Hello, Welcome to this Week in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the podcast for
All Sports Discussion dot com. This is Jeff, one of your podcast co
hosts, and you can follow me on Twitter at Talkin' ACC Sports. That's
at Talkin' ACC Sports t A l K I N A c C Sports.
Your podcast moderator is Matthew and you can follow Matthew on Twitter or x whatever
they're calling it these days at ASD Underscore, Hoky Smash. I'm going to
turn it over to Matthew now as we get into this week in the ACC.
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you Jeff. And this is the longest
running independent ACC podcast in the United States. This is the All Sports Discussion
ACC podcasts. The site twitter account is at all Sports d ACC and we're
having a classic version of the podcast tonight and it is fun when we get
a chance to do this. Jeff, tell everyone about yourself, all right,
Matthew, Yeah, been been following ACC sports all my live. Grew
up on it, grew up on ACC basketball, which was was definitely my
first one in sports. You know, the North Carolina tar Hills, the
duke rivalry from from way back. Ended up going to school at Georgia Tech,
got an engineering degree and then went to graduate school at Clemson, so
I definitely have like personal ties into the a c C. And then started
up this this, the blog, Allsportsdiscussion dot Com, and the and the
podcast with Matthew because I kind of I felt like the ACC didn't have a
voice out there, you know, not much on social media. You know,
there was always anti anti ACC stuff. Everything was was pro other conferences.
So you know, kind of wanted to just bring a different voice to
ACC sports and it's been a great voice and a great run. Yeah,
this is Matthew here. You can follow me on Twitter at asd Underscore Hokies
match is Jeff said earlier, I'm a Virginia Tech alumnus. I'm a graduate
school alumnus. However, I have been going even before graduate school. I've
been going to Blacksburg since i was five years old. My uncle is a
retired professor from Virginia Tech and the College of Education, and so I've had
ties to Virginia Tech for longer than anybody can imagine. And I've seen incredible
growth on the campus at Virginia Tech and Blacksburg. I was just I was
just there this weekend in fact, and I just had I had a wonderful
time, Jeff. I know, I know that I sent you the photo
on Twitter, but it was pretty It was pretty fun for me to kind
of see the Veterans Day garage changeover at r at Virginia Tech, at the
at the at the at the War Chapel Memorial. I've never seen that on
Veterans Day before, and it was pretty pretty awesome, pretty awesome to see
that. I enjoyed. I enjoyed. I enjoyed seeing that in North Virginia.
Tech is one of the few campuses around the company around the country that
has a core of cadets, and it was pretty pretty cool to see our
future military there. So I had. I had a fun time seeing that.
It was kind of rare. I was in blackstat Blacksburg for a non
football game weekend, but I did get a chance to see Virginia Tech in
Ohio State Wrestle and I've if you've seen McKay Lewis, I know you've seen
him on TV before, Jeff. He is so fast live in person as
a wrestler is unbelievable, and I feel like he could be he could be
an Olympia the next time around. I'm very certain of that. I've never
he wrestles at the one seventy eight class, and he is just the fact
he is just the fastest wrestler I've seen, and probably the fastest wrestler in
the ACC. Quite frankly, it was fun to watch. It was fun
to watch it, and I know we'll talk about men's That's best ketball later
here in the mic because in the open mic state a segment because I got
a I got a few words about by Virginia Tech there. But before we
get to our open mic or so open microphones segment, which tends to be
one of the funnert segments on the podcast, we're going to review ACC football.
Jeff, Who was your most disappointing ACC football team in Week eleven,
Jeff? And who who was the most impressive team? Jeff? Well,
from from the impressive side, I'm going to start with that one. I'm
going to start with the with that one first, and I'm going to let
you, you know, really go into detail with it. But Virginia Tech
going to Boston College and I didn't get to watch this game. I just
kind of kept up with the score and you know, Boston College had won
five games in a row. I mean, they hadn't looked dominating or anything,
but I mean this was the team that was, you know, kind
of was looking at maybe winning seven eight regular season games, you know,
headed to a bowl, Virginia Tech trying to get bowl eligible, and just
you know, went into Chestnut Hill wins forty eight twenty two. I know
you'll get into that game a little bit more, but you know, the
other impressive team was you know, I have to say Clemson. They they've
seemed to have started to write the ship. From some of their early and
mid season struggles. They they found an identity of how they can win football
games. They beat Georgia Tech this past weekend forty two to twenty one,
and the score was definitely not as close as even that indicated. It was
total domination by Clemson. Their their writing, and an elite defense. And
make no mistake, their defense is as good as any in college football.
