Thursday, August 20, 2009

Who Was Best in 2008/2009?
As we get ready to start the college football season, I thought it would be a good time to look back and see how the ACC schools stacked up last year. What I did is take the final standings of the 12 teams in football and basketball, and ranked them 1 through 12. The first criteria was conference record, and if there was a tie I went by overall record. The lowest combined score wins. Here’s how things stacked up:

1. UNC (5.5 in football, 1 in basketball)
2. FSU (3.5 in football, 4 in basketball)
3. BC (2 in football, 6 in basketball)
4. Wake (5.5 in football, 3 in basketball)
5. VT (1 in football, 9 in basketball)
6. Maryland (5.5 in football, 7 in basketball)
7. Clemson (8.5 in football, 5 in basketball)
8. Duke (12 in football, 2 in basketball)
9. GT (3.5 in football, 12 in basketball)
10. Miami (8.5 in football, 8 in basketball)
11. NC State (10 in football, 10 in basketball)
12. Virginia (11 in football, 11 in basketball)

As you can see, UNC, with their first place finish in the ACC basketball standings (and National Championship) had the best year. It pays to not be great in one sport and terrible in the other, as Duke came in 8th, and Georgia Tech came in 9th. NC State and Virginia have a lot of work to do.

Monday, August 10, 2009

The Last of the Calm Months

We’re getting now closer to the middle of August and that means the last of the calm months. What I mean is, from September through April there is a lot of high anxiety. Every week is spent watching my teams (the Hokies and Redskins) play, or looking ahead to the next game, or looking back at the last game. There is a lot of stress involved. From mid-April through August though, there’s a cooling off period. The sports that I watch during this time are baseball and golf, which are a lot less stressful.

Which isn’t to say that there’s nothing good on. Just yesterday, you could have seen Tiger Woods win another tournament in epic fashion, capitalizing on one bad hole from Padraig Harrington. It was quite a duel, and I can only think what would have happened if Harrington hadn’t had that horrible 16th. Then at night, you saw the Yankees come back with a barrage in the 8th inning to pull off a 4 game sweep of the rival Red Sox. This must be so demoralizing for Boston. Hey, even the Nationals have won 8 games in a row!

Late August used to be a time for anxiety, with the end of summer and start of the next school year fast approaching. It’s not that anymore, but there is certainly a lot to be excited (or nervous) about. The Hokies come into the season with as high expectations as there has ever been for the program. The Redskins have some great new players and some stability in coaching for the first time in a while and should be in for another dogfight in the NFC East. And before we know it, college basketball season will be approaching.

As we get into the fall season, there will be a fair amount going on with this blog. I will have an extensive look at each ACC team going into the college basketball season as it gets closer. And there might be a little football news sprinkled in.