, along with the Evil Q, traveled to Greensboro, NC, for the ACC’s Operation Basketball. The guys got exclusive interviews with Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao and John Swofford, the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Also, Chris asked Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Maryland’s Gary Williams and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton about the lack of teams in the NCAA men’s tournament last season. We have their responses on the Nation this week.
Noel Glasgow of WFMY in Greensboro joins Patrick and Chris to pick this weekend’s games.
Plus, in the Sound and the Fury, the guys discuss who may replace John Bunting at North Carolina and they give their thoughts on the preseason men’s basketball poll voted on at Operation Basketball.
That and more on ACC Nation.

Listen to the show here

Around ACC Nation

In the search for a new football coach, Carolina's Dick Baddour knows what he wants, while the N&O's Caulton Tudor knows what Carolina needs. Could the answer be Butch Davis?

Bobby Bowden is starting to feel the heat.

Virgina Tech will have its hands full with Clemson's Will Proctor Thursday night. As for James Davis, it's 50-50 that he Tiger running back will play against Tech.

Maryland's kicker has gone from possibly losing his job to award-winning player.

And Miami is looking for some revenge when the 'Canes play Georgia Tech this weekend.

Around ACC Nation

Good and bad news for Carolina. Or maybe it's just good news all around. Football coach John Bunting won't be back next year after a dreadful season to this point, but the basketball team has been picked to finish first in the ACC this year in voting at Operation Basketball Sunday.

Overall, in basketball, this could be a bounce-back year for the ACC.

ESPN is reporting that former Maryland star Shawne Merriman will be suspended for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

Steve Ellis of the Tallahassee Democrat writes that watching Bobby Bowden and his team struggle hurts those who love the coach.

The sinking UNC football ship
North Carolina has obviously given up on football.
That much was obvious after the shellacking that the Tar Heels took on Thursday night in Charlottesville.
Mind you, that Virginia team that shut out UNC 23-0 isn't anything close to being a world-beater.
Those 'Hoos beat Wyoming on a missed extra point in overtime, lost to Western Michigan and then got their doors blown off at East Carolina.
They might as well have been the second coming of the Monsters of the Midway as far as Carolina was concerned.
"I can't put into words how disappointed that locker room is," UNC coach John Bunting said after the Virginia game.
"They're a discouraged group of kids right now. I do everything I can to pick them up. Things that happen sometimes out there, we don't have an explanation for. We did some crazy things at times, we also did some good things."
That's the problem with North Carolina football - actually has been since Mack Brown up and left for Texas several years ago.
For every good thing that the Heels do, they do some crazy things - and to me, keeping Bunting on as head coach is the craziest of the crazy things.
I don't see for the life of me how keeping Bunting in that job isn't a sign that the athletics department at UNC just doesn't care about football anymore.
One thing's for sure - the North Carolina football team itself is tired of what quarterback Cam Sexton called "the same speech."
"It's just all about the feeling, sitting around and feeling the same way after these games, it's tough," Sexton said. "It's like always, it's a broken record. You've got to move on, move past it, and work past it. We're not done. We can get to a bowl. I really believe that."
OK, so don't believe that - Carolina is 1-6, and that one came over I-AA Furman.
(Did I mention that it was a 45-42 win over I-AA Furman? Yeah ...)
But at least this is a start.
I mean, somebody has to begin to care before North Carolina can even dream about getting things moving in the right direction again.
- Chris Graham

A chance encounter with Coach K
I was in the bathroom with Mike Krzyzewski.
That was among the more memorable moments from my trip to ACC Operation Basketball this weekend in Greensboro.
Getting an exclusive interview with Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford was also up there.
(Listen to "ACC Nation" this week for more on that.)
Another one-on-one with Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao was as well on the itinerary.
"ACC Nation" cohost Patrick Hite and I were able to mingle with other ACC celebs - Dan Bonner, Mike Hogewood ...
This in addition to interviews with Coach K, Roy Williams, Gary Williams and players from all 12 ACC schools.
And who could forget the moment in time with Coach K in the john.
Hey, we all gotta go at one point or another.
Right?
(In case you can't otherwise tell, this weekend was among the highlights of my year - but again, listen to "ACC Nation" this week to find out more.)
- Chris Graham