That is definitely a top five defensive unit. They're really good athletic deep West
Goodwin has seemed you know to be rounding you know, into form as a
defensive coordinator, where last year he seemed to be over at whelmed at times,
even with a talented defense, he's he's pressing the right buttons. And
they took on a Georgia Tech offense that it had a lot of success in
recent weeks running the ball. Haines King had been playing very well, and
Georgia Tech had absolutely no answer for what Clemson was doing. Offensively. They're
still kind of limited, they can't really stretch the feel, but they they've
now taken on an identity with their offense where they're gonna run the ball first
and see if you can stop that. And behind Phil Maffa, who had
almost another one hundred yard game just short of that, and then Will Shipley
catching the ball. They they seem to be kind of getting it together here
in November. You know, can't win the A c C or get into
the playoff, but you know they can still finish the strings and strongly and
finished finished ranks. So I was pretty impressed by Clemson. Also, you
know, if you look at the disappointing team, it's got to be Pittsburgh
is one of the most disappointing teams of the week. Playing Syracuse in New
York. I think Syracuse through something like eight passes the whole game. I
gotta look at this, but you know, Garrett Schrader is compromised in this
game. He's he doesn't appear to be full healthy and and Syracuse puts in
a tight end to to basically run basic formations and they ran for nearly four
hundred yards against Pittsburgh. Okay, I'm looking at it now. Syracuse completed
five passes out of nine for twenty one yards, and in the second half
they dominated this game Pittsburgh. This is kind of stunning because they want of
the ACC's better programs over the last two or three years. They won an
ACC title a couple of years ago. Last year, we're a top twenty
five team one nine games, and you know, I think there was some
thought that, you know, they could regress a little bit this season,
but they have just the rails have come off off of their season completely.
They have to win over Louisville, which was the one time you know,
they played the way some thought they were capable of. But this is a
two and eight team and they're the worst team in the ACC. I'm not
sure there's any question about it anymore. You know, you watch them on
offense, I mean in their fumbling. I can remember at least two fumbles
in the game where they were completely untouched by Syracuse. You know, just
kind of players running into each other, bad handoffs, you know, really
strange to see a Pittsburgh team this bad. You know, fill your COVID.
That experiment was was a big disaster. And you know, Syracuse running
for three point eighty two with basically a tight end playing half the time at
quarterback and an injured Garrett Schrader. Just really ugly lost for Pittsburgh and they
can't get out of the season fast enough. I was. I mean,
I think you're right. I was. I was impressed with Virginia. Virginia
Tech did play well. They're probably in my for my dollars, Jeff.
I think they played. That's the best game I've seen Virginia Tech play in
quite some time. I mean, they had over six hundred yards of offense.
Ron Drowans looks like he could you know he was playing if he played.
If he plays like that, Jeff, the rest of the season,
he's certainly going to get some votes for a team All ICC quarterback. I
mean, he's certainly changed the forwards fortunes of Virginia of Virginia Tech. And
he was, he was he's the lead, he's the he's playing as a
leader on that team. But I mean, the difference I think that you
see, but at least between this year's team and last year's Virginia Tech team
is that they're targets all over the field at wide receiver, at running back,
at quarterback. I mean, you the offense is the offense is starting
to you know, take a turn. You'd let you think that they're probably
going to go to the portal and get some more guys with the defensive line
an offensive line. But there's you know, they're starting that you can see
some noticeable improvement. And I think you've you've even blogged about this, Jeff,
that you've seen some noticeable improvement in in Virginia Tech. And I think
they're and I think that I think I think the Hokies probably at least for
my you know, and I was not a homer here, but I think
for my for my money, the Hokies are the ACC team of the week.
And I don't think that there's any any question about that. They were
firing on all cylinders. They came up there, they got a couple of
Dore and Strong look like an All ACC corner back that day. And you
know, Jeff, Virginia Tech always seems to find some All a CC defensive
corner back or defensive back and somebody that finds their way into the NFL.
And then maybe Dorian Strong this year. He's playing at a very high level
right now, you know. And I think that they learned. I think
BC learned that they're probably going to be not passing the ball very much the
rest of the season. Yeah, it was sort of It was sort of
funny because I don't did how much of that game? Did you watch,
Jeff a little bit any bit? How much did you watch? No,
I wasn't. I wasn't able to watch it. I just kept up with
the box scores. Okay, So I mean I was a little shocked that,
you know, because it's like it's like something I saw I saw half
halfway do something that Justin Fronte would do. It's like you they went away
from the running attack when it was working and somehow decided, well, let's
go and pass instead. And twice two times in a row, they did
this. The BC quarterback does this, and he gets picked off off on
two different possessions, like almost back to back from Dorian Strong, and I
was like, what is Halfley doing here? You've been running for like,
you know, you ran your first drive, you basically ran down the field
without throwing a pass, and you're deciding to go into your bag of tricks
and pass And I was kind of floored by it because I thought it was
a bad coaching decision for him to do that. I mean, as a
fan for Virginia Tech, I welcome bad decisions, right, but I was
I was floored by I was floored that he did that. And then after
you know, after that, after that then, I mean, it was
really one of the more balls he plays I've seen this year in the ACC.
I mean, Virginia Tech is up a couple of scores and all of
a sudden, Pride is on side kick and Virginia Tech gets it, and
I mean, and it was I mean, it was perfect, Jeff,
I've never it reminded me of Frank Biemer. Honestly, it reminded me of
Frank Biember. I'm like, you're doing this on the road and you're throwing
rolling the dice and I'm like, it just totally it totally changed the dynamic
of that first half because they went down the field and scored right away because
BC's defense provided absolutely no resist, no resistance whatsoever. And by that time,
it was twenty four to seven, and I'm thinking, Oh my gosh,
they're gonna run these guys out of the stadium. I'm sitting in Blacksburg
with my uncle and aunt watched this game and we're all yelling at the TV.
