I argued with another reporter sitting next to me at the end of North Carolina's 28-20 victory over Duke in Durham Saturday evening that the ACC was "horrible." Yes I used that drastic modifier to describe the lackluster, boring, inconsistent, injury-plagued, turnover-prone play that has dominated the league's games since August.
My colleague chose to beautify the face of the league by saying it was "balanced." He threw around the word "parity." Then he suggested that the league couldn't be so bad if, on Saturday, two ACC teams scored stunning upsets of two SEC teams. He was referring to Clemson's 31-14 upset of South Carolina and Georgia Tech's 45-42 stunner over rival Georgia in Athens.
I'm glad he cited Georgia Tech, because the Jackets prove my point about the absurdity of the league this year. Paul Johnson's first-year campaign will likely win him ACC Coach of the Year honors. His team is a couple of turnovers and bad calls in Blacksburg away from playing in Tampa next Saturday. And therein lies the problem. Georgia Tech is the best team in the Coastal Division, could even be the best team in the league, but Virginia Tech will be playing for the ACC crown.
Let's look at the Atlantic. Boston College held on to a position that Florida State, Maryland and Wake Forest continually let slip through their hands. However, I'm not so sure any of those four teams are the best in the Atlantic. I believe a team that resides in Raleigh and that, for the second straight year, decided to surge at the end of the season is the best team. They have Russell Willson, who is in my estimation the 2008 ACC Player of the Year.
So there it is. Inconsistency has given us a formula whereby the two best teams in the league right now will not even get to play for the ACC Championship. I realize those are the breaks, but to kid ourselves that this is quality football is like telling ourselves that "Eyes Wide Shut" was rewarding and resolute film experience.
I've watched Kubrick's last movie seven times, and it is a lot like ACC football. The more you watch it, the less sense it makes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Oh my God, they played a whole ACC season to give us the same two sub-par teams as last year in the "Championship Game." What a joke. And to think, one of these two teams will go off to a BCS bowl and get killed. I would have to steal from another Kubrick moive to sum up. I can only think that if Clare Qulity were mocking this game, he would say, "that is a durling game, what a durling little game." Then Frank Beamer would shoot him.
Post a Comment