OUR LEAGUE: ACC teams come up empty against non-league foes

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: September 3, 2008

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering what this league has to do in order to win a big non-conference game ...

Clemson was thrashed against Alabama last week. So was UVa against USC. N.C. State was whitewashed by the other USC (the Eastern one), and Virginia Tech was stunned by a band of Pirates. Aaaargggh!

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said folks shouldn’t rush to judgment on the league, but wait until after the season. Still, he is looking for answers himself after his Tigers’ defensive line was overwhelmed and the Crimson Tide out-hit Clemson all night long.

Clemson rushed for zero yardage.

“I think the biggest thing is intensity. Alabama played at a higher level of intensity than we did,” Bowden said during Wednesday’s ACC teleconference. “That was the first time in three years we’ve been run on like that and out-physicaled.”

Bowden was so puzzled, in fact, that he called Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer, Georgia’s Mark Richt and his father, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, about how their teams responded to losing lopsided games while being ranked in the top 10.

“I don’t think I have all the answers,” Tommy Bowden said. “I talked to all three coaches about how they responded to their teams. I wanted to see if there was anything I was missing.”

Beamer mentioned pride and said he still can’t figure out why his Hokies were hammered at LSU last year, but did tell Bowden that some of it was the human element, with 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.

“How all those teams responded is what was important,” Bowden said. “All three responded with top 10 years.”

By the way, Clemson should bounce back well, hosting The Citadel.

Tech’s monster

It was no surprise that Frank Beamer decided to take the redshirt off mobile quarterback Tyrod Taylor after the Hokies’ upset loss to East Carolina.

One question about that: Frank, what were you thinkin’?

Beamer said that, other than a couple of plays, senior starter Sean Glennon played well (14 of 23, 139 yards, no TDs and two picks). Tech is clearly better when it has the option of either Taylor or Glennon, a key to last year’s success.

While the Hokies have a host of other problems, the presence of Taylor at least makes up for some of them.

“I think you have a chance when [Taylor’s] in the ball game to have a big play by the run and a big play by the pass,” Beamer said. “He presents a threat.”

Meanwhile, Beamer said he hasn’t considered making a change at offensive coordinator where Bryan Stinespring has come under fire from Hokie Nation.

“I know people are disappointed,” Beamer said. “We’re disappointed. There’s no question about it.”

For the record, the Hokies ranked 100th in total offense last season and are currently ranked No. 92. Meanwhile, Virginia is ranked No. 101.

Thumbless Turtles

Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen will take his team to Middle Tennessee State this weekend without last week’s starting quarterback Jordan Steffy, who suffered a thumb injury in the Terps’ win over Delaware.

Friedgen said Steffy had a ligament torn away from the bone on the thumb and will be out a minimum of three weeks, leaving the door open for Chris Turner, who started the final eight games last season. Steffy was booed pretty hard in a shaky performance against the Blue Hens.

Meanwhile, the Fridge has been trying to get the Terps’ attention regarding Middle Tennessee by showing them the horror show that was Virginia’s narrow escape last season in Murfreesboro. The Cavs had to drive nearly the length of the field to win with a walk-off field goal from Chris Gould.

“This is a very important game in our season and we’ve tried to stress that to our players,” Friedgen said. “You go into an environment you’re not used to and the team you are playing is going to be playing its very best.”

Remember the Raiders’ mobile QB, Dwight Dasher, a freshman who was a burr in the Cavaliers’ saddle last year? He played wide receiver in the first half of last week’s game, then moved to quarterback in the second half in the Blue Raiders’ loss to Troy.

“They have two athletic quarterbacks and good skill people, some young kids that can run,” said Friedgen.

Bum of the Week

Goes to Virginia coach Al Groh, by his own admission.

When asked if there were any special teams players of the week after the Cavaliers’ 52-7 thumping by USC, Groh said:

“We didn’t single anybody out. Well, we did, but not in that respect. Nobody’s the player of the week, no coach of the week. There’s the bum of the week and I’m leading the club.”

Stat of the Week

How thoroughly dominated was No. 9 Clemson in its lopsided loss to then-No. 24 Alabama last weekend?