Oh, yelling at the TV. And then I'm buzzing down to Sharky's
to get this Beisenberger to bring it back for everybody to watch, because it's
the best, the second or third best Bisenberger I've had in my life comes
from Sharki's in Blacksburg, which is is kind of cool and kind of strange,
but it's pretty cool. So we had a game in Blacksburg watching Virginia
Tech just apps mall BC, and I haven't seen a game like that in
a long time where it was like dominating in every every step of the way,
and it kind of gives me hope for hope for next week. Man
s Jeff, Let's go to week twelve, friend, which ACC football game
are you looking forward to the most in week twelve. Well, yeah,
there's a couple of really you know, intriguing games here, but I'm looking
forward to the Syracuse Georgia Tech game. You know, from a personal standpoint,
you know, even if Georgia Tech had gone into Clemson and played very
well, it was going to be a tall task to come out of Death
Valley with a victory. I mean, Clemson, even with their you know,
relative struggles the last two years, it's very difficult to win there.
So you know, playing well was unlikely that they were gonna win there.
So now they're they're at home, hosting Syracuse with an opportunity to get Bowl
eligible. And and you know, it's been five years, twenty eighteen was
the last time Georgia Tech went bowling, and you know, this is the
game that they have to win. You know, let us be honest with
Georgia the next week, and you know, Georgia is you know, they're
rounding into playoff form like they've done the last couple of years, and they're
just steamrolling opponent. They annihilated an Ole miss team this weekend, you know
that came into that game like eight and eight and one or nine and one
and just annihilated them, and you know, Georgia Tech's just not equipped to
beat a team like that right now unless just something, you know, completely
bizarre happens. So, you know, if you really want to show progress
in your program, and upsets are great, you know, beating Miami in
North Carolina, you know, you know, got got the attention of a
lot of people, but you've got to get to the postseason if you really
want to show progress. For Brent Key, and you know, they get
Syracuse, it's an opportunity. They're favored in the game. It's going to
be really interesting. The way Syracuse ran the ball so well against Pittsburgh.
Georgia Tech, you know, might have arguably the worst rushing defense, not
just in the ACC, but in the entire country. There's one team that's
worse statistically against the run in college football. Maybe it was North Texas or
something, but it's like Georgia Tech is one twenty nine out of one thirty.
So you know, from that standpoint, it's going to be an intriguing
game, an extremely important one, I would say for Georgia Tech. Syracuse
also trying to get Bowl eligible, but they have an opportunity at home against
a wake Forest team that is simply just not very good this year. So
you know, for Syracuse it's not a matter of a must win. It'd
be a nice to win, but they'll get another opportunity the following week against
wake Forest. Another game that I'm looking forward to is North Carolina and Clemson.
See the top five offense of North Carolina playing the top ten defense of
Clemson is going to be a really a tremendous matchup there, seeing that loaded
offense with NFL islan across the board, a future pro at quarterback versus the
Clemson defense that's dotted with with NFL talent across a roster. So that's going
to be a really intriguing game. And then the other I mean, I
know you'll get into maybe a couple of these other ones or have your thoughts
on the Clemson, North Carolina, Georgia Tech Syracuse game. But the other
one I'm looking forward to is I really want to see Louisville performs at Miami.
You know, Louisville, you know, had the fantastic effort against Notre
Dame, but there haven't been too many They did play well against Boston College
and they've eaten some of the inferior teams, but you know, they still
have an outside chance to college football playoff. At nine and one, I
mean, they go into Miami, win their tenth game, a reeling Miami
team that's lost their last two games, just had an injury to their quarterback
Williams Tyler van Dyke back in there. And Louisville. You know, now
taking this on the road, they've been great at Cardinals Stadium, but on
the road they've they've been more vulnerable. They go into Miami, get Kentucky
at home. I mean, they can get to the ACC Championship game eleven
to one and still have an outside chance of reaching the playoff. I would
say it's a great chance, but they have an outside chance and just really
having a special season. So we know Miami's talented, that they don't always
play up to their potential. Crystal bauld has made some bizarre coaching decisions,
we'll say at best, but that's a really intriguing game in my opinion too.
Jeff, here's my question for you. NC State goes to Virginia Tech.
Which NC State team and which Virginia Tech team is going to show up?
Right now, Virginia Tech is favored by three points, and I think
that that's fair basically because Jeff Brendan Armstrong hasn't had a very successful visit in
Blacksburg. Yeah, this is that is a really interesting game because I think
we know we know who NC State is and who they are now. You
know, they got great defense there with Peyton Wilson, you know, the
All American linebacker. We know they're limited on the offensive side of the ball.
They had the weird situation last week with m J. Morris, the
quarterback of the of the previous four games. I think, but they're you
know, they're starting quarterback, you know, calling it quits on the season,
you know, and depending on your point of view, to save his
red for shirt or to transfer or whatever whatever his reasons were. You know,
Brendan Armstrong was called back into action, and you know, they took
care of Wake Forest this past weekend. But I think Virginia Tech is a
different animal and going into Blacksburg with drones, Like you said, he's playing
well against that defense, Virginia Tech with some momentum, and so he stayed
with some momentum. I think that's a very under under the radar game that
could turn out to be really good, and so because I asked Ralph Ralph
Russo to pick both. He in his in his weekly Picks Colin Jeff he
has he has a segment where he says, give me two unranked five hundred
teams for my picks, and I gave him both of both the techs.