Virginia football notebook

THE ANSWER ... YES ... Jameel Sewell has officially arrived.
It had appeared that things were headed in this direction after the freshman quarterback threw for 243 yards and ran for 92 more in a loss to Maryland on Oct. 14.
His 166-passing-yard, 40-rushing-yard performance in Virginia's 23-0 win over North Carolina Thursday night was even more impressive to Cavalier fans - though coach Al Groh thinks there is room for more improvement out of his signal-caller.
"There were some rocky times out there. Some key issues with play-calling in the huddle the way we wanted it called. But as he has done in all circumstances, he stayed positive and kept his poise," Groh said of Sewell after the the UNC game.
The most important statline from the game came in the area of turnovers - where UVa. put up a big goose egg.
Turnovers have been the Achilles heel for the 'Hoos in '06 - most recently with two second-half miscues playing a key role in the 28-26 loss to Maryland that came after Virginia had posted a 20-0 halftime lead.
"That looked a little bit more like Cavalier football is supposed to look like. The coaches did an excellent job preparing our team in the short week," Groh said last week.
"They have a lot to feel positive about. We are starting to look like we've always felt this team could look like," Groh said.
The second most important statline from the Carolina game - Sewell led the Cavs (3-5 overall, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) on five scoring drives against the Tar Heels.
Sewell said what a quarterback is supposed to say regarding the bottom line.
"Yards are definitely easy to come by when we run the way we did today," said Sewell, noting how UVa. was able to run up a season-high 194 yards on the ground on 38 carries.
"Also, the blockers played well today. We only gave up one sack, and that was just a miscommunication. We adjusted, came back and
capitalized," Sewell said.

SECOND SHUTOUT: The Wahoos posted their second shutout of the season - both against the ACC's bottom two teams.
(Virginia also whitewashed last-place Duke by a 37-0 count earlier in the 2006 campaign.)
That fact seemed not to escape Al Groh's attention.
"I want to make sure I don't go too far with paying the defense credit for what they did to get their second ACC shutout of the year. Certainly, they are continuing to step up and meet some challenges. I thought those three takeaways were key tonight. Each one of them was a pretty significant play," Groh said.
It didn't matter to defensive end Chris Long who was on the other side of the ball.
"It means a great deal," Long said. "Anytime you win, you want to be critical of your own performance, and there are things we are going to be able to take from that. But it's good to shut somebody out, and that's what we want to do more around here. We're building a defense, and we're excited about it."

THE EARLY LINE: Virginia's game with North Carolina State (3-4 overall, 2-2 ACC) is currently listed as a pick 'em.
Kickoff at Scott Stadium is scheduled for noon Saturday.
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation weekend picks

Dave Goren of WXII in Winston Salem, North Carolina, joined Patrick and Chris to pick this weekend's ACC football games.

Listen to the show here.

View the current standings here.

This week's picks:

North Carolina State at Maryland:
Dave - NC State, Chris - NC State, Patrick - Maryland

Miami at Duke:
Dave - Miami, Chris - Miami, Patrick - Miami

Boston College at Florida State:
Dave - BC, Chris - FSU, Patrick - FSU

Southern Mississippi State at Virginia Tech:
Dave - VT, Chris - Southern Mississippi, Patrick - VT

