The Truth Without Hype: The ACC - Awful Coast Conference

I have said many bad things about many conferences depending on their performances the week before in my top 25 countdown's short life to this point but none of them compare to what happened in the ACC this week. Many have suggested that the BCS system for automatic qualifiers given to certain league champions, generally directed at the Big East, but after this week one could argue the ACC is worse than the Big East, Mountain West, WAC, MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, and maybe even the top 25 of the FCS. The ACC entered the week with four ranked teams, guess how many won. I'll give you a hint, the number matches the number of Idaho Vandals jerseys I own. That's right, a big fat zero. Two of those losses are justifiable, Miami's loss at the Horseshoe was certainly expected and Florida State's loss to Oklahoma was also no surprise, what was a surprise was how they lost.

The Miami Hurricanes were expected to make the move up to BCS contenders this season and while losing to Ohio State is nothing to be ashamed of, handing them the game on a silver platter is. Miami QB Jacory Harris tossed four picks in th loss, all of them in Buckeye territory on the way to a 12 point loss. 12 points by the way, is the same number of points the Canes would have had if they had simply turned each of those possessions into field goals.

The Hurricanes were still the most impressive of these teams this weekend. Next we move onto Florida State, again a loss to Oklahoma is nothing embarrassing, but having over thirty points rolled on you by halftime on the way to a thirty point loss is, especially when you score fewer points against the Sooners than lowly Utah State managed a week earlier.

Then there is Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets struggled to stop a Kansas offense that managed only three points against FCS squad North Dakota State just a week earlier. Coming of the worst offensive performance in a decade to a out of conference team and a loss to a FCS team, the Jayhawks beat the Yellow Jackets.

Finally there is Virginia Tech, oh my dearly disappointing Virginia Tech, you bastards have ruined everything. Virginia Tech opted not to make the intelligent move to take the week off like Boise State did after their Labor Day classic, instead they took the field against FCS powerhouse James Madison just four days after their heartbreaking loss to the Broncos. The result? A loss that more or less made the Broncos win look worthless and barring a gigantic turnaround by this team and a BCS run, the Broncos shot a national title may have come to an end at the unlikely hands of James Madison.

As a result of all these games, I have seen people in their 70's come out of strokes looking stronger than the ACC, and have seen Gazelles look more competitive against lions on the discovery channel.

Don't worry though, the winner will still get an automatic BCS berth, just like the Big East champion (a conference that to this point has not beaten a team from a conference better than the MAC). Meanwhile Boise State, TCU, and Utah will all end up fighting over at most two BCS spots. Reason #3429 why the BCS sucks.

25. Clemson - The Tigers are literally hunting well below their spot on the food chain but they have looked dominant in doing so.

24. Arkansas - The Razorbacks have rolled to any easy 2-0 record but like the Tigers haven't beaten anyone even decent yet.

23. Oklahoma State - The Pokes offense doesn't look like it has dropped off at all since the last few years even though this was supposed to be in a rebuilding year. Troy made it close this week, which makes it official, after the blowout of Washington State in week one, we can determine that the Cougars are no better than an average Sun Belt team.

22. Michigan State - The Spartans have beaten bad but at least a FBS team thus far, this week they face a real test against Notre Dame.

21. Kansas State - The Wildcats win over UCLA looks a lot less impressive after the schallacking the Bruins got this past weekend.

20. Iowa - A beat down of the rival Cyclones gave us a look at how good the Hawkeyes could be this year. They will likely end up much higher than this once conference play starts.

19. Fresno State - The Bulldogs win over Cincinnati is still impressive, but after an idle week, they are a win behind the rest of the pack.

18. Houston - Don't look now, but the Cougars can suddenly run the ball. Be afraid, be very afraid.

17. Missouri - Still haven't beaten any great teams but there is something to be said for being 2-0 and winning against a Big Ten team.

16. LSU - An idle does nothing to move the Tigers one way or another.

15. Arizona - After a few destructions against MAC and FCS squads, the Wildcats will get the chance to really prove themselves against Iowa this week.

14. Air Force - A big upset over BYU this week seems to indicate a moving up in the pecking order in the MWC this season.

13. Auburn - 2-0 with a win against a decent SEC squad, puts them in good position against a flurry of teams with incredibly week schedules.

12. Maryland - The win over Navy is still impressive a week later and although they don't have a huge win yet, it's pretty great for the Terps to have already matched last years win total.

11. California - An absolute slaughter of Colorado this week made the Bears look a lot better than I expected, even if Colorado is no better than most of the MAC.

10. Stanford - An annihilation of in-state rivals UCLA 35-0, coupled with the win one laugher against some nobody has the Cardinal looking like a real contender in the PAC-10 early.

9. Boise State - After a week off, the Hokies loss drops the Broncos big, Virginia Tech is better than 0-2 but the win can only mean so much right now.

8. Oklahoma - No matter how ugly the defense was in week one, the blowout of the Seminoles this week looks absolutely outstanding. The Sooners can't sleep on Air Force this week, the Falcons run the ball really well and have been among the top teams in the nation stopping the pass for a few years running now.

7. Utah - This weeks win meant nothing but the week one upset of Pitt is good enough to keep them high on the list.

6. South Carolina - an upset of Georgia may signal a change in the food chain in the SEC East.

5. Ohio State - They looked good in the win over Miami but I have a hard time putting them any higher because the Hurricanes didn't make them try very hard, Jacory Harris played like a FCS QB.

4. TCU - A 62-7 laugher coupled with a win over Oregon State has the Horned Frogs looking great early on.

3. Alabama - The win was very impressive but even though Penn State should be good again this year, no one really believed they had enough firepower to make this one close.

2. Oregon - Weeks one's biggest blowout was followed up by delivering Tennessee their largest home loss to a non-conference opponent in team history. A very nice start for the Ducks.

1. Michigan - Only one team has recorded two wins over BCS teams and the Wolverines deserve this spot right now. QB Denard Robinson has more yards than 87 teams do right now and eight of those teams are ranked.