Poor Duke -- their football season has already gone from worse to worst and they haven't even kicked off yet. Miami of Florida should be able to run away with the Coastal Division now wink

Duke quarterback, 2 others, suspended for season

"DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke quarterback Zack Asack was suspended for the season for plagiarism while coach Ted Roof dismissed three other players for breaking team rules, the school said Wednesday.

Wide receiver Deon Adams, safety Andreas Platt and offensive lineman Joe Suder were dismissed from the program, though the school did not specify what rules they violated.
Asack, a sophomore, will be eligible to return to Duke next summer.

"I made a mistake and am remorseful," Asack said. "I take full responsibility for my actions. I wish the team well and look forward to returning next summer. I love it here at Duke."

Asack started six of the last seven games for Duke last season, finishing with a team-high 966 yards passing with five touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Asack was the first freshman to start at quarterback for Duke in 21 years.

"When you are part of a family and make an uncharacteristic mistake, you are not kicked out of the family," Roof said. "Zack will remain part of the Duke football family and will be supported by everyone in our program."

Adams, a rising senior, had 12 catches for 125 yards in 27 career games, while Platt finished with 15 tackles in 11 games as a freshman last season. Suder did not play as a freshman last year.

Miami players involved in shootout.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/5805514

So the ACC signs a new agreement with the Orange Bowl -- their champ will get to play in the Bowl, if it isn't first or second in the BCS (much like the arrangement the Big Ten / Pac Ten have with the Rose Bowl).

But does this mean that the Orange Bowl has dropped the Big East? I think it used to be able to pick the winner from either conference.

That's my understanding. Previously, the Orange Bowl could select the winner of either conference. This new deal means the Orange Bowl has an exclusive tie-in with the ACC. Not sure what this means in the long-run for the BE. I guess they're relegated to at-large status, with no specific bowl tie-in.

I like the Big East isn't tied into the Orange Bowl and can play in different years in the Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, and Rose ( if the Big 10 or Pac-10 have a team playing in the naitonal championship game. The Orange Bowl just secured itself to having to take an ACC champ that has been in most years the worst champ of BCS conferences.


With the ACC's 1-7 record in BCS bowl games, the the ACC needs to start winning their major Bowl games. One of the major reasons the ACC hasn't done well might be attributed to sending mediocre teams to the BCS bowl games Take into account an unranked FSU team being their conference champion and other years of having conference champs ranked anywhere form 10th to 25th, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the ACC is on the losing end of BCS bowl games.


Here is an article on ACC scheduling and other issues.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/columnist...orts-columnists

The writer of this article makes some goodpoints about the ACC and its weak OOC scheduling and poor bowl performances. Here are a couple of those points.


"Maryland has arguably the most daunting non-league assignment, at West Virginia on a Thursday night"


"But no one doubts the SEC's football chops. Conversely, ACC teams are 1-7 in Bowl Championship Series games, far and away the worst record among the six contracted conferences. Why, the much-maligned Big East is a respectable 4-4, including West Virginia's Sugar Bowl victory last season against Georgia - in Atlanta."

[ July 26, 2006, 10:48 AM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

Part of an artcile From Todays Palm Beach Post:

Cane Family Feuding


Family feud: An altercation between UM safety Lovon Ponder and two female members of his family broke out on Saturday, briefly interrupting an autograph session during CanesFest at the Broward County Convention Center.

One of the women, who was identified as Ponder's aunt, tried to strike Ponder twice with her fist but did not appear to make contact.

The woman profanely admonished Ponder for disrespecting his mother, the second female involved in the scuffle. Ponder, a sophomore safety from Miami, and his aunt were separated by team officials and players.

No arrests were made and it was uncertain why the fight broke out.

"I was told there was an altercation," Coker said. "That's unfortunate obviously. I don't know anything about it."

[ July 30, 2006, 07:31 AM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

Boston College at Central Michigan - BC 24 Central Michigan 7
Northeastern at Virginia Tech - Va Tech 49 Northeastern 3
Rutgers at North Carolina - UNC 24 Rutgers 21
Florida Atlantic at Clemson - Clemson 42 FAU 10
William & Mary at Maryland - Maryland 34 William & Mary 7
Richmond at Duke - Duke 21 Richmond 18
Appalachian State at North Carolina State - NC State 35 Appalachian 3
Syracuse at Wake Forest - Wake 17 Syracuse 14
Virginia at Pittsburgh - Pitt 33 Virginia 28
Notre Dame at Georgia Tech - Notre Dame 34 Georgia Tech 31

Nice getting back to a VT football game, after my last game was the ACC championship loss to Florida State.

