2008 ACC Football Predictions: Week 4

Week 4 in the ACC
This could be upset week in the ACC. Virginia Tech travels to UNC, but I don't think the Tar Heels can score enough points to beat the Hokies. A game that could decide who wins the Atlantic takes place in Tallahassee as the 'Noles and Deacs face each other. If FSU wasn't so banged up and didn't have so many players suspended, I'd say they beat Wake. However, I think the Deacs survive this one and get a key tiebreaker over the 'Noles. This might be the best week for non-conference match-ups.

Bye Weeks
Duke and Virginia

Game of the Week
Wake Forest wins at Florida State

Sept. 20
Virginia Tech wins at North Carolina
ECU wins at NC State
Mississippi State wins at Georgia Tech
Miami wins at Texas A&M
Boston College over UCF
Clemson over SC State
Maryland over Eastern Michigan

ACC Standings after Week 4

Atlantic
CLEM 4-0, 1-0
BC 3-0, 1-0
WAKE 3-0, 1-0
MARY 3-1, 0-0
FSU 2-1, 0-1
NCST 1-3, 0-1

Coastal
VT 4-0, 2-0
DUKE 3-0, 0-0
MIA 2-1, 0-0
UVA 1-2, 0-0
UNC 2-1, 0-1
GT 1-3, 0-2

2008 Big Ten Football Prediction

Ohio State is really good. The rest of the teams are mediocre at best. I'm not sold on Penn State having a good year and I don't think very highly of Wisconsin. However, the Badgers do get Penn State, Ohio State and Illinois all at home. This is a decent year to be a Wisconsin season ticket holder. Ohio State better go unbeaten because there's no way voters will let them back into the BCS Championship game with a loss.

Big Ten Standings
1. Ohio State
2. Purdue
3. Wisconsin
4. Penn State
5. Michigan
6. Illinois
7. Iowa
8. Michigan State
9. Indiana
10. Minnesota
11. Northwestern

- Yes, I know Purdue sucks and are the Clemson of the Big Ten. But they have a great quarterback who makes good decisions and should be able to stop the run. What more do you need to win in the Big Ten? I think they're this year's Illinois. Then again, they are Purdue so I'm probably wrong. The loss of Rashard Mendenhall for Illinois is a lot bigger than people are thinking.

- If the Buckeyes go unbeaten, you'll see Purdue get taken by the Rose Bowl to face USC (because the Trojans will have lost to OSU and not be in the title game), and USC will beat Purdue by 40 points. The folks at the Rose Bowl aren't big on history and those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

- That's a helluva lot more than I planned on writing about the Big Ten. Here's all you need to know, really: The Big Ten sucks, except for Ohio State.

2008 ACC Football Predictions: Week 3

Week 3 in the ACC
I think UNC will pick up a big non-conference win over Ray Rice-less Rutgers. Two conference games are on the slate and both appear on paper to be mismatches with GT traveling to Blacksburg and NC State traveling to Clemson. I think Duke will beat Navy. Last year's game came down to the final seconds and this year the Midshipmen don't have Paul Johnson. He'll be in Blacksburg that Saturday. If Duke does start out 3-0, the Blue Devils and David Cutcliffe will be media darlings.

Bye Weeks
Boston College, Miami and Wake Forest

Sept. 11 and Game of the Week
North Carolina wins at Rutgers

Sept. 13
Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech
Clemson over NC State
California wins at Maryland
Connecticut over Virginia
Duke over Navy
Florida State over Chattanooga

ACC Standings after Week 3

Atlantic
CLEM 3-0, 1-0
BC 2-0, 1-0
WAKE 2-0, 0-0
FSU 2-0, 0-0
MARY 2-1, 0-0
NCST 1-2, 0-1

Coastal
VT 3-0, 1-0
DUKE 3-0, 0-0
UNC 2-0, 0-0
MIA 1-1, 0-0
UVA 1-2, 0-0
GT 1-2, 0-2

2008 SEC Football Prediction

OK, here's the rub: Georgia beats both Florida and LSU, but loses to Auburn. LSU beats Auburn, but loses to both Georgia and Florida. Florida and Georgia both go 7-1 in conference, but Georgia goes to the SEC title game because it beat Florida in the regular season.