I gave him NC State in Virginia Tech and Syracuse and Georgia Tech because they're
both the most you know, both teams have a lot on the line this
week, you know, in terms of you know, getting I mean that's
three of four teams there. Then I mentioned that you know, have something
online to get to it. Yeah, exactly, And you know, Virginia
Tech's got a play. You know, if they don't beat n C State,
they got to play Virginia the next week. And I think almost every
one of us can agree. You know that Virginia is a is a team
that's better than their record. I mean, they've been in every single ACC
game except for the blowout loss to Georgia Tech. And you know, they've
just been a really a really hard luck team. And you look at the
you know, you look at Virginia and their two and eight record is not
the same as Pittsburgh's two and eight. You know, Pittsburgh is a train
wreck offensively, playing poorly and looking for answers. Virginia Tech is a two
and eight team that's played pretty well, has a win over North Carolina,
had an opportunity to beat Miami, Okay, then the you know, then
then then the blowout to Georgia Tech. But then goes on the road at
Louisville, you know, and at one point, you know, had a
lead late in the third quarter of that game twenty one fourteen, And we've
talked about Louisville being so great at home and Virginia had them on the ropes
before Louisville made you know, made their comeback. So you know, like
you said, you've got Georgia Tech five and five, try to get Bowl
eligible. Basically, they have to beat Syracuse if they're going to do it.
Syracuse trying to get Bowl eligible, you know, still with the opportunity
against Wake Forest the next week, but I don't think anyone can say that's
a guarantee. And then Virginia Tech trying to get Bowl eligible, you know,
trying to win one more between NC State and and Virginia So when you
have that opportunity to try to get that sixth win, you got to take
it and not you know, not get to that final game of the season
trying to play for that. So, like you said that, that makes
for a lot of interesting football and very meaningful football for these teams to try
to get Bowl eligible, especially you know, Syracuse trying to save Dino Baber's
job. Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in similar situations, trying to show that
they're you know, progressing between coaches who are in there, you know,
second season at their schools. Were Brent Key, you know, interim last
year, but you know it is his second year at Georgia Tech, and
like Brent Pryce, trying to show progress. I like Virginia Texas chance,
Virginia Tech chances against Brendan arms Jeff, I do. Yeah, he definitely
hasn't been the Brennan Armstrong of two years ago. And you know, he
played okay against Wake Forest. He had two hundred yards of total offense.
But I mean NC State is not going to light it up. They're just
not. They're going to be ball control and they're going to try to ride
that defense. Brennan Armstrong has never lit it up against Virginia Tech. Jeff,
mm hmm, okay, so that's true. I mean it. I'll
like of it's really the pass to the offensive lineman. Jeff. Oh yeah,
I remember that. That was that was really suthing. That's one of
the worst offensive play calls in the history of the ACC, Jeff. Jeff,
I'm going to start this first first this time because I mentioned a few
weeks ago here we're going to transition to outside the ACC national college football.
I mentioned to you a couple of weeks ago that you know I was and
I've been very consistent about this. I've been very high on Washington every week
because they always seem to find a way to make plays to win. But
I think it may come to an end this week, Jeff, because they're
going on the road this week to Oregon State. And I mentioned to you
on Twitter that weird things seem that where things seem to happen in Corvallis,
Right, Corvallis is a really tough place to play. The stadium is loud,
or the fans are right on you. I've been to it before.
I've been to that stadium before. They have a really good quarterback in dj
On Galle, who's playing just outstanding football. He's playing outstanding football right now.
He has a very he has a I think personally he has a better
surround a better surrounding supporting cast that he had at Clemson in some of the
skill positions. I think Oregon State is It's it's kind of interesting the way
this works out, Jeff. But Washington is playing the two teams that got
left out of college football realignment from the PAC twelve over the next two weeks.
They're playing Oregon State this week and they're playing Washington State next week.
I believe Oregon State's gonna want to have a piece of Washington this week,
and I feel I feel like they're really going to want to feel like they
ended it because they're gonna be kind of pissed that they got left behind.
I mean, and not that I'm not that I'm trying, not that I'm
counting Washington out, but I think if it comes to an end this week,
it comes to an end this week in Corvallis, because Washington is not
going to lose the Apple Cup in Seattle. So if you're looking for an
l or an upset this week, take that one. In Corvallen on Saturday
night. Jeff, That's that's that. But that's the game I'm certainly looking
forward to the most here outside the ACC in week twelve. The floor is
yours. Jeff. Yeah, when you when you when you look across the
board nationally, I mean that that's one that I'm definitely gonna gonna keep an
eye on and and really looking forward to. I mean, the PAC twelve
has just been you know, a ton of fun this year. I mean,
I would say outside of ACC football, I haven't watched a conference across
the country anymore than the PAC twelve. So I mean, I definitely could
see an upset in Corvallis between Washington and Oregon State. But I mean it's
you know, when you have a quarterback like like Panix, and I think
Washington and Florida State are really similar in that, you know, both have
great quarterbacks, they have offensive weapons, you know, maybe a little bit
to be desired on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, there's
certainly you wouldn't put Florida State and Washington defensively in the class of a Michigan
or an Ohio State. You know, on the offensive side of the ball
though they're as good as either either one of them because of the quarterbacks.