Georgia Tech at Clemson:
Dave - Clemson, Chris - GT, Patrick - Clemson

How dare they call these Hokies 'thugs'
It's the media's fault.
Specifically, it's ESPN's fault.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
It wasn't the Virginia Tech football team's fault that people watching their game at Boston College last week thought they looked like thugs.
It was the director calling the shots and analyst Kirk Herbstreit - and those of us who watched the 22-3 turkey all the way through to the bitter, bitter end.
"Bottom line is some guy out there in the broadcast booth has six minutes to fill in a one-sided game. If I was a broadcaster, I would have probably talked about how good Boston College was, not how big of thugs we were. It's just disrespectful in a sense because he doesn't know us as people," Tech center Danny McGrath told reporters this week - pinning the blame for the bad press that the Hokies have received in the wake of the BC game on Herbstreit and ESPN and anybody and everybody else except where it belongs.
Yep, you guessed it - that would be on the Hokies.
But hey, all they did was commit a few personal fouls and then see two of their star defenders get into a verbal fracas on the sidelines on live TV, right?
No big deal there.
Oh, well, and then there was Tech linebacker Brenden Hill's now-notorious "Sweet Caroline" dance during a TV timeout late in the shellacking that drew Herbie's ire.
But again, no harm, no foul.
"We all just saw what happened with Brenden and how he got ripped nationally throughout the entire ESPN broadcast, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense when we're playing our butts off," McGrath said. "We just weren't getting things done. That doesn't make us thugs out there on the field."
No, playing your butts off and then getting them rudely handed back to you doesn't make you thugs - it was everything else that we saw on the field and on the sidelines that makes you thugs.
And we could add the political-spin-inspired campaign against ESPN to the mix, too.
This at least worked - Herbstreit has apologized for his comments about Hill and his teammates.
"The reason I got heated is because I know how hard (Tech coach Frank Beamer) and (defensive coordinator) Bud Foster and (offensive coordinator) Bryan Stinespring and the rest of that staff, how hard collectively they've worked on that very subject for the last three or four years, and what an effort they've made to try and filter all of that out of the program," Herbstreit told The Roanoke Times this week.
"And when I saw that - it wasn't so much the fighting on the sideline, I mean, that's going to happen - it was just the nonsense, the trash-talking, the dancing on the field when they were down, just things that are very uncharacteristic of a program we've all come to love in Virginia Tech. The reason I reacted why I did was out of frustration at the kids, and them evidently not getting the message that there's a right way and a wrong way to conduct yourself as Hokie football player," Herbstreit said.
OK, so the critics are sorry. That should make McGrath and his teammates happy. Shouldn't it?
"We looked pretty bad, but then two days later, Miami took the thug title right from us," McGrath said, referring to the brawl involving Atlantic Coast Conference rival Miami and Florida International that resulted in 31 players being disciplined.
Makes you want to make sure to clear the schedule for that Nov. 4 matchup featuring the Hokies and 'Canes in the Orange Bowl, doesn't it?
Somebody call Michael Buffer.
- Chris Graham

Terps aiming to repeat in '07
Ask Brenda Frese about her offseason, and she has a ready reply.
"I was just going to say, What offseason? It doesn't seem like there was an offseason - because there were so many activities going on," said Frese, the head coach of the national champion Maryland women's basketball team.
"I wouldn't trade it for the world - the visit to the White House, the team being nominated for an ESPY, just so many wonderful events to be able to participate in, and all as a result of what this team accomplished last season," Frese said in an interview on the "ACC Nation" radio show last week.
And now in a manner of speaking it's back to square one - "a new team with a new identity - and the challenge is really to see how the new team and the new players that are added to the mix are going to come in and how we're going to gel together," Frese said.
"We're very excited to be able to have our top seven coming back into the mix. But it's definitely a new season and something to look forward to," Frese said.
At the top of the list of returnees are post players Crystal Langhorne (17.2 points per game, 8.6 rebounds per game) and Marissa Coleman (13.8 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game).
Langhorne "defines it all in terms of what being a student-athlete is all about - both in the classroom in terms of how she handles her academic and being able to take care of her coursework as well as how she really leads by example on the court with her behavior as a leader and obviously all the intangibles of what she does on the floor," Frese said.
Coleman, for her part, is a perfect counterbalance to Langhorne - Frese described her as a "fun-loving kid that just really loves college, loves every moment of it, enjoys her teammates."
"Obviously, she's a very versatile player for us. It's exciting to think in terms of her versatility the next three years that she has ahead of her," Frese said.
Frese also has three years to further the development of point guard Kristi Toliver (11.6 points per game, 4.4 assists per game), whose place in Maryland basketball lore is secure after her game-tying three-pointer that sent last year's NCAA title game with Duke to overtime.
"That quiet, unassuming confidence that she always gives to this team - she really is a leader for us and does all the little things," Frese said of her floor general.
Repeating will not be easy - not with Duke back and loaded for another run at a national title and North Carolina positioning itself for a chance at redemption for its national-semifinal loss to the Terps.
"It was pretty special last year for all three teams to be making history within our conference. But like you said, every year, if you have a down year in recruiting, you're going to pay for it when it comes time for the ACC conference season," Frese said.
"We all push each other to make each other better. Duke and Carolina set the bar for our conference for a very long time, and Maryland did back in the '80s and '90s, but really hadn't been a player - and we really felt like we wanted to do that and wanted to get more competitive so we could be a part of that mix," Frese said.
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation (weekend of Oct. 20)
Melissa Maikos of WCTV in Tallahassee joins Patrick and Chris this week to talk Boston College-Florida State football. The guys also put the wraps on the ugly brawl between Miami and Florida International, and they talk some ACC hoop. Plus Dave Goren of WXII in Winston Salem, NC, picks the weekend football games with the guys.
And in the Sound and the Fury, Patrick and Chris discuss who is the best football coach in the conference so far, and Patrick has a problem with someone in the visitor’s media room at UVa.’s Scott Stadium last Saturday.
That and more on ACC Nation.

