ACC And The BCS: Who’s The Best Representative For The Conference?
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Who deserves it more?
With the ACC season coming to an end, the matchup Saturday between Virginia Tech and Clemson will be followed by the only BCS birth for the winner and conference champion. The game takes place on Saturday December 3, in Charlotte, NC at Bank of America Stadium. Both teams are currently ranked VT #5 and CLEM #21 in the BCS polls.
No more than 4 weeks ago many thought Clemson was on their way to an Auburn like season here in 2011. Breaking the top 10 in the BCS, and having two Heisman candidates was all short lived for head coach Dabo Swinney and his young roster. Appearing to look warn out with a FBS high 29 freshman playing significant minutes. Though Clemson now faces a type of redemption game to save their season, if anyone possess the strength to do so and win its these boys from SC.
Now on the other side of the field, Frank Beamer and his Hokies have only hit one bump in the road all season. That bump appears again before them for the rights to the ACC title. Clemson shut them down 23-3 in Blacksburg and appeared to make a statement at the time. Little did they know, it woke up Virginia Tech and sophomore QB Logan Thomas.
After suffering that one loss on October 1, Thomas has since accounted for 23 touchdowns and a completion percentage over 60. At one time the play of Clemson’s Taj Boyd and freshman sensation Sammy Watkins was the only thing talked of in the ACC, now VT has two in the same discussion with Thomas and 1500 yard rusher David Wilson.
The winner of this game will play in the Orange Bowl in January ,most likely against West Virginia, who happens to be tied atop the Big East with Louisville.
Ultimately the ACC is contractually obligated to the Orange bowl, sending their champion against a BCS at-large bid. This means the ACC opponent is picked through the garbage system we call college football post-season.
Now I’ll break it down simple. Odds are VT remembers getting beat up in their own backyard by a young punk named Clemson back in October. This equals a double-digit win for the Hokies and a trip to the Discover Orange Bowl. There they will meet the high powered offense of West Virginia, lead by QB Geno Smith and a plethora of offensive weapons.
Either way we all know ACC teams have not performed too well in this bowl and I don’t believe the Big East belongs in it either. I mean why not Oklahoma State if they don’t make the national championship? Or even a rematch of last year when Tech got pummeled by Stanford. I doubt that would happen twice, Beamer has a ton of motivation after the 40-12 nightmare to end last season.
My belief is, if the ACC has a team in the top 5 BCS nationally to end the season, at the least, they deserve a more reputable opponent come January in a BCS bowl. If not any of the teams I mentioned before, why not someone with a top 15 BCS ranking? If and when VT wins, they will bring a top 5 BCS ranking to the Orange Bowl. That is of course, unless Clemson also remembers the outcome on Oct 1, which they were playing great football and they still are the team who already won this same matchup.
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