And you never feel panicked when you when you see when you see Washington fall
behind by seven or ten points, there's no panic because you know that Panics
is going to be capable of marching them down the field, the same way
with Jordan Travis. But like you said, there's gonna be a ton of
emotion in that Oregon State game, frustration at being left behind. I'm gonna
go against you, and I think Washington I don't think they lose until they
face Oregon again. I think Agon might might get them if they meet in
the Pac twelve champion ship, but I think Washington comes out of there with
a win. You look across the country and and the schedule is pretty pretty
thin, to be honest. I know, Georgia goes to Tennessee, which
you know, we'll have our attention for a little while, but it doesn't
appear that Tennessee would be capable of knocking off Georgia. Georgia's rounding, you
know, like we said earlier in the podcast, they seem to be rounding
in the form Tennessee's you know, just coming off a blowout lost to Missouri.
Been kind of a disappointing team this season. I know, earlier in
the year people were talking about, Oh, Georgia's got to go to Tennessee
and Knoxville. That's going to be, you know, such a dangerous game,
and you know there might be some emotion that keeps it close for a
half, but I'm not I don't really envision Tennessee being able to win that
game. And you know, look across the rest of the country, just
not a lot of interesting games. Michigan going to Maryland, but Maryland,
no, they're not very good, and you know they're gonna have to play
out of their minds too to keep that one close. So you look across
the country and it really is that Washington Oregon state game that should have everybody's
attention across the country. I mean, I you know, I I still
think Washington can win. But that's my you know, that's my candidate for
an upset if if it does happen, that's that's where that's where I think
Washington will slip up worse or they will slip up because they're gonna be loud
and they're gonna be crazy in that state. They're gonna be loud and crazy
in that stadium, but I had I've been a Poenix fan all year,
all year. I think what I thought was intriguing here was that both Kansas
teams are ranked going into this matchup this week. Both Kansas State and Kansas
say. I'm not even sure the last time is I can remember that happened?
Jeff, Yeah, I'm not sure I do. Uh, we'll see
if Kansas stays. Is Kansas still ranked after well, they always look after
Tuesday, but they kind of took it on the chin this weekend the Texas
Tech. I think they may not be. I'll have to check that.
I was looking at Yahoo. Probably maybe they did, wasn't updated yet,
because that's what I'm looking at right now, so maybe they maybe they didn't,
maybe that maybe maybe that article came out after my road trip. But
Yahoo probably updates this the day after. And I think that's probably what I'm
mooking, probably what I'm looking at right now. I know we've got what
is it, but I know Kansas State moved back in. Yep, they
moved. They moved back in. But I guess we'll have to But still,
you know that that's not often you see a Kansas Kansas State team between
two seven plus win teams at this point in the season, that should be
a pretty entertaining game. I mean, Kansas is gonna want to Kansas State
don't want to run the ball, you know well want to run the ball.
I tell you, you know, you know how it is smash mouth
football. I've started thinking in my mind, if priye ever leaves, they
need to call up Chris Climbing because you know he would fit well in in
Blacksburg, Jeff. You know that he would fit He would be exactly what
they wanted in Blacksburg. So they would have to give him a call if
that, if that, if it ever happened that way. But I'm we're
all reading for Pride to succeed, and he's he's certainly doing, he's certainly
doing, he's certainly trying to make it try and trying to. If he
gets to a ball this year, you know there'll be some progress to make
on next year, just like for your guy, and just like for Brinke
at Jeergia Tech. Jeff, my next question, my next next question,
friend, and I think you'll enjoy this a little bit. Okay, so
full disclosure. I was extremely tired. On Saturday, I'm the second half
of u NC A Duke and I woke up at all I saw were people
complaining about officiating, and really Duke was not a beneficiary of a lot of
calls. And one of the real ridiculous ones was it was an interference.
Uh, interference uh, and I interferre really an interference and not an interferen
excuse me, an interception that was not reviewed and it was clearly an interception
and the ACC officials really didn't look at at all. But there were several
candidates in that game that were that that quite frankly, Duke did not didn't
get didn't get the benefit of doubt. For I'm wondering what you think of
ACC officiating lately, Jeff, because I mean a lot of it. You
see that, you know, ACC officials hashtaggs and blah blah blah. But
it looked particularly grageous from some some of the tweets and some of the videos
I saw yesterday. And in favor of h yeah, you know, in
favor of favor of UNC, and I did talk with one of my UNC
friends. I said a time, I mean, and we all agree with
this sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good, right, You'd
rather take a luck every time because Lady Luckle can get you a game or
two. But it seemed to me that that there was really quite a few
things that could be sent to the League Officials office here. Yeah, I
mean, my thought on ACC officiating is when you get outside of the ACC
it's bad across the country. I mean, I have not I'm not gonna
sit here and say AC officiating is good, because it's not. But when
I watch football across the rest of the country, it's pretty bad too.
I Mean, they are controversial calls in every game that can decide games.
