Adios, muchachos

Five months have gone by since my last post here, and I am acutely aware that this project has run it's course for now. I have neither the time, energy, interest nor desire at this stage of my life to continue this fun little corner of cyberspace. I will not stop following and watching ACC football, but for now I am done blogging about it.

If work and life obligations become less intensive in the future, I will certainly fire this baby back up again. But for now, I bid you farewell.

2009 ACC Schedule Released

Here it is. And yes, I had a very nice sabbatical from blogging...thanks for asking.

Some quick thoughts:

--too many 1-AA/FCS opponents (13); Duke, NC State and UNC are major offenders as they each play two this upcoming season

--either the ACC is bent on destroying Randy Shannon's career, or The U is on a suicide mission; their first four games are @Florida State (Labor Day), Georgia Tech (Thursday), @Virginia Tech, Oklahoma. Will Shannon even make it to November?

--there are a number of intriguing non-conference matchups on tap, aside from the annual rivalry games...Duke @ Kansas, Pitt @ NC State, Florida State @ BYU, USF @ Florida State, Maryland @ Cal, Rutgers @ Maryland, Miami @ USF, TCU @ Virginia, Stanford @ Wake Forest, Nebraska @ Virginia Tech and most importantly Virginia Tech-Alabama at the site of Tommy Bowden's coaching demise

--except for Miami-Oklahoma, I don't see any guaranteed beatdowns of ACC teams in out of conference action

Apologies in advance to Florida and Oklahoma

The ACC has been assigned to provide the officiating crew for tomorrow night's BCS Championship Game.

Loved this little capsule:

It's likely that ACC veteran Jack Childress will head the crew. Childress is no-nonsense, but sometimes he likes to throw the flag a little too much. If he is the head referee, with any luck, he will let some emotions flow and simply separate players.

Stating that Jack Childress "likes to throw the flag a little too much" is akin to saying the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima destroyed a few buildings.

So long Jags, we hardly knew ye...

Jeff Jagodzinski has been fired for interviewing with the New York Jets.

Shockingly, no outside candidates are beating down Eagle AD Gene DeFillippo's door for an interview. It appears that the new BC football boss will likely be OC Steve Logan, DC Frank Spaziani or OL coach Jack Bicknell Jr. Don't be surprised to see Spaz leave if Logan gets the job, or vice versa. And if Bicknell gets tabbed, Spaz and Logan may both pack up and leave.

Strange things are afoot at Boston College

Jeff Jagodzinski to be fired if he interviews with the New York Jets?

I have no idea what Jags' contract allows and doesn't allow, but there are ways to handle situations quietly and without ultimatums, and then there's the BC way. I don't know how Jags and BC come back from the brink, and the Eagles can ill afford to have a second straight messy coaching departure.

Tom O'Brien's move to Raleigh two years ago makes a hell of a lot more sense now, doesn't it?

Stay tuned.

Time Machine: The 2006 Bowls under the ACCFR Plan

Following up on my bowl/playoff manifesto, I'm going back through each BCS year to see how my system would have played out versus what actually happened. For those who don't care to read over my plan, here's the gist:

1- We play five major bowls on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Rose)
2- Each BCS conference has an auotbid for it's champ (Cotton- Big East, Fiesta- Big XII, Orange- ACC, Sugar- SEC, Rose- Pac 10 vs. Big 10)
3- That leaves 4 at large-spots, which are chosen based on the 4 highest ranked available teams in the final regular season BCS poll; the only rules are no rematches, no teams from the same conference in a bowl, and a champion of a non-BCS conference ranked #8 or higher must get selected.
4- The bowls (except Rose) rotate each year on the order of at-large placements
5- After the Five Bowls, run the BCS poll again; #1 and #2 then play the next Friday night (7 to 13 days after the bowls) in the BCS Championship Game.

No, my plan is not a playoff, but it still gives you a 1-vs-2 game and it makes the major bowls actually matter again.

Let's see how this plan would've worked in 2006. Here were your final regular season BCS rankings:

1- Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
2- Florida (SEC champ)
3- Michigan (at-large)
4- LSU (at-large)
5- USC (Pac 10 champ)
6- Louisville (Big East champ)
7- Wisconsin (at-large)
8- Boise State (at-large)
10-Oklahoma (Big XII champ)
14- Wake Forest (ACC champ)

We don't have a comparable order-of-selection to use since the BCS treated the title game like a bowl and they didn't have the Cotton included, so based on the picking order I used for 2007, we back up and find the order of selection in '06 to be Fiesta, Cotton, Orange, Sugar. Given that, these would've been your 2006 BCS bowls:

FIESTA- Oklahoma (Big XII champ) vs. Michigan (highest ranked at-large)
COTTON- Louisville (Big East champ) vs. LSU (2nd highest ranked at-large)
ORANGE- Wake Forest (ACC champ) vs. Wisconsin (3rd highest ranked at-large)
SUGAR- Florida (SEC champ) vs. Boise State (4th highest ranked at-large)
ROSE- Ohio State (Big Ten champ) vs. USC (Pac 10 champ)

That's a helluva lineup; the Orange Bowl doesn't look sexy, but Wisconsin should have been in a BCS bowl in '06 rather than Notre Dame (who you'll recall got trounced by LSU in the Sugar Bowl). Wake-Wisconsin would actually have been a good matchup in terms of styles of play. That Louisville-LSU Cotton Bowl would have been a treat, with both teams in striking distance of the title game with a win. How about Florida vs. Boise? Nice! Oklahoma vs. Michigan would have been a curious game. And once again, USC would've taken care of Ohio State and the Buckeyes wouldn't have sullied an actual title game.

After the Five Bowls, the BCS Championship Game likely would have paired Florida and USC, or perhaps Florida and LSU. But what if the Broncos had upset the Gators? Boise State-USC for the title? Perhaps. Or maybe LSU-Michigan.

The ACCFR plan again would have been a massive improvement over what actually took place in 2006. On to 2005...