5 BOROUGH SPORTS

An exciting weekend of football was centered mostly around the ACC who made highlights on and off the field. Syracuse and Pittsburgh are officially joining the conference now, and it looks like the ACC could add more. Right now there are actually a lot of schools lobbying to get into the conference but to me it seems like most of them are bad choices. Rutgers and UConn are both programs with struggling teams, and already with Pitt and Syracuse the ACC doesn’t need anymore mediocre or worse teams. It appears that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are heading west to the Pac 12 now. What should the ACC do?

In my opinion the first priority should be trying convince Notre Dame that they have to join a conference. Of course this is a tall and unlikely task to complete. At the same time the ACC should be going after West Virginia, despite their poorer academic stature. West Virginia is a strong football program that the ACC needs (as well as Basketball). I’m not convinced there are any other Big East Schools worth pursuing, but I’d actually look to South Florida or Louisville, before UConn, Rutgers, or Cincinnati. Maybe give TCU a call too because they might be left high and dry on this one. Also it can’t hurt to try to beat the SEC to a team like Missouri from the Big 12. Also give Penn State a call and gauge their interest.

Also we can’t help but think the SEC will react now, and West Virginia seems a likely candidate to join Texas A&M, but what if the ACC gets them first. Missouri is the next logical choice, but then the SEC will have no choice but to go after FSU, Clemson or Virginia Tech. The Big Ten at the same time will look to Missouri, Notre Dame, and probably Rutgers, UConn, Louisville and West Virginia from the East. Right now it looks like West Virginia might be in great shape as they could be coveted by three conferences, while the losers seem to continue to appear to be Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State who seem to have no suiters except a broken down Big East. If I were them I would try to stick together and attempt to grab TCU, Louisville and Cincinnati, then try to find some non-BCS schools like Boise State, Houston, SMU…etc…and move from there.

Anyway back to the field where things are far less complicated. The ACC had five non-conference games against BCS foes, and they faired well taking three of them. Florida State and Maryland both lost but certainly looked like solid football teams in the process despite the set back. Georgia Tech looks to have found an amazing rhythm on offense and could be a sleeper team. They cracked the top 25, as well as UNC who moved to 3-0 as well with a convincing win over UVA. Miami looked impressive in their game against Ohio State, and appears to have overcome the off the field issues to turn into a respectable squad. If the NCAA doesn’t desemimate them with violations, I think Al Golden will have that program moving in the right direction over the next few years. Finally Clemson ended Auburn’s 17-game win streak with a convincing victory in Death Valley. The Tigers racked up very impressive offensive numbers and set up a huge matchup this weekend against FSU. This game could likely determine the Atlantic Division Champion.

Elsewhere the Florida Gators and Texas Longhorns both looked impressive putting away bad memories of 2010’s disappointment. Both teams look like contenders in their respective conferences this season. LSU continued to look impressive on defense, and Wisconsin kept rolling as an under the radar contender for the National Championship.

Anyway its time to release my top 25 for the week, and check back Thursday for this weeks picks.

1. Oklahoma

2. LSU

3. Alabama

4. Wisconsin

5. Stanford

6. Oklahoma State

7. Virginia Tech

8. Texas A&M

9. Florida State

10. Boise State

11. Arkansas

12. South Carolina

13. Florida

14. Oregon

15. Nebraska

16. West Virginia

17. Texas

18. South Florida

19. Clemson

20. Georgia Tech

21. Baylor

22. North Carolina

23. Maryland

24. USC

25. Miami FL

Close: USC, Illinois, Mississippi State

This entry was posted on September 19, 2011 at 12:03 pm and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.