SEC East
1. Georgia
2. Florida
3. South Carolina
4. Tennessee
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

- South Carolina could play spoiler for Georgia. The two teams meet early in the season. The Gamecocks were a very good team that was derailed by injuries last year. If they find a quarterback, watch out.

SEC West
1. Auburn
2. LSU
3. Mississippi State
4. Alabama
5. Arkansas
6. Ole Miss

- This division will be a cluster, but Auburn is the class of the division. The spoiler could be Arkansas, if they find a quarterback. Outside of Tebow and Stafford, the SEC lacks good quarterback play.

SEC Championship - Atlanta
Georgia over Auburn

- Georgia wins the rematch, which could put it in the national championship game.

Monday Practice Reports

Both ESPN's Heather Dinich and The Virginian-Pilot's Kyle Tucker have blog posts about today's practice.

Dinich watched the skill players drill and saw a lot of drops. That's not good news.

Tucker, meanwhile, likes the way the O-line looks. I mean he really, really likes how the O-line looks. In a creepy way.

Update: More from Heather Dinich. She includes a post on how fast the Hokies are on defnese and cheat sheet for what the Hokies were working on Day 1.

My 2008 College Football Bets

Here's what I'm putting money on. We'll revisit these at the end of the year. Unless, of course, they're colossal failures. In which case, they'll be neatly swept under the rug. Feel free to ridicule them. If you'd like to post your own, use the following links:

Team Props
Player Props
Futures Bets

Team Prop Bets

Colorado: Over 5.5 wins (-150) - $10
Iowa: Under 7 wins (+120) - $10
Kansas: Under 7.5 wins (-130) - $10
Washington: Over 6 wins (+230) - $10

Player Prop Bets

Percy Harvin: Win Heisman (20/1) - $5
Pat White: Win Heisman (10/1) - $5

Team Futures Bets

Auburn: Win National Title (35/1) - $10
Clemson: Win National Title (22/1) - $10
Texas Tech: Win Big 12 (7/1) - $10
Virginia Tech : Win National Title (20/1) - $10
Wake Forest: Win National Title (100/1) - $10

Total wagered: $100

Here's the best I can do:
All four team props: $89.40
Harvin wins Heisman: $110.00
Wake Forest wins MNC: $1,110.00
Texas Tech wins B12: $80.00
Subtotal: $1,289.40
Minus lost bets: (-$35.00)
Total: $1,254.40

Of course, that's before the casino takes its cut. It would still be a nice little payoff, though.

2008 ACC Football Predictions: Week 2

Week 2 in the ACC
The Miami-Florida game will likely look like last year's Miami-Oklahoma game. However, it will give the young 'Canes much-needed experience going into ACC play. The first ACC game is a nice and fluffy pillow fight between BC and GT in Boston. I like the Eagles to beat the Jackets only because I think BC is pretty stout against the run. The other games are aren't very interesting, other than Houston Nutt and Ole Miss traveling to Wake.

Bye Weeks
North Carolina

Game of the Week
Florida over Miami

Sept. 6
Virginia Tech over Furman
Boston College over Georgia Tech
Clemson over The Citadel
Florida State over Western Carolina
Maryland wins at Middle Tennessee State
NC State over William & Mary
Wake Forest over Ole Miss
Duke over Northwestern
Virginia over Richmond

ACC Standings after Week 2

Atlantic
BC 2-0, 1-0
CLEM 2-0, 0-0
MARY 2-0, 0-0
WAKE 2-0, 0-0
FSU 1-0, 0-0
NCST 1-1, 0-0

Coastal
DUKE 2-0, 0-0
VT 2-0, 0-0
UNC 1-0, 0-0
MIA 1-1, 0-0
UVA 1-1, 0-0
GT 1-1, 0-1

Practice starts today

Monday is the start of fall practice for the Hokies in anticipation of the 2008 season. Most of the positions have been secured on defense, so the main questions are on offense. Namely: Who's going to be the starting wide outs, who's going to get the bulk of the carries at running back and how much playing time will Tyrod Taylor get?