You know, at the Alabama LSU game a couple of weeks ago, they
LSU fans were going berserk on some of the calls, and you know,
it's bad across the country. But when you look at what happens some of
the stuff that happened in the in the UNC Dude game, I'm going to
disagree with you a little bit, Matthew on the interception. I do think
they should have reviewed it. Now, that was bizarre. I don't understand
why they didn't review it, but I guess I don't think it was so
clear cut that it was an interception, because when they did show the replay,
it looked like to me that the North Carolina player might have been on
the ground already from from his rear. So I don't think it was a
clear cut interception, but I thought there was enough there they should have reviewed
it. Okay, that that I don't understand. I don't understand why they
didn't review it. And then the other the other play, I mean,
unfortunately, that wasn't the only officiating that was controversial in that game. The
other one where it did look Now this for North Carolina, when they scored
on the two point conversion, the announcer said there was an ineligible lineman downfield,
an ineligible player downfield, and should have negated the play. When you
do see the replay on that, it did look like one of the linemen
was beyond the line of scrimmage and wasn't engaged in a block. They probably
should have thrown the flag on that one. But I've kind of gotten to
the point where you're gonna get bad calls just just expected, and to me,
the number of officiating calls that really decide the game or a lot fewer
than people will admit, because you know, if you're watching the game,
there were a lot of North Carolina fans griping about the officiaty too. But
you know, it's never a good look when the officiating gets controversial at the
end of a game for a conference. So on those two calls, I'm
not so sure it was. For me, it was not so conclusive that
it was an interception. But on the other one where it was the ineligible
receiver down field, that did look like there was a receiver down field,
And you know, I don't know what you do to fix it, because
it's wait till bowl season. You'll see the officials from across the country.
When you start watching these bowl games, there's going to be some horrendous calls,
you know, coming out of officials from the Big twelve and the Big
Ten and the SEC. And you know, the PAC twelve has a similar
reputation to the ACC when it comes to officiating, so I wouldn't expect it
to be any better when the bowl seasons starts, or if you're watching football
around the country. Fair enough, Jeff, I want to go back to
one part of our seven week twelve ACC who is the most likely to be
upset this week, this week, in week twelve, I want to go
back to go back to our schedule. I think we missed that topic.
Yeah, if there's I'm pulling, I'm looking at Duke and Virginia. This
feels like a trap game, you know, for Duke going up to Charlottesville.
I mean, there's been so much hard luck for Virginia this season on
their two and eight. They've been in every single ACC game that we said
but one. You know, they were in it with Louisville again. You
know, they have another emotional game. Paris Jones gets hurt in the game,
carted off the field. I mean, he had spine surgery this week
and thankfully you know, his extremities are moving. But when it happened,
I mean, it was just another emotional gut punch for for the who's and
Duke coming off that emotional game with North Carolina, where if you're a Duke
fan, oh you're a you're a I rate it the officiating. Uh you
had Elco going off on the officiating. You play such an emotional game with
North Carolina and come on the wrong end of the stick and a two overtime
loss. I mean, how much are they going to have in the tank
against Virginia. I think that that game is ripe for a possible upset.
And then the other one I think you have to keep an eye on is
certainly Louisville and Miami. You know, Louisville taking the show on the road
with with expectations they certainly weren't expected to be playing with this season. And
and Miami, you know, starting out of the year four and oh lost
for the last six. I mean, they're they're gonna look for something to
try to be, you know, kind of salvage this season. So Louisville
is gonna have to be on there on their toes. I mean, you
know, they're They're not They're not like a Georgia who can just overwhelm teams
with with their talent. They have to play smart and they have to play
well, especially against a Miami team that's you know, you you may be
able to argue is more top to bottom talented team or at least as talented
as Louisville. Uh So, Louisville wants to keep their their fringe playoff hopes
alive. They want to you know, lock up their ACC championship hip game.
I think there's still a mathematical way that they have they locked it up.
I'm not quite clear on that. I think there's still a mathematical way
for someone else to appear in. There is there, there is Indeed,
Virginia Tech can still get in. Yeah, so you know, Louisville's has
a lot to play for now. They've they've got expectations. Each week the
stakes get a little bit higher for Louisville. So that's another one to keep
an eye on as they head down to Miami and Coral Gables. In that
one, you know, I was surprised that they that they made Virginia Tech
that favored, you know, and because I was going to say that,
but then you know they're they're favored by three points. So I and I
then part of says, don't be surprised by that because Brennan Arrank's never been
successful in Blacksburg and maybe that's why the Vegas handicappers came through. But Jeff,
I do have to be frank with you, I am surprised that Pitt
is favored over BC. I just don't get I just don't get that.
And maybe they're the handicappers are looking a little bit at like, Wow,
maybe BC sucks worse than we thought we thought they did or something like that,
and where we have a pillow fight between a couple of teams or something
like that here in Pittsburgh. But I can't say I wasn't surprised to see
Pitt favored over BC. Yeah, I mean it is surprising to basically see
anybody in the ACC as an underdog to Pitt at the moment. All right,
Jeff open microphone time. The four is yours. Well, this past
weekend was was really ACC in college basketball getting into full gear. You know,
I started, I actually started watching quite a bit from me when college
basketball season starts in November. I'm not a just start watching it in January
or March. I like to watch it a lot now. And you know,
the ACC got out of the gate, you know, really good.
They won their first sixteen out of conference games the start of the season.