I guess I'm still new to college football, because I don't know or understand why a team as good as ours wants to play a team as shitty as Northeastern. I mean they are I-AA? I heard from another student that we paid Northeastern a ton of money to come to Blacksburg to pay us, and that makes it all the more surprising.

After we scored 3 TD's in the first 8 minutes or so, we kind of just stopped playing, and basically went through the motions coasting to a 38-0 victory.

If we are going to be a top notch football program, we need to play stronger opponents in our out-of-conference games, otherwise that won't impress the BCS people.

Josh

Metsfan,

Its all about $$$$ in regards to why programs like Va Tech schedule these type of games. Not that I wouldn't take an opportunity to throw a couple hurls at Va Tech, but they are hardly alone in scheduling 1-AA teams to increade revenue.

If Va Tech schedules a Division 1 team ( say other than a Sun Belt or lower teir CUSA or MAC team), most likely the Hokies would have to provide a return ( away) game at a future date. With 1-AA teams, its a one and done deal with no return date.

With 65,000 tickets(40.00 per ticket) sold, Virginia Tech makes almost 3 million dollars ( 2.7) per home game. It's essential in big time college athletics for programs like Tech to schedule yearly games with programs that don't demand a return game.

I believe VT has scheduled 2-1 games with East Carolina ( a decent to good non-BCS Division One program). 2 games at Lane with 1 return game in Greenville. You are seeing more and more of this type of scheduling as well instead of 1-1 games with top 20 teams playing each other Out of Conference.

[ September 03, 2006, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

You're absolutely right, and the AD Jim Weaver all but states that each week when fans are on the weekly Hokie Hotline show.

Schools with incredible alumni bases do not worry so much about having to "schedule for success". They have more people who'll donate more money to the program.

It's quite expensive to play an away football game that requires air travel. Think of how much fuel is needed to get one of those planes off the ground with 300+ LBS linemen on board!

It seems most schools would rather schedule for success if they have a football program that generates income instead of operating in the red. By doing that, chances of making a bowl game increase, which in turn, brings more revenue [and hopefully income] to the program / school.

I hate the fact that VT will be playing ECU for what seems to be the next 20 years. Boring. Lame. The games most likely won't be on television. Sucks for the fans, sucks for the conference. I'd rather see Tech play Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisville, Penn State, or Georgia. All those schools have good football programs and all those schools are easy to get to for the team and the fans.

Well we did agree to play Nebraska in 2008 and 2009. We go to Lincoln in 08 and then host them in 09. That's not a bad opponent at least for an OOC game.

In 2007, we travel to Baton Rouge to play LSU.

But yeah it does suck that we always play some lame ass teams each year. Some guy offered us $20 Million to play a game against Tennessee in Bristol. I still hope they are working on that match up. There you would have money and a game against a good opponent with minimal travel costs (2 hr bus ride).

Josh

VaTech had also scheduled Wisconsin for the 2007 and 2008 seasons -- but unfortunately (imho) UW pulled out for the time being. I guess the series will be back on through sometime in 2012??

Chatter will pick up about the UT/VT game in Bristol as the season goes on. If I remember the story correctly, VT accepted the game proposal, but UT declined. Can't remember why. $20M for each team sure as heck beats any bowl game the team might not make it to if they lose!

Big Theta,

Being a UT alum, I will assist you on the reasoning the Vols decined the offer to play at Bristol's Motor Raceway.

The University of Tennessee has one of the greatest traditions in all of college football while playing in one of the more historic stadiums in the America's at Neyland Stadium that regularly seats 108,000 fans. Thus, UT's athletic program ins't in the business to compromise the integrity of its athletic program and college football by playing in a Nascar stadium. A stadium that would be a horrible venue for the fans to watch a college football game. UT already plays an elite OOC playing programs like Miami, Notre Dame ( 5 times in last 10 years), Cal, and future dates with Oregon, UCLA, Oklahoma, Nebraska, NC State, North Carolina, and WVU ( a home and home with a possible neutral game in DC or Charlotte) is rumored to be in the final stages of the schedule.