Click here to listen.

A shameful situation at The U
I don't know what makes me more upset - the brawl from Saturday night's Miami-Florida International game, the series of one-game-only suspensions that followed, or the news that a former UM player who was serving as a color commentator on a regional broadcast of the game apparently wanted to get some cheap shots in himself.
OK, so it's Lamar Thomas, hands down.
Thomas, who went on from his time at The U to play six seasons in the NFL, offered his own brand of on-point analysis on the brawl that broke out in the third quarter of the Hurricanes' 35-0 victory over FIU.
"Now, that's what I'm talking about," said Thomas of the brawl, which led to the suspensions of 31 players overall, including 13 'Canes, and featured players wielding helmets, crutches and at least one bodyslam.
"You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked," Thomas said. "You don't come into the OB playing that stuff. You're across the ocean over there. You're across the city. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing."
The comments about Florida International being "across the ocean" and "across the city" referred to the schools being separated by only nine miles of South Florida real estate.
"The OB" is the Orange Bowl, Miami's home stadium.
"I say, why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don't come into the OB, baby," Thomas said after the brawl had begun to die down.
"We've had a down couple years but you don't come in here talking smack. Not in our house."
So that's bad - egregiously bad. But as far as the suspensions of the 13 Miami players, who will have to miss the team's matchup with Atlantic Coast Conference doormat Duke, well ... this borders Thomas opening his mouth on the Ridiculous Scale.
Honestly, if you've seen the fight, you might agree with my contention that the game should have been called a double-forfeit - it was that bad. And the reason it was that bad should be apparent if not obvious.
Listen to the tape of Thomas if you have any questions there.
This is what Miami football is all about, ladies and germs - and it has no place in college football, and certainly not in the ACC.
But instead of telling the folks at The U to go shopping around for another conference, we're condoning this kind of thing?
Shame on you, John Swofford, for giving these thugs carte blanche to do whatever the hell comes to mind when somebody looks at one of them the wrong way.
- Chris Graham

Virginia football notebook

NO MORAL VICTORIES? Your freshman quarterback has a breakout game, your offense outgains the other guys by close to 100 yards, your defense gives up one sustained scoring drive - you assume that you're going to win.
So how did Virginia lose to Maryland on Saturday?
"We did so many more things better - but the result was fashioned around two of the same kind of plays that have been part of the other disappointments, and that was an interception return for a touchdown and a special-teams bungle," said UVa. coach Al Groh after his team squandered a 20-0 halftime lead in a 28-26 loss in Charlottesville.
The game turned on the third-quarter punt that was fumbled by wideout Emmanuel Byers inside the Virginia 5 that led to the Terrapins' first points and another special-teams error - a 16-yard punt off the foot of UVa. kicking specialist Chris Gould that gave the Terps a short field for their second score.
"Clearly, the game hinged on two plays that made it very easy for them to get back into the game - and then it was an even-steven deal," Groh told reporters after the game.
A 56-yard touchdown run by Maryland tailback Keon Lattimore gave Maryland its first lead of the day at the 9:11 mark of the fourth quarter. A minute and 11 seconds later, Erin Henderson returned an interception of an errant Jameel Sewell pass 45 yards for another touchdown to give Maryland a 28-20 lead.
Sewell connected with wide receiver Kevin Ogletree on a 44-yard scoring play at the 2:37 mark to make things interesting. The ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed when Sewell and Ogletree couldn't connect at the goal line.
The loss overshadowed a breakout game for Sewell, who was making his fourth career start after relieving former starters Kevin McCabe and Christian Olsen in the Cavs' last home game, a 17-10 loss to Western Michigan last month.
Sewell completed 13 of his 21 pass attempts for 243 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 92 more yards and a third touchdown on the day.
"He certainly showed those things of which he is capable," Groh said of Sewell, who entered the 2006 season third on the depth chart.
"He had a lot of positive plays. We had a conversation last Tuesday where we talked about things, and I think today showed what we were talked about last Tuesday. You've got to be able to run the ball well, which we ran the ball much better again today. But if you're going to score some points, you've got to get them out of your passing game. And our ability to upgrade our passing game today certainly resulted in our best offensive point production. So being the trigger man, he's part of that. So I would say it's a step forward for him," Groh said.
And despite the loss, Groh - who normally eschews talk of moral victories - came out feeling about as well as a coach who had just seen his team blow a 20-point lead could be expected to, given the circumstances.
"We made a lot of positive progress in a week's time. We did a lot of things today that we haven't done previously in the course of the season. It's very disappointing that a positive result didn't come out of all those things," Groh said.
"The players were very determined. We had a competitive toughness about us that was much more reminiscent of their predecessors. That all makes us feel that we're growing up a little bit," Groh said.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE PUNT? Groh said it had been his understanding that return specialist Mike Brown was going to be on the field for the punt that Byers eventually fumbled to give the Terps their first best shot at putting points on the board.
"They both do punt-return duty," Groh said of Brown and Byers, before adding, significantly, that "one of the things that we try not to do around here is point fingers. OK?"
"Sometimes teams talk about one of the most important aspects that they can have is loyalty and allegiance. And sometimes unfortunately it's difficult for me to answer your questions directly without giving somebody up. One of the things that I always try to do is internally we deal with our issues, we know what we have to do better, but I try not to give people up in public," Groh said.
Groh did say that he has a rule like many other coaches do regarding when it is appropriate to catch a punt deep inside his team's territory that basically puts returners on notice not to venture inside their own 10-yard line to catch a punt.
"It was an unfortunate decision," Groh said of Byers' decision to attempt to catch the punt. "We really had emphasized on a number of occasions during halftime to be alert to avoid all those situations that would let the other team easily get back into the game - you know, a long pass, special-teams plays. In fact, at one time during the coaches' meeting, I sent the special-teams coach out to talk to the team about those things that we wanted to be particularly mindful of not doing in order to let them come back in a hurry. So it's unfortunate that it came up - because it certainly did get them back into the game in a hurry."

