Five of the eleven conferences in Division I's Bowl Subdivision (I-A for the non-ridiculous) have twelve or more schools, meaning they can break off into two divisions. The payoff is a conference championship game that brings exposure as well as revenue into the league coffers. The potential drawback is the chance one division might be exponentially better than the other. That's been the case recently in the Big Twelve; the South has been better than the North consistently since Tom Osborne retired at Nebraska.
This year there's a more extreme case in the ACC. Atlantic Division schools are 6-11 in league play with Wake Forest the only one currently having a winning mark in conference play. The the Coastal is 10-5...with Virginia the lone school owning an overall losing record. Wake was the only Atlantic school to post a win last weekend; four of six Coastal teams are on winning streaks-- although I want to give streak status to Saturday winners Duke and UNC... a quality half has been a streak lately in Durham and Chapel Hill.
What does this mean? Tighter races as we enter November as one game separates first from fourth in both divisions. The chance for an ugly championship game (can anyone say 7-5 Florida State getting waxed by Virginia Tech?) or a 5-loss team in the Orange Bowl (can anyone say 7-5 Florida State upsetting Virginia Tech?)...
Alma Mater Update: Syracuse's return to glory suffered another detour; evidently West Virginia's precision passing was too much for SU and the offense punted four times in the first half as the Mountaineers cruised 34-13.. Turnovers continued to torment Greg Paulus; the former Cobra Kai phenom was lifted for underclassman Ryan Nassib (120 yards passing and two touchdowns)-- reminiscent of Billy Zabka getting sucker-punched by Billy Jacobi in "Just One of the Guys".
MARYLAND coughed up 21 points in the first quarter... allowed two more touchdowns before intermission... and wound up on the short end of a 42-32 slugging by Wake Forest. Terrapin Triumphs-- Chris Turner threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns while Torrey Smith notched 10 catches--one for a score... just one turnover and five penalties. Terrapin Troubles-- the tailback tandem of Davin Meggett and Gary Douglas was held to 32 yards on nine carries...while the offensive line allowed four sacks. The defense coughed up 516 yards...360 through the air.
VIRGINIA TECH one week after taking 60 minutes to put 34 points on Duke, needed just a half to hang the same amount on Boston College en route to a 48-14 Homecoming Thumping. VT outgained the Eagles 293 to 3 before intermission. Hokie Highlights-- Ryan Williams tallied 159 yards rushing while Tyrod Taylor added a pair of touchdown passes... the defense notched three takeaways--including Rashad Carmichael's interception return for a score. Hokie Humblings-- minus eight yards on punt returns? Under Beamerball? Must be a typo.
VIRGINIA is making fans wonder... who are these people? The Cavaliers 47-7 smackdown of Indiana continues a strange October dominance that has UVa 6-0 this month and 1-10 the rest of the way. Cavalier Congrats-- Jameel Sewell threw for 208 yards and a touchdown... while Mikell Simpson had 83 rushing and 66 receiving yards before leaving with a neck injury. Cavalier Concerns-- seven penalties for 71 yards... and having Simpson in the game at 37-0 when he got hurt may not have been necessary, and may wind up coming back to haunt UVa.
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