And then Friday came and some results went sideways, and I think you can
already draw some early conclusions about you know, the the ACC and some of
its teams. Louisville and you got to talk about them one point win and
opening their opening game over over UMBC that they trailed quite a bit of that
game, and then they come back and and lose by double digits to Oh
my goodness, it just escaped me. Who they were, who they were
playing. I believe that was Chattanooga. Yeah, exactly, thank you Chattanooga.
Man. Kenny Payne is he has got to be maybe one of the
worst hires, maybe the worst hire we've ever seen in acc basketball for a
program like Louisville to be in this in this state and they do not look
like they're they're any better. And Notre Dame already out of the gate with
an ugly loss, uh today or yesterday today or yesterday to Western Carolina and
the Mike Post Mike bray Era is off to a rough start. Those were
those were the two you know that you're you're already looking at Louisville and Notre
Dame are gonna, you know, head to a or it could potentially be
in store for another really long season, especially Louisville man Mike Goodness, Uh,
it doesn't seem like there's any hope, uh there for their basketball program
until you know, Kenny Payne has shown the or we'll see if they can
somehow turn it around at the other end of the at of the end of
the spectrum, Miami, they look really strong. Two dominating wins out of
the gate, including a Big twelve team in Central Florida. Now Duke against
Arizona, I don't think we have to worry about. You know, Duke's
gonna be in the tournament. They're a super talented team. But Arizona they
exposed some things with that Duke basketball team on Friday night. Arizona rank number
twelve. If they're eleven better basketball team country, I don't know that that
is an outstanding basketball team. And they were very physical with with Duke and
Cameron uh and and Duke just couldn't match their physicality. They were dominated on
the glass by Arizona. Uh. You know, if Duke's gonna go from
just being a good team to one that gonna win the national title, you
know, you're gonna have to get a whole lot tougher because you're gonna have
to go through, you know, Arizona type teams to win a national championship.
And you know that's something John Shire is gonna have to see if he
can fix before then with Duke. But still, you know, do Duke
is gonna be one of the ACC's top teams. But whether they can you
know, become one of the best teams in the country is going to depend
on whether they can develop, you know, that physical toughness in the front
court that they're gonna need to compete and beat teams like Arizona Virginia. You
know, they got a quality win early in the season. You know,
you never underestimate Tony Bennett. If you're doing that, you know, just
just don't do it. They got to win over you know, a Florida
team that many think will have a shot at an NCAA at Large bid.
Uh. And then Clemson today, uh, the first ACC team so far
in the season to win a preseason one of the preseason tournaments, knocking off
Davidson UH and UAB over the weekend. And you're gonna most people are gonna
look at that and say, oh, they beat U A B and UH.
You know Davidson, you know, big deal. Well, the other
team the team in the field was a top five, top four Big Ten
preseason pick, Maryland. Uh. They left Asheville oh to two. Uh.
So if you here, he's gonna be in my other rent. If
if Maryland is really one of the four or five best teams in the Big
Ten. Uh that's a four big a four bid league, you know,
not the usual nine ten bids that the Big Ten is hands out every year.
But if Maryland is truly one of the best teams in the Big Ten,
that that that is going to be a down year in Big Ten basketball
because Maryland lost both games, uh in Asheville. So good on Clemson though,
to go up to Asheville and already pick up a tournament win early in
the season, tournament titled So Jeff, I watched every second of that Virginia
Tech South Carolina basketball team by the basketball game, and you know, Virginia
Tech did not have a good first half, but you know, you can
tell that they're missing Rodney Rice and I'm not you know a lot of people
miss that news. But he decided to opt in the chant transfer portal,
which I think it really put in Virginia Tech's guard depth back back a little
bit because he was expected to play a major role and even in the rotation
and probably even start, I mean, a big, physical guard. Well
he's out. Then you've got players, you know, playing in these roles
that they're perhaps not as accustomed to. But the thing that was shocking to
me, Jeff, is that and this felt I mean, I know I
tweeted you with about this. It felt like the Georgia Tech game last year
twenty twenty three on the road all over to me, because there were times
when I'm thinking, why is he playing this man demand defense when Virginia Tech
isn't fast enough to play South Carolina's guards right now? Why are we doing
this or not? They just were not as well conditioned to play that man
demand defense against the guards against South Carolina's guards, and you know, they
would have been in a better position to you know, to play to play
zone. I mean, this has been happened a couple of years ago.
If you recall when Buzz Williams guards were running around Duke like there was no
tomorrow, you know, running around their guard, running around Duke's guards,
and then finally Coach k had to switch to his own. And I'm thinking,
you know, it would be helpful, you know, especially if you
have a short rotation like Virginia Tech does, because I didn't expect to have
a short rotation, but to perhaps throw a couple of big guys in there,
because actually Botit and Lynn Kidd had been playing pretty well. I mean,
I was actually I wanted to be fair and balanced about this. Virginia
Tech's post guy has actually gave him some contributions, Jeff, And I'm I'm
not asking for PJ. Hall type of contribution at Virginia Tech. I'm asking
more Victor Davola, you know, somebody like that. Maybe you'll give you
ten points, some nights, give you thirteen meters rebounds, play some tough
defense, box people out. Don't give him a lot of second opportunities,
that sort of thing. But they the post guy has played pretty well against
South Carolina, but you know, and it was you know, and I
don't know if it was. Let's, you know, stay with this Manda
man. Let's stay with this Manda man. Let's stay with this Manda man.