QUICK TURNAROUND: For the second time this season, Virginia has to play a Thursday-night game on a short week.
UVa. is currently a six-point favorite over visiting North Carolina.
The 'Hoos lost to Georgia Tech 24-7 on Sept. 21 after losing 17-10 to Western Michigan five days earlier.
"We certainly drew the short straw on that one - to get it twice," Groh said. "I noticed that some conference teams are getting 11 days to get ready. But that's the way it is. It's the same thing for the other team. We'll just use the same plan that we used last time. We don't have any choice with this time frame."
- Chris Graham

How big is one win?
In the locker room following a come-from-behind win over Virginia, Maryland’s football players yelled and beat the walls and sang the school fight song at the top of their lungs. It was a raucous scene.
“I’m going to tell you – in the locker room it was euphoric,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said after his team rallied from a 20-0 halftime deficit to pull out a 28-26 win. “I mean, I was going nuts, coaches were going nuts, kids were going nuts. It was such a release.”
It’s tough to say which team had the biggest win Saturday – Maryland or Wake Forest, which beat North Carolina State 25-23. In many ways, the wins were very similar from an emotional standpoint.
Coming into October, the teams were a combined 8-1. Wake was a perfect 5-0, but no one was giving them credit after a fairly light schedule – and a one-point win over Duke – to open the season. Maryland had one real test early on, and in that game West Virginia hammered them. The Terps also squeaked by a bad Florida International team 14-10.
Then, in their first October games of the season, both teams could have silenced the critics. And almost did.
Instead, Wake Forest blew a 17-3 fourth-quarter lead to lose to Clemson, while Maryland gave up 13 fourth-quarter points to Georgia Tech and failed to score from Tech’s 7-yard line in the game’s final minute to lose 27-23.
So both Friedgen and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe were happy to see their teams respond with a win on Saturday.
“To bounce back after a loss like we had last week, a lot of teams would have crumbled and come in here and not played,” Grobe said. “I’m just really proud of the way our kids prepared this week and came in here and played.”
Now the question being asked is if wins like the ones Maryland and Wake had on Saturday can carry over to the remainder of the season. Friedgen thinks it can.
“It can help. It really can,” the Maryland coach said. “It’s just how do the kids take it. Do they gain confidence from it? That’s what I’m hoping. I think that’s one of the things that’s been really lacking with this team. Like I’ve explained to a lot of our writers, it’s a big difference between thinking you can do it and knowing you can do it. I think it’s like that in every profession. When you’re confident you can do the job you feel pretty good about yourself, but until you do it you’ll always think you can do it. There’s a difference.”
Now both Maryland and Wake Forest know they can do it.
-Patrick Hite

ACC Nation weekend picks

Jamie Curott of WHSV TV 3 in Harrisonburg, VA, joined Patrick and Chris this weekend to pick the ACC football games.