The Crimson Tide ran 80 plays to Clemson’s 48 and owned a time of possession of 41:13, which is the most by a Tigers opponent since Clemson began keeping track of that normally insignificant statistic in 1978.

Quote of the Week

Comes from Duke defensive end Greg Akinbiyi after the Blue Devils won their opener against James Madison in front of 32,571 fans, just short of a incredibly rare sellout at ancient Wallace Wade Stadium:

“This is almost unreal,” Akinbiyi said of the crowd. “We’ve never had a crowd like this or an atmosphere like this ... this feeling in the air. It’s like Christmas.”

The crowd was Duke’s largest since the 2002 finale against rival UNC. Of course, a lot of those fans wore a lighter shade of blue.

On the mend

N.C. State rookie quarterback Russell Wilson is recovering from last Thursday night’s concussion suffered at South Carolina. After a night in the hospital for observation, Wilson was released the following morning.

“He is evaluated daily by our medical staff,” said Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien. “When he’s released to practice, we’ll practice him. You don’t want to have any chance that he could have a step back. Everything has been positive since he got out of the hospital. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

State’s offense struggled all night in the 34-0 loss, but even more mightily when Daniel Evans had to replace Wilson.

“We had 22 guys playing their first college game that night, so we knew we were going to struggle,” O’Brien said.

He is not considering taking the redshirt off freshman Mike Glennon, younger brother of Sean, unless Wilson can’t return.

29 Hurricanes

No, that’s not the number of storms lined up and headed toward the U.S., although it may seem like it. Instead, it’s the number of players who signed with Miami’s Hurricanes last February, many of whom are already clocking playing time for Coach Randy Shannon.

“This is the backbone of what we’re trying to build,” Shannon said. “We were fortunate to get a lot of guys in back in January. I’m not going to tell kids they have to enroll early, but if they have the opportunity and want to enroll, we’ll do whatever we can to help them.”

The last time we looked, Virginia was the only ACC school that doesn’t take advantage of early enrollment. Even though UVa says it will accept early enrollees, it’s unclear exactly what it takes for that to actually happen.

Speaking of hurricanes…

Duke and N.C. State coaches said they are keeping a close watch on this weekend’s hurricane threat, but are hoping it will pass through the Tar Heel state well in advance of their scheduled games (both at 6 p.m. Saturday).

Groh said his team got acclimated to inclement weather by practicing in steady rainstorms last week. Richmond’s Mike London, whose Spiders will play at UVa, said if he has to use a garden hose to keep the ball wet in practice, that’s what he’ll do to get his UR squad ready.

Short yardage

Who said that Paul Johnson’s option offense won’t work at Georgia Tech? The Yellow Jackets scored 41 points last week and their longest scoring drive was two minutes. ... Duke coach David Cutcliffe said the most encouraging thing he saw out of his Blue Devils in last week’s win was that they played extremely physical, something that is normally missing in Durham, except maybe on the basketball court. ... Boston College fans were wondering how new quarterback, fifth-year senior Chris Crane, would do in replacing Matt Ryan. Crane, who was shaky in training camp scrimmages, was 12 of 18 for 106 yards and rushed for two scores. He moves better than Ryan and is 6-5, 240. ... North Carolina’s Brandon Tate stacked up an eye-popping 397 yards of all-purpose yards in the Heels’ narrow win over McNeese State. He could have broken the ACC record (411 by Wake’s John Leach) if he could have broken one last tackle that was the only thing between him and the end zone 20 yards away. “My eyes got real big but when he hit my feet, I just crumbled over ... I was mad,” Tate said. ... UNC still is struggling to run the ball. Other than Tate’s 106 yards rushing on end-around plays (three carries), the three tailbacks rushed for 69 yards on 22 attempts.

The picks

Last week: 9-2. This week: Georgia Tech 27, Boston College 24; Virginia Tech 33, Furman 17; Wake Forest 29, Ole Miss 27; Clemson 42, The Citadel 6; Florida State 45, Western Carolina 13; N.C. State 27, William & Mary 21; Northwestern 28, Duke 20; Maryland 24, Middle Tennessee State 13; Florida 30, Miami 13; Virginia 24, Richmond 19.