The point is, Tennessee's athletic program has no interest in playing a college football game in a NASCAR stadium with some obscure NasCar businessman pimping the deal throwing obscene 20,000,000 numbers around that seem very ficitonal and most likely just to get people's attention to make the game happen ( this has been documented in the Knoxville News Sentinel).

UT's program isn't attention starved and certainly doesn't need to play circus games to create its identity.

[ September 07, 2006, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

What are your ACC predictions for this week's games? I don't think there'll be any OOC upsets since the OOC opponents are not very good teams. I'm picking BC to beat Clemson in a close grudge match.

NCSU vs. Akron: 24, 10
VT vs. UNC: 27, 17
Duke vs. Wake Forest: 7, 28
GT vs. Samford: 38, 0
Clemson vs. BC: 21, 24
UVA vs. Wyoming: 21, 10
FSU vs. Troy: 48, 6
Maryland vs. Middle Tenn State: 35, 21
Miami vs. FAMU: 51, 7

NC State 28 Akron 17
UNC 24 VT 17
WF 38 Duke 3
GT 47 Samford 10
Clemson 30 Boston College 21
Wyoming 24 UVA 21
FSU 42 Troy 10
Maryland 31 MTSU 10
Miami 38 FAMU 6

[ September 08, 2006, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

GO BLUE RAIDERS!!!! YEA BABY!

Akron is up 7-0 in the 3rd

Duke is leading Wake Forest 13-7 with a little over 3 minutes to go! A bit of an upset there if it holds up! And NC State has since taken the lead on Akron 10-7.

Wake is back on top and Akron is up 14-10 w/ 5 minutes left

Go Zips!!!

Akron/N.C. State looks to be going OT, Getsy has marched the Zips down for (at least) the game tying FG, if he doesn't finish the job himself.

Now down to the 1 with :03 left

[ September 09, 2006, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: Boltergeist ]

Zips Rock! Best finish I've seen so far this season.

So when do those pleas for Bill Cowher to come to Raleigh start?

[ September 09, 2006, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Boltergeist ]

Nice win for VT today on the road. Great defense, a blocked kick and seems like typical Beamerball.

Believe it or not, this is the first VT game I've watched on TV. Either I've been at the game or was not available to watch.
I must say that I think Sean Glennon is not the answer. He doesn't read the defense very well, and he only seems to be able to throw screen passes with any accuracy. So far in two weeks, he's thrown that stupid pass out in the flap to the right side at least 5 times, and I think it's netted a total of 1 yard. You think he'd try something different.

I've been impressed with Brandon Ore. He seems to know what he's doing. Plus the OL is good and blocks well (especially #76 )

Still a win is a win, and we are now 2-0. Hopefully that'll move us up in the polls a bit.

Josh

if NC State's coach lasts out the first part of the season, I'll be surprised

Does FSU realize they're playing now???

Tough call.

I do know that they are trying to play with, at minimum, one thumb up their a*holes.

they just tied it up

The sad part though is that that particular touchdown was in response to a touchdown by Troy...who ran down the field from the Troy 10.

Earth to FSU

unfortunately they pulled it out

it's gonna be a long season for the ACC

Hey, not so bad on my predictions... 8-1 on the week.

The Akron Zips put up much more of a fight than I thought, beating NC State by 20-17. I was off by just about 7 points in each direction for the VT / UNC game. Duke continues basketball practice. I had GT's points correct, but they allowed Samford to score. The game between BC and Clemson was closer than I thought, but the outcome was the same. Did FSU remember they had a game against Troy? Wowsers. UVA is soon going to get to fire Al Groh if he keeps up these pathetic outings. I was off by only 3 points with the Miami game (51-10 instead of 51-7). And Maryland got another scrimage in before a big contest with WVU on Thursday night.

All-in-all, not a great weekend for the ACC.

Funny Cartoon on NC State's Chuck Amato

http://www.newsobserver.com/1235/story/481010.html

I was at the VT game Saturday.

You can't gift wrap 21 points and expect to win against an opponent like Tech. Our QB situation is horrible and Bunting is clueless.

The ship gets righted this weekend against Furman or we'll be battling State for who fires their coach first.

Tar Heel in ATL, you guys will get things turned around as soon as Bunting is let go. But think, it could be worse. You could have lost at home to Akron just like your Triangle brethern down the road.