Listen to the show here. See the ACC Nation standings here.

South Florida at North Carolina:
Jamie: UNC, Chris: South Florida, Patrick: South Florida

Wake Forest at North Carolina State:
Jamie: NC State, Chris: NC State, Patrick: Wake

Florida State at Duke:
Jamie: FSU, Chris: FSU, Patrick: FSU

Maryland at Virginia:
Jamie: UVa., Chris: Maryland, Patrick: Maryland

Florida International at Miami:
Jamie: Miami, Chris: Miami, Patrick: Miami

Hard reality for Hokies
The "GameDay" crew put a lot of attention on how Virginia Tech didn't seem to handle its poor showing in Thursday night's 22-3 loss at Boston College well - but it seemed to me that they missed what was really going on in Chestnut Hill.
These Hokies just aren't that good.
A lot of the focus has been on quarterback Sean Glennon, whose 23-for-34 performance was good on paper only, given how many screens, dumpoffs and flares offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring had him throwing against BC.
The reason Stinespring has Glennon throwing so much of the short stuff is that the Tech line can't block for him long enough to find his receivers downfield.
This is never more evident than when you look at the Hokies' running game - would you believe 33 rushing yards put up by a Tech football team coached by Frank Beamer for an entire game?
Tech football is based on the two most important parts of the game - blocking and tackling. They're clearly not blocking, and the tackling, while clearly better Thursday night than what we saw a couple of weeks back against Georgia Tech, was just as clearly ineffective on the backbreaking fourth-quarter drive that saw the Eagles march 83 yards on 12 plays and run six and a half minutes off the clock before scoring a touchdown that gave them an insurmountable 20-3 lead.
It's not going to get any easier for Beamer's Boys - next week they're home to Southern Miss, which dismantled North Carolina State last month, before games with Clemson and Miami that could prove to be interesting in terms of postseason implications and other implications.
Not that long ago, these Hokies were dreaming of BCS. Now they could very well enter the home stretch in mid-November 6-3 or even 5-4.
Remember how ugly things got back in 2003 when that Tech team imploded after a 6-0 start to finish 8-5? My feeling is that you ain't seen nothing yet.
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation (weekend of Oct. 13)
On ACC Nation this weekend, Mike Hogewood joins Patrick and Chris to talk ACC football and basketball.
Brenda Frese, the Maryland women's basketball coach, talks about the pressures of being preseason No. 1.
And Jamie Curott of WHSV TV3 in Harrisonburg, VA, joins the guys for the weekend football picks.
Plus, the Sound and the Fury and Inside the Nation.
That and more on ACC Nation

Click here to listen to the show

The extra set of blind eyes up in the booth
Is it possible that we can just scrap this silly instant-replay system that we have in place?
Seriously, we were a lot better off when the mistakes were made on the field.
And I'm not just talking about the high-profile case involving Oregon and Oklahoma from a few weeks back - where officials missed not one, but two calls that led to a game-winning touchdown for the Ducks that should never have been put on the scoreboard.
The guys in the Atlantic Coast Conference, for example, aren't even getting the little things right.
Take, for instance, the call from the Maryland-Georgia Tech game on Saturday involving a reputed fumble by Tech wideout Calvin Johnson.
It was clear from replays that Johnson never had possession of the ball - but the game officials ruled the play a fumble, and despite the fact that ESPNU went to commercial after the change of possession, the people upstairs never buzzed down to the field to suggest that the play be looked at further.
To be fair, Tech coach Chan Gailey had ample opportunity himself to challenge the play himself and did not - but that, to me, is beside the point.
Every play in the new system can be and thus should be looked at in between plays - and some rather obvious bad calls are slipping through the cracks in spite of this.
What's worse, to me, is that it seems that the guys on the field are hesitant to make calls on bang-bang plays - knowing that they can go to the booth to get it right, or something like it.
The problem there is the court-of-law-like standard of "indisputable video evidence."
For starters, what is "indisputable video evidence," exactly? Is it like pornography - we know it when we see it? Or is there some scientific way to look at a replay and determine whether or not the call on the field was the correct one?
We all know the answer to that - it's just another judgment call, which means it is just as prone to being wrong as anything that the guys down on the field can offer up.
Which brings me back to my original point - why bother with this kind of a system when it's only as foolproof as the fools in charge of implementing it?
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation weekend picks

Randy Waters, morning sports anchor at WXIA TV in Atlanta and color commentator for Georgia Tech basketball, joined the Patrick and Chris to pick the weekend ACC football games.