But they hired a guy from VCU in the off season for defensive purposes.
And it just completely to me, the complete failure not to do not
to at least change things up, or to recognize that this man de man
wasn't working, and that you should try to do something, you know,
try to do something else, and you shouldn't be so hardcore and commit to
your ways about Mendem about mande man defense, you know, to uh,
you know, to stay with to stay you know, to stay with it
the entire game when when it hasn't been working. And I feel like I
have had the same conversation with you about Brad Brunell at times. And but
that's what I saw in that game against South Carolina, and I hope it's
not a harbinger for the future that they say, Hey, we might actually
have to do this, you know, to throw it, you know,
to slow the game a little bit down, a little bit if we can't
stop if we can't stop them their drives to the hoop. Because I I
watched, I watched it and I was getting flashbacks Jeff, and I thought,
don't let this happen again. You better get watched the film and figure
it out, you know. Yeah, I mean I watched that game too,
and hopefully, you know, South Carolina is going to be better than
we expect. But it is kind of a concern of a red flag game
because that South Carolina team was pretty much picked by just about every basketball prognosticator
is the bottom team in the SEC. They were pretty bad last year.
I think they had better players than they do. Their guards are better than
they much better than they were last year. But my concern is more on
on tech side with not making adjustments. Yeah, I mean that sort of
thing, because you know, you've got to, you know, if you're
getting blown over by the guards and if you can't guard the men demand,
you got to switch things up to slow the game, you know, at
least to give people different looks. And that wasn't done at all. That
wasn't done at all, And I got a little concerned about that. And
I'm hoping that. I mean, Mike Young's a good coach, right,
so he should find ways to you know what I mean, don't find ways
to change that. But if they stay with a man demand and they keep
getting burnt, then I'm gonna have questions about that. Yeah, that's true.
They definitely got into a game where South Carolina was dictating the tempo.
It seemed like Virginia Tech was playing that game, you know, going uphill
the entire game and just trying to stay with the way South Carolina was playing.
And I think it would have made a lot of sense if if Young
would have tried to switch things up the way you described and try to get
that game flow, you know, into a into a way that was more
comfortable for Virginia Tech than trying to just match up with what South Carolina was
trying to do. Absolutely, I mean because I and I wouldn't mind actually
seeing Mike Young crow in a couple of forwards, you know, at the
same time and do that zone that I was talking about, Jeff, I
mean, just to at least give teams a different look, a different a
different look, because it's I mean, like I said, if you you
know Virginia Tech already played you know last year, you followed them last couple
of years. If they have the slowest tempo, had the slowest tempo of
teams in NCAA Division One, I mean, they had the least possessions.
I mean, it felt like old Tony Bennett's stuff with Mike Young and they
they did not do that against against South Carolina. But I think that,
you know, there's a long way to go. Hopefully that's not an RPI,
you know, sort not even RPI, but you know, whatever the
number, what's the what's the that's not RPI anymore, Jeff, what is
it? What's the new thing? The net? Yes, what's the new
thing. Can I keep forgetting that? And I mean hopefully that's not a
net killer law, a net killer loss. I mean it's not like I
mean, it's certainly not like losing to Chattanooga. You can recover from losing
South Carolina versus losing to Chattanooga. Yeah, there's no question about that.
Now. You know, one one's a red flag that there could be a
problem, and the other is, oh, you're in huge trouble now,
and and so yeah, I definitely would not put the losses anywhere in the
same category. I mean, you definitely still feel like Virginia Tech has a
chance to be pretty darn good. Uh but but South Carolina certainly exposed some
things. But it's it's it's not like what happened to Louisville losing to Chattanooga,
and you know they were on the ropes against u NBC two nearly lost
that game, or or Notre Dame losing to Western Carolina. Those those are
major, uh concerns when you see losses like that early in the season.
So, I mean, you know, Mike Young, we've seen him do
fantastic job coaching other years, and you know, I think he just that
they kind of got caught up in what you described. They got caught up
in South Carolina's tempo, and for a little while Virginia Tech, you know,
could play it, but then South Carolina would come right back down,
extend the you know, it would get tied and they'd extend it back out
to four or five points. He never could get that tempo at a pace
that I think would have been favorable to Virginia Tech. Definitely. Definitely.
Well, Jeff, that's it for this week. I mean, next week,
Hank Kurtz comes back here for his end of season check in with us,
and it's always good to have him come on. He usually comes on
the week before the Commonwealth Cup and we're work. That's that's what he's coming
on. And Hank Kurtz and the Virginia Associated Press writer for this for the
Commonwealth of Virginia. He doess forwards here in Virginia and he'll be on with
us next week. Then we have Terry. Then we we're off for Thanksgiving,
and we have Terry Johns the following week and Matt and Matt Zebk.
I mean it's the no, sorry, let me back up. We have
Brent from Pick six Previews then we have Terry Johnson, then we have Matt
Semek. So we have a good schedule of folks coming up over the next
several weeks, and hopefully we'll get your Georgia tech op Ed writer in in
the new year. We'll we'll reach out to him again again, Jeff,
because I enjoy having Ken Sigara on this show. Sounds good, looking forward
to it, all right, take care of Jeff, all right, Bye,