Fresno State's Pat Hill takes Chuck Amato to task. Good story here. Amato is obviously realizing his time is up at NC State and is grasping at straws as to why his team is so bad.

The story:

Amato's Inaccuracies Ruffle Feathers

Wow, that's some pretty bad stuff Amato is suggesting. Chuckie's gonna find himself out of a job soon!

the truth about chuckles the clown is finally getting out

of course, we hope, like Herb, that the wolfpeckers keep him around for a long time

people are throwing around paul johnson's name as much as butch davis ... who knows

our PTB don't want a super successful football program and the image that often brings to a school - heck, our fans aren't asking for titles - just consistent performance and some wins

with our school, facilities and resources, there's no excuse for UNC not to be a top 25 program year in and year out

Hey Tar Heel, had the opportunity to visit Chapel Hill when Texas played UNC in 2002. Some of the fans were still bitter that Mack left for Texas, but for the most part, we had a great time. Great campus, stadium...and met a lot of great guys.

yeah - it took awhile but i think most real football fans know what mack did for our program - and that's why we're so angry about our current state of affairs

i was at that game too ... clocked a queen at he's not beforehand that my friend ended up hooking up with (and if you made it to he's not here, you know what a str8 dive it is - my gaydar is most excellent)

i hope you're not him!
eek!

FSU: Overrated. Again.

Of course, you'd think the pollsters would learn that after last week.

one would think

of course the same voters had Notre Lame as #2

*Newsflash*

The ACC is pathetic. Your best teams are a Vick-less VT and a BC team that should have lost to Central Michigan. Miami and F$U were exposed for the defensive frauds they are. Their offenses are pathetic. Have fun beating each other up because looking at your OOC record...um...you suck compared to other legit BCS conferences INCLUDING the Big East.

Virginia loses at home to Western Michigan? Are you kidding me? This comes a week after the Cavs barely escape Wyoming.

And North Carolina has to come from behind to nip Furman by a field goal? And NC State's Amato debacle continues with a loss by 3 touchdowns to Southern Miss?

Wow.

Just another day at the park for the Hokies. When will Beamer put an end to this type of behavior?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JfQORdUgN4...related&search=

To whom it may concern:

Ya know, I don't really post here anymore. I occasionally read the forums because I like getting perspectives from other college football fans regarding their favorite teams and conferences. Since the preseason, every time I look at the ACC thread, I see snide comment after snide comment regarding how much my conference sucks, how we're getting our just desserts for "raiding" the Big East, and John Swofford, the ACC commish, is nothing short of the anti-Christ.

When all this expansion stuff went down, I wasn't real happy with the situation either. I still feel there were probably back-room handshakes and the like, and yes, the ACC didn't look very classy. However, fellas, it's over and done with, and nobody can do anything about it. It's just the state of big-time college athletics.

The way certain members of this site obsess over and spew venom about the ACC, I'd be surprised if they didn't have ulcers by now. I don't know what would make these people happy. Do they want Swofford to crawl on his knees and beg forgiveness? Do they want every ACC team to lose every non-conference game they play from here until the end of time? Do they want all the team planes from every ACC school to crash and kill everyone on board so they'll never be heard from again?

Yes, that last question was childish and was meant to be. However, it's no more childish than coming on the ACC thread and saying "the ACC is pathetic" every time we lose a non-conference game to a so-called lesser opponent or posting videos of some cheap-shot play just because it's from VT or Miami. Every Saturday, in the tons of games that are played at all levels, I'll bet there are at least two fifteen yard penalties for late hits or unsportsmanlike conduct in every game played. I don't see those posted anywhere.

Okay. Enough. I've said what I wanted to say. Good luck to everyone's favorite team (except for carolina south) the rest of the year.

Sincerely,

Steve, graduate of a proud ACC charter institution

I'll admit that I was shocked that Rouse didn't get ejected for that hit. However, the refs also called us for two late hits earlier in the game that were complete bullshit.

I guess in all of the years that WVU has played, they've NEVER EVER EVER been flagged for a personal foul/late hit.