Check out the current standings here. Listen to the show here.

Clemson at Wake Forest:
Randy: Clemson, Chris: Clemson, Patrick: Clemson

North Carolina at Miami:
Randy: Miami, Chris: Miami, Patrick: Miami

Maryland at Georgia Tech:
Randy: GT, Chris: GT, Patrick: GT

Virginia at East Carolina:
Randy: UVa., Chris: ECU, Patrick: UVa.

Duke at Alabama:
Randy: Alabama, Chris: Alabama, Patrick: Alabama

Bales, Duke ready for another run at Final Four
It was a coming-out party, of sorts, for Duke center Alison Bales.
In this spring's NCAA tournament, the 6-7 Bales averaged 13.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game as the Blue Devils made it all the way to the national-championship game.
That they fell short - Maryland knocked off Duke in overtime in one of the more thrilling final games that you will ever see - is the motivation as Bales and the Dukies get ready for the start of practice next week.
"I wouldn't say that we're starting over from scratch," Bales said in an interview on the "ACC Nation" radio show this week.
"We have four people who started at some point during the year returning - so we have a solid basis to build on. We've got a lot coming back, and we've got a lot of fresh faces and just a lot of new stuff on the court. It's really exciting. This is a new team - every year is a new team, and it's exciting to see how we're going to put it all together," Bales said.
One player who won't be returning could be a noticeable missing link. Monique Currie averaged a team-high 16.4 points per game in addition to pulling down 5.8 rebounds per game (second on the team) before moving on to the WNBA this summer.
"Monique is a big loss," Bales said. "She was a good player for us, and I think both on and off the court, we all miss her now. She was here for five years, so she was a big part of the program - and a great person, great teammate.
"We'll miss her. More than just her stat line - she was our leading scorer and one of our leading rebounders - we'll miss her attitude, I think, a lot, and just the toughness that she brought to the court," Bales said.
With Currie out of the picture, Bales, a senior, is now being asked to step up as a team leader - she was voted co-captain along with point guard and classmate Lindsey Harding last month.
"The title captain, I think, is just a name - but I think as a senior, me and Lindsey both are trying to step up our leadership this year and help the younger players, the ones who maybe haven't gotten experience," Bales said.
"The learning curve is pretty steep, so we're just really trying to help them out, teach them all the plays and all the different things before practice starts next week," Bales said.
That the learning curve is steep is due to the depth of the Atlantic Coast Conference - which sent three teams to the Final Four this past season.
"When I got here my freshman year, the ACC wasn't nearly as well thought of as it is now. And I think now you can pretty much you can say that the ACC is the best or one of the best women's basketball conference in the country. I mean, last year, three of the Final Four - that speaks for itself. I think it's just going to make it even tougher for us day in and day out in the ACC season," Bales said.
- Chris Graham

The ACC has caught Bowden, FSU
OK, Bobby - their jobs are secure. So you can go back to beatin' 'em.
If only it were that easy for Bobby Bowden - that he could turn it back on in Tallahassee, where it seems pretty clear at this point that the Atlantic Coast Conference has caught up to him and is actually looking back in the rear view.
Would you believe the Seminoles are 7-5 in their last 12 in the ACC?
Would you have ever believed that you would see those numbers - 7-5 - associated with a Florida State football team?
And try this on for size - Clemson (coached by Bowden's son, Tommy) and N.C. State (coached by former Bowden assistant Chuck Amato) each now hold two-game winning streaks over FSU.
That is the reality that 'Noles fans are having to face now - which the rest of us have had to endure for how long now?
Florida State is currently 1-2 in conference play - and if you remember, that one wasn't pretty, a 13-10 win over Miami that doesn't look as good as it did back on Labor Day, now that the Hurricanes are in the throes of a death march that most recently featured a one-point win at home against Conference USA upstart Houston.
And it's not necessarily going to be a cakewalk to the end - after next week's layup drill at Duke, FSU has to play Boston College, Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest in successive weeks.
All four would have to be considered tossups at this point - which is a sign of the times in itself.
And the Seminoles have to win three of those four just to match last year's 5-3 conference record.
Who woulda thunk it - FSU rallying to go 5-3 in the conference.
- Chris Graham

ACC Nation (weekend of Oct. 6)

On ACC Nation this week, Patrick and Chris talk Wake Forest football with Rob Daniels of the ( Greensboro ) News & Record. Friend of the Nation Jeff White of the ( Richmond ) Times Dispatch also stops by to talk Virginia football.