Those questions won't get answered today, but will over the next four weeks. My guesses: "Zach Luckett and Cory Holt," "Jahre Cheeseman (for now)" and "a lot."

Its now football season. With every day there is fresh new hope.

Plus, ESPN's Heather Dinich has a Hokie-centric mailbag this morning. She says she would be surprised if Bryan Stinespring loses his job, unless the offense falls flat on its face this year.

2008 Big 12 Football Prediction

Yeah, I'm probably crazy. But if Texas Tech is ever going to topple the apple cart, this is the year they're going to do it. Everyone's back and the team got a lot better on defense under Ruffin McNeal after he was named defensive coordinator following the OSU debacle.

North
1. Missouri
2. Nebraska
3. Colorado
4. Kansas
5. Kansas State
6. Iowa State

- Kansas' schedule is not very favorable this year. They play Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma. Ouch. That's three conference losses right there. Add on Mizzou and a Nebraska team looking for revenge and you have a team that could finish with a losing record in the Big 12. I actually think I'm giving them too much credit by putting them at No. 4 in the division.

South
1. Texas Tech
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma State
5. Texas A&M
6. Baylor

- The possible spoiler here is Oklahoma State. I like their quarterback, Zac Robinson. Oklahoma State will lose to a team they aren't supposed to, but they'll also beat someone they aren't supposed to. OU should watch out when they go to Stillwater.

Big 12 Championship - Kansas City
Texas Tech over Missouri

- Even though it's in KC, I'm not at all sold on Chase Daniel.

Get VT NCAA 09 covers and sounds

Our friend Clark at CRuhland.com has made some cool Hokie covers for EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 video game. You can get Tyrod Taylor or Kam Chancellor covers for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii.

Clark also has custom sound packs for NCAA 09, which can be loaded using EA's custom sounds mode. It includes all the fight songs and traditions Tech fans are used to on Thursdays and Saturdays in Lane Stadium.

Hokies debut at No. 15 in Coaches Poll

The preseason USA Today Coaches Poll was released today. The Hokies will start the season as the 15th-ranked team in the country. They are the 2nd-highest ranked ACC team. Clemson is No. 9 in the poll. Wake Forest is the only other ACC team in the poll at No. 23.

Last year, the Hokies were ranked No. 9 in the preseason coaches poll. In 2006, Tech came into the season ranked No. 16 in the poll.

Also receiving votes among ACC teams were Florida State (tied-No. 29), Boston College (No. 31), Virginia (No. 38), Maryland (No. 44) and North Carolina (tied-No. 45).

For the first time since I can remember, Duke did not get their one vote from Steve Spurrier in the preseason poll. Spurrier coached the Blue Devils from 1987-1989 and had voted them at least No. 25 in the preseason poll every year since.

Six ACC head coaches have a vote in this year's poll: Coach Beamer, Bobby and Tommy Bowden, Butch Davis, Jim Grobe and Tom O'Brien.

2008 ACC Football Predictions: Week 1

Week 1 in the ACC
I don't think there's going to be a lot of upsets in the first week. The only chance for a real upset is the VT-ECU game. If Tech's newcomers have trouble playing as a team on defense and the team flounders on offense, the Pirates could pull the upset.

Bye Weeks
FSU

Game of the Week
Clemson over Alabama (Atlanta)

Aug. 28
South Carolina over NC State
Georgia Tech over Jacksonville State
Miami over Charleston Southern

Aug. 30
Virginia Tech over ECU (Charlotte)
USC wins at UVa.
BC over Kent State (Cleveland)
Wake Forest wins at Baylor
Maryland over Delaware
Duke over James Madison
UNC over McNeese State

ACC Standings after Week 1

Atlantic
BC 1-0, 0-0
CLEM 1-0, 0-0
MARY 1-0, 0-0
WAKE 1-0, 0-0
FSU 0-0, 0-0
NCST 0-1, 0-0

Coastal
DUKE 1-0, 0-0
GT 1-0, 0-0
MIA 1-0, 0-0
UNC 1-0, 0-0
VT 1-0, 0-0
UVA 0-1, 0-0