A slew of upsets turned the Atlantic Coast Conference on its head last weekend, hurting bowl chances for some teams and improving ACC title hopes for others. With less than a month left to play in the season, three teams could win a share of the league title, and as many as seven could qualify for bowl games. As for the other two, Duke and North Carolina, they apparently can't be forgotten about either.
"What that weekend created was there's still a lot out there to be achieved for a lot of teams," Virginia coach Al Groh said.
The most important upset came Saturday night as Tommy Bowden's Clemson Tigers downed third-ranked Florida State. The Seminoles (8-2, 6-1 ACC) lost their first conference game of the season, falling 26-10. The loss reopened the ACC title race, giving hope to N.C. State (7-3, 4-2 ACC) and Maryland, (6-3, 3-2 ACC) both of whom have only lost twice in conference play. N.C. State squares off with FSU this weekend in Tallahassee.
Duke and North Carolina pulled off the other two upsets last Saturday, knocking off Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, respectively. The losses hurt bowl chances for the Yellow Jackets (5-4, 3-3 ACC) and the Demon Deacons (5-5, 3-3 ACC). Both teams will hope to earn bowl eligibility by gaining their sixth win this weekend. Wake Forest hosts Connecticut in Winston-Salem, while Georgia Tech hosts the bowl-busting Tar Heels.
Virginia benefited from the losses to Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, moving into a tie for fifth place. The Cavaliers finish their conference slate with Maryland and Georgia Tech. Virginia fans might take solace in the fact that the Jackets lost to the Blue Devils, a team Virginia beat 27-0. Groh, however, just saw the spate of upsets as another crazy week in the ACC.
"What transpired [this weekend] was just more of the same," Groh said. "Any attempt to draw conclusions or make predictions based on comparative scores is invalid and probably useless."
Groh compared the ACC to the NFL, where the same team can finish on top one season and in the middle of the pack the next.
"It's a game to game thing," he said. "It's not about who's bigger or faster or who can say 'we're better.' "It's just about who has more points that day, and that's the kind of season that it is."
Virginia-Maryland rivalry heating up
Virginia's game with Maryland this weekend marks another installment in what is becoming a rather heated rivalry. The series began in 1919, when the Terrapins downed Virginia 13-0 in Charlottesville. Since then, Maryland has taken a 38-27-2 lead.
"There's a little bit of a rivalry growing between the teams," junior defensive end Chris Canty said. "I have a rivalry with every team we play."
Both teams have had their periods of dominance, with Virginia winning nine straight from 1992-2000, and Maryland taking 16 in a row between 1972 and 1987. The rivalry has become more competitive since the hiring of alumni coaches Al Groh and Ralph Friedgen. Last season, Friedgen made some comments that upset Virginia players, reportedly saying that Maryland should not lose to teams like Virginia and Duke. The Cavaliers responded by whipping the Terps 48-13 in Charlottesville. Coach Groh remained careful not to give the Terrapins any bulletin board material this week.
"Historically it's always been one of the more significant rivalries for each team," Groh said. "I'm much more concerned about competition on the field."
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