With basketball season just around the corner, Duke center Alison Bales visits the Nation, and Randy Waters, sports anchor for WXIA in Atlanta, picks the weekend games with the guys.

Plus, on Sound and the Fury, should Duke football consider dropping back to Division I-AA? And did Georgia Tech's win over Virginia Tech last weekend tell us more about the Jackets or the Hokies?

That and more on ACC Nation.

Listen on ESPN 1360 WHBG in Harrisonburg, Va., Saturday at 9 a.m.; News Talk 1450 in Lexington, Va., Saturday at noon; or WMVA 1450 in Martinsville, Va., Saturday at 3 p.m.

Or, just click here to listen.

Trouble in Hokie Nation
Virginia Tech was ... exposed ... on Saturday.
And right there on regional TV and all.
The Hokies of this past weekend are clearly not where they have been in recent years at quarterback, for example - nope, Sean Glennon is not Michael Vick, Marcus Vick or even Bryan Randall.
Glennon's numbers on Saturday against Georgia Tech in a 38-27 loss - 27 of 53 for 339 yards - were very much deceiving, almost as much as the final score was, given that the Yellow Jackets built a 38-13 late in the third quarter.
Nope, Glennon is not going to beat anybody with his arm - or his feet, what with his four sacks on the day giving him away there.
That one of those sacks led directly to a third-quarter Georgia Tech touchdown that turned a 24-13 game into a rout has to worry Tech fans - as does the eerie similarity between those game statistics and the season-to-date stats of now-former Virginia starting signal-caller Christian Olsen.
(The lead-footed, light-throwing Olsen has completed 34 of his 63 pass attempts in 2006 for 270 yards - while being sacked two times.)
Another reason for alarm - the 6.1 yards per play that Georgia Tech was able to gain on Saturday, which is about 50 percent higher than the season average of 4.1 yards per play that Frank Beamer's boys have allowed in what could be a harbinger of things to come.
After posting easy wins over Northeastern, North Carolina, Duke and Cincinnati, the Georgia Tech game was the start of a five-game stretch that next takes the Hokies on the road at Boston College before returning them home for contests with Southern Mississippi and Clemson before going back out on the road for a matchup with Miami.
The remaining four are no question winnable - but it wouldn't take much for any of those games to be losses, either.
Has it been that long since Tech fans were gearing up for a return date in Jacksonville?
Seems like an eternity ago now.
- Chris Graham

The good, the bad and the ugly

The good: Wake Forest. Things will most likely change when the Deacons get into their ACC schedule, but then again ...
Give Wake and Coach Jim Grobe some credit. After beating Liberty Saturday, combined with Virginia Tech's loss to Georgia Tech, Wake is the ACC's only unbeaten team (which looks even more impressive after Ole Miss, which Wake whipped last week, gave Georgia a great game before falling short Saturday night). Grobe has preached that his practice of redshirting players would mean a more mature, and therefore a better, football team. So far it's paying off in Winston Salem.
A couple of other good items from Saturday: If Wake Forest isn't, Georgia Tech is the surprise of the conference so far. Nice job going into Blacksburg and hammering the Hokies.
And Clemson, while routing Louisiana Tech, had three running backs go over 100 yards.

The bad: I'm not sure if this should have been good for Virginia or just plain bad for Duke. But since UVa. still has that loss to Western Michigan on its record, let's give Duke the bad. The Devils were at home against a bad UVa. team. It was a chance for Duke to finally win a game, a conference game even, and it got steamrolled. We all knew Duke was bad, just not this bad.

The ugly: We knew nothing about Virginia Tech before Saturday. The Hokies were unbeaten, but had played no team of significance. When VT finally did play a quality opponent, it wasn't pretty. The defense was the strength of the team, supposedly, but that unit fell flat Saturday. The special teams, the strength every season, also stunk it up. And the offensive line ... it could be this week's ugly all by itself. Virginia Tech went from being one of the favorites in the conference to a team in trouble with games at Boston College and at home against Clemson coming up in October.

- Patrick Hite