College Confidential

Early Hangover Observations

The ACC is in serious contention with the Big East as the Biggest Joke Conference in America.
In Week 1 it was a suspended-riddled North Carolina team losing against LSU. Then Va Tech continued the poop parade by losing a glorified home game against Boise State.
But what the ACC managed to do in Week 2 is really impressive.
* No. 13 Va Tech manages to lose a real home game against I-AA James Madison. The Hokies were supposed to be a sleeper national title team. Now it appears they will be asleep for the rest of the season.
* No. 12 Miami demonstrated it's not even close to its proud "U" days as it was defeated by Ohio State, 36-24.
* No. 17 Florida State got popped by Oklahoma by a modest 37 points.
* And No. 15 Ga Tech managed to lose against a Kansas team that lost the previous week to I-AA North Dakota State.
What does this prove? It's not who you beat it's who you know.
The ACC is in the same club as The Big East; both conferences are littered with overrated pretenders. But both will have teams in the big-cash, rich-kids only BCS games in January.

* Preseason polls are garbage. Get rid of them.

* Houston's defense is better under first-year and former Dallas Cowboys d-coordinator Brian Stewart. The Coogs proved that in their 54-24 win against conference rival UTEP on Friday night.
Most of the Cougar love will go toward QB Case Keenum and their PlayStation3 offense; but if the Coogs are going to flirt with the BCS their defense has to be decent. It has been so far, and the Coogs are 2-0.

* Michigan rallied to defeat Notre Dame in South Bend today. The Wolverines are going to be one of the big surprises this season. You can hate Michigan coach Rich Rod' all you want, and probably with good reason. But the guy wins. Guarantee you the people in Columbus, Ohio are noticing this. QB Denard Robinson looks like he may be figuring this thing out; if he does, the Big 10 has another contender.

* In one week Kansas coach Turner Gill took the Jayhawks from one of its worst losses in the past decade to one of its best. How KU managed to score 3 points in a home loss against I-AA North Dakota State and seven days later score 28 points in a defeat of No. 15 Ga Tech in the nation is one of the great early season surprises.

- Mac Engel

Countdown talk: No.22 Virginia Tech

Quick take: It feels weird to rank a Frank Beamer team so low, but when you've got as many questions as the Hokies do, I think this is a good spot. Let's see if a good running back emerges (keep an eye on freshman Ryan Williams) and see how they do in their conference opener with Georgia Tech on Sept.13. I think the Hokies will be fine eventually. This has become too consistent a program that keeps recruiting top-notch talent.
My player to watch: QB Tyrod Taylor (6-1, 206). The sophomore was supposed to be redshirted last year, but was forced into action against LSU. The dual-threat player finished the season with 429 yards rushing on 102 carries with 6 touchdowns, and also completed 72-of-134 passes for 927 yards and 5 TDs with just three interceptions.

Thoughts, comments? Agree? Disagree? Share your opinions.
-Trae Thompson