Mitchell Blog... Woe to be an ACC/Big 10 Fan

An inauspicious start to the 2008 season for both the ACC and Big Ten

It’s a tough morning to wake up, ACC fan. Grab a cup of leaded coffee - you're going to need it.

Going 7-4 on the opening weekend might appear on the surface to be a decent start. However, looking closer, the ACC suffered a miserable kickoff to the ’08 season, losing all four competitive contests, and squeaking by in some games that should have been blowouts.

Clemson, the undisputed conference flag bearer, got whipped 34-10 by the sixth best team in the SEC, Alabama. And if a game could actually be worse than a 34-10 score, this was it.

In a packed Georgia Dome, the Tide literally ran Clemson into the artificial turf - out rushing the talented Clemson duo of James Davis and C.J. Spiller, 239 yards to 0. Yes, zero. Alabama converted on 65% of its third down attempts to Clemson’s 11%, and racked up a shocking time of possession disparity (41:13 to 18:37). Clemson’s lone bright spot of the affair – Spiller’s 98 yard kickoff return for a TD to start the second half.

But it gets worse.

Top 20 Virginia Tech lost on the road to regional little brother East Carolina, 27-22 – getting outscored 20-8 in the second half, and losing on a blocked punt returned for a TD inside the final two minutes. And a pair of USC’s (Southern Cal and South Carolina) beat Virginia and North Carolina State by a combined score of 86-7.

As for the ACC’s seven wins? Butch Davis and the Tar Heels needed two fourth quarter rushing TDs to come from behind and beat McNeese St. Maryland, on the arms of three different QBs, barely slipped past the Delaware Fightin Blue Hens, sans Flacco.

The remaining five wins came against James Madison, Kent St., Baylor, Charleston Southern, and Jacksonville St.

Don’t laugh too hard, Big Ten fan.

While your competition may have been a bit tougher, you lost all three significant non-conference games against Div. 1 teams (unless you consider Northwestern’s 30-10 victory vs. Syracuse significant).

Michigan lost another home opener in the big house, this time to Utah, 25-23. The Gold and Maize received nearly as many penalty yards from the Utes (137) as earned by its own offense (203). MSU put up a good fight in Cali, but lost to the Golden Bears, 38-31. And Illinois needed a TD with 0:00 left to lose to Missouri by 10, 52-42. That marks the Illini’s fourth consecutive loss to the Tigers.

However, the biggest loss may have been OSU’s Beanie Wells going down with a foot injury midway through the Buckeye’s 43-0 win vs. Youngstown St. The school said X-rays were “negative”, but he’ll likely be held out of their contest next week with Ohio University, to save him for the big USC contest.

On the bright side, Minnesota won a game! Besting mighty Northern Illinois by four, 31-27... on a Duane Bennett TD run with 0:22 left. In the Metrodome.

If week one is a harbinger of things to come, better strap on your seat belts.