Football, I've missed you.
Part II: Schedule talk…recruiting recap is in the other part below, but ACC schedule analysis team by team coming next…
Boston College Eagles
Likes: Virginia Tech on 9/27, 4 straight division games in October.
Dislikes: OOC is so weak.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 12th
Oddity: Ending season with Syracuse.
Toughest Game: at Florida State on October 16.
Clemson Tigers
Likes: at Auburn on Sept. 18, at FSU on Nov. 13.
Dislikes: Week 4 bye, ending on two ACC road games.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 7th
Oddity: North Texas/Presbyterian start of season.
Toughest Game: at Florida State on Nov. 13.
Duke Blue Devils
Likes: BAMA on Sept. 18.
Dislikes: None.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 9th
Oddity: at VT than at Army in October.
Toughest Game: Alabama on Sept. 18.
Florida State Seminoles
Likes: at Oklahoma on Sept. 11, Thursday at NC State on Oct. 28.
Dislikes: None.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 3rd
Oddity: One ACC game in September.
Toughest Game: at Oklahoma on Sept. 11.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Likes: at Clemson, at Virginia Tech on a Thursday, and Miami consecutively.
Dislikes: MTSU in Mid-October.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 5th
Oddity: Lot’s of back to back home and road games.
Toughest Game: at Virginia Tech on Nov. 4.
Maryland Terrapins
Likes: Navy to open season in Baltimore, at WVU on Sept. 18, 2 ACC homes games to end season.
Dislikes: All ACC games starting in October.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 8th
Oddity: From mid-October to mid-November, Terps go on road for 4 out of 5 games.
Toughest Game: at Miami on November 6.
Miami Hurricanes
Likes: at Ohio State on Sept. 11, at Pittsburgh on a Thursday, South Florida to end season.
Dislikes: Stretch from Sept. 11 to Oct. 9 is crazy hard–schedule-makers unkind.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 1st
Oddity: Just to repeat, stretch from Sept. 11 to Oct. 9 is crazy hard–schedule-makers unkind.
Toughest Game: at Ohio State on Sept. 11.
North Carolina Tar Heels
Likes: LSU on Sept. 4 in GA Dome, ECU/Rutgers/William & Mary also in OOC.
Dislikes: None.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 4th
Oddity: Two week break after LSU game before Georgia Tech.
Toughest Game: LSU on Sept 4.
NC State Wolfpack
Likes: At UCF on Sept. 11 to Cincinnati on Thursday Sept 16. FSU on Thursday on Oct. 28.
Dislikes: None.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 6th
Oddity: Two Thursday games.
Toughest Game: at Georgia Tech on Sept. 25.
Virginia Tech Hokies
Likes: Boise on Labor Day at FedEx, the GT/UNC/Miami/Virginia stretch in November.
Dislikes: None.
Strength in ACC Ranking: 2nd
Oddity: Labor Day game.
Toughest Game: Boise State on Labor Day at FedEx.
Virginia Cavaliers
Likes: at USC on Sept. 11.
Dislikes: VMI? Seriously?
Strength Ranking in ACC: 10th
Oddity: Two weeks to prepare for VMI…lolwut?(Well, it’s probably a week to lick the wounds from SC game)
Toughest Game: at Virginia Tech on Nov. 27.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Likes: at Stanford on Sept. 18, at Vandy on Nov. 27.
Dislikes: None.
Strength Ranking in ACC: 11th
Oddity: 4 out of 6 final games on road.
Toughest Game: at Virginia Tech on Oct. 16.
Part I: Recruiting talk…will update with schedule analysis after 2 p.m. ET when the schedule is released.
College football and the ACC has given us a two day football talk holiday with signing day on Wednesday and the ACC schedule coming out today. I am not a recruiting expert so I let those who do this for a paycheck do their thing. ACC Sports Journal did great Atlantic and Coastal summaries of all the players who have committed and their ratings. Also check out my bookmarks on the sidebar as most everybody has excellent recruiting recaps for their teams.
General Consensus Rankings(According to Scout/Rivals)
Rank) Team Scout AVG/Rivals AVG Stars
1) Florida State Seminoles 3.54/3.50
2) Clemson Tigers 3.09/3.35
3) Miami Hurricanes 3.00/3.07
4) Virginia Tech Hokies 3.05/3.29
5) North Carolina Tar Heels 3.10/3.14
6) NC State Wolfpack 2.95/3.05
7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 3.00/3.17
8) Maryland Terrapins 2.81/3.10
9) Boston College Eagles 2.71/2.86
10) Virginia Cavaliers 2.39/2.78
11) Wake Forest Demon Deacons 2.50/2.74
12) Duke Blue Devils 2.40/2.50
The 4LN does their rankings too and they have FSU/Miami ranked higher than the other services.
General comments: FSU has a ton of momentum as they have won and been in a ton of recruiting battles. The Tigers came on at the end and really filled their positions well. Overall, there was anywhere from 4 to 5 ACC teams in the top 25. It’s kinda surprising with all of the talent that the Jackets lost–that they did not have a little better class–but they do have an unconventional system. UNC/NC State did reasonably well, but results on the field should be required this season or these good recruiting classes will start to wane. It’s particularly interesting that Mike London at UVA was able to get a better recruiting class than two more established coaches in Grobe/Cutcliffe. Speaking of Coach Cut, Duke pulled in a solid class. And of course, BC gets disrespected with a low ranking among the services per usual.
How do you like your team’s schedule? Early predictions? Recruiting talk to get off your chest?
I thing to note about GT’s class – it was the smallest in the conference. Until 2-3 weeks ago they only had 13 scholarships to give out since they are so underclass heavy.
They ended up signing 18 and only 3 schools had higher avg star ratings. So their finish is more a reflection of the number they signed (which was constrained by # of scholarships available) than the quality of the players they did sign.
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RamblinRed,
Thanks for the info…provides an explanation for the low ranking. Thanks!