What I Learned This Week, 12-1-08

Wow, two weekends of Rivalry Week down, only one to go. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not sure if I have enough man juice to make it through Army-Navy next weekend. But like Kellen Winslow, I'm a soldier, so I'll do my best to make it through. Here's what I learned for next week:

1) The ACC is going to be good next year. You read that correctly. No, there are no references to Tyler Hansborough's awkward Perpetual Open Mouth Syndrome in this post, so I'm not even talking about ACC basketball. The ACC is going to be a good football conference next year. According to the standard set by the national media for what a great conference is, when the media had time to come up for air while blowing the SEC for the past three years, is having three to four ranked teams. For the SEC, it's been Florida, LSU, Georgia, and Auburn/Alabama. This year in the Big 12, it's been Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. For the Pac 10, it's USC, USC JV, USC's 2010 Recruiting Class, and De La Salle High School. Next year, let's look at what two ACC is bringing in 2009 (and neither school is from the state of Florida):
Georgia Tech: Not only did they smoke Georgia while located between the hedges, they did it with a really young offense. QB Josh Nesbitt is a sophomore running this type of offense for the first time and all three of their running backs return. When you run the triple option, these are the three critical spots. They lose a lot on the offensive line, but you have to assume that Paul Johnson can recruit this position easier than almost any other (if you can run block, you can make it to the NFL). They lose their D line, and this will be their biggest loss, but they still return their best defensive player (in my opinion) in safety Morgan Burnett and their offense will score so many points it won't even matter. They showed me Saturday they are the real deal.
North Carolina: Not only do they have the best coach, both in terms of recruiting and X's and O's, in the ACC in Butch Davis, but they also have a ton of talent returning. Both Cam Sexton and TJ Yates come back healthy at QB, RB Shaun Draughns comes back after gaining a quality 4.4 ypc in his first year of action, Hakeem Nicks comes back at wideout, along with three starting O linemen. On defense, they just bring back 9 starters. All this is awesome, and that's before you bring in what ESPN predicts will be another top 15 recruiting class.


2) This year's title game will be all about offense. I don't care which four teams are in-- Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida-- this year's matchup will have the most scoring Miami's scene since season three of Nip/Tuck. Texas put up fitty (and shot Mike Sherman nine times for good measure) on A&M, OU put up another stagger 6 handle on Ok State, and Florida and Alabama put up thirty points against two of the best defensive squads in the South. Obviously, Florida has Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, Oklahoma has Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray, and Texas has Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley (hey, did you know they're roommates!?!?). But Alabama can also put points on the board. They've put up 30 points or more in seven games this season, and have a lot of talent in Jorge Julio, Glen Coffee, and a QB who doesn't-suck-because-he-looks-like-me in John Parker Wilson. I hope Fox gets Jerry Glanville to do color commentary, not only because he may be the fourth horseman in Fox's sports-pacolypse along with Terry Bradshaw, Tim McCarver, and Joe Buck, but because this Champship will both "Run and Shoot." Get it?