Josh

Josh-you missed the point

Beamer has a long history of allowing his players to act like thugs

A late hit on a QB---even a cheap late hit on a QB doesn't make you thug...anymore than burning a couch doesn't make you an arsonist---or does it?

josh

Tiggah,

I agree with most of everything you said in your reply. Although, I do think its naive to insinuate BE fans should refrain from taking pleasure in reporting on woes of the "ACC Project" in its early phase.

Lets be real for a second. As a Clemson Fan, I roles were reversed, and say the Big East targeted say Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia Tech in 2003, would you be adhering to submission and surrender to "its big time college athletics" aka "live with it"? You are kidding yourself if you answer yes. If the sole purpose of the Big East were to destory the ACC in adding 4 teams the way the ACC did with 3 teams that would provide an opportunity to dominate the East Coast's major TV markets, I have difficulty seeing how you would be anything other than "trigger happy" on being negative toward the ACC. A move that was carefully construed by selecting teams from the ACC not necessarily the best athletic programs, but ones that would cripple the ACC's TV market and geographic continuity. A carefully devised plan that was self serving without any regard to remaining schools and their survival.

Its mind boggling that you think WVU, Pitt, UCONN, Syracuse, and Rutgers fans should not have anything but dislike for all things associatd with the ACC. To say Big East fans are "childish" for this feeling is off base. Actually, its very appropriate to laugh at the ACC and its antics as its all blowing up in its face.

Swofford/ ACC had zero room for error post- conference realignment. The ACC had to deliver a superior product to make up for its conduct and mission to destroy the Big East ( by losing its BCS bid) and send the athletic programs of the remaining schools into shambles. Ask UCONN about their 125 million dollar stadium specifically built 5 years ago as UCONN was jumping to from 1-AA to the Big East. The taxpayers of CT didn't build a first class stadium to compete in a non-BCS conference.

In retrospect, the Big East has come togther way ahead of schedule. For the last two year, BE fans have had to endure "Big Least" and other labels thrown our way ( by many ACC fans) because we were on the receiving end of the raid, yet you are now crying that your conference is unfairly being insulted when someone takes pride in reporting on the woes of "Project ACC"?

You are kidding me with this, right? If you read my posts, I post on real topics. Do I post other negative issues on other conferences and program in the same manner? NO. For instance, Penn State whipped up on many old Eastern Schools like WVU. PSU has now gone on to the Big 10. Do I dislike PSU? Not at all? Why? PSU's athletic program and Joe Pa are some of the most ethical in the business. Aside from the ACC, I enjoy all conference and almost all teams that hit the field.

Now lets focus on the late hit of Rouse's.

Virginia Tech has major issues with institutional control of its football program. I posted yet another ( imagine that?) incident of the Hokie program that clearly illustrate a program gone awry. If Rouse say played for Wake Forest this would not be an issue. It would be assessed as a player that needs a serious scolding for intentionally hiting another player in a serious manner way after the whistle has blown. However, this was a Hokie player. This is a symptom of Beamer Ball. Its become so common that its just another day in the park. Different players play the part, but its typically from the same script.

Also, its rather disturbing to call this cheap shot "common" in college football. I challenge you to find me footage of two late hits that are this "late" all year. This hit was intentional and almost criminal. Very cowardly and punkish. Your right though. If this were a UVA player, It would be easier to dismiss. But at VT, its just "another day in the park". Its almost to the point that if a Hokie isn't arrested for a felony, its not news anymore.

[ September 18, 2006, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: GymMountainEER ]

Great win by you guys these past weekend, Steve. I was rooting for you all game long and couldn't be happier to see you pull the upset.

I agree with you that it's tough coming back to the ACC thread and reading about how the ACC sucks or VT is a criminal institution because of this or that. For better or for worse, we're getting talking about. I've just decided to put my filter on for most of the messages on this thread and the others to filter out some of the extra noise and respond to the more intelligent discussions instead.

With that said, I'm rather upset with the ACC's performance as a whole this season. It does seem to be a down year for the conference. I don't know if it's that other teams are just playing that much better or the fact we had 56 (or was it 57?) NFL draft picks last year that reaped the talent from the conference that is doing us in. What I do know is that Miami and FSU do not appear to be the frightening, intimidating teams they once were. Is that good or bad for the conference, again, I'm not sure.

In any regards, I hope you keep coming back to the thread an adding real value. I'd love to keep up the conversation with somone who cares about the ACC.

Cheers! And good luck in a few weeks when your Tigers come to Blacksburg =)