Butch Davis just will not go away.
First comes last week's announcement from North Carolina's president that Davis' job is fine because there's no evidence Davis knew of the rampant wrongdoing that took place under his watch.
Then comes the Tar Heels' surprising upset at Florida State.
The nerve-jangling win mucked things up in the Atlantic Division while breathing some life into Clemson's hopes of repeating as division champs.
And even though Virginia Tech is in control of the Coastal Division with a 5-0 ACC record, the Tar Heels are in position to shake things up on that side of the conference -- and maybe even win the thing themselves.
Virginia Tech visits Chapel Hill on Saturday. Then the Tar Heels play host to N.C. State. Then they close the regular season at Duke.
North Carolina (3-2 ACC) needs some help from Miami (4-2), which dusted the Tar Heels a few weeks ago. The Hurricanes need to lose at Georgia Tech on Saturday, then beat Virginia Tech a week later in Miami.
But Virginia Tech isn't exactly playing well, as evidenced last week against Georgia Tech. And the Tar Heels won in Blacksburg last year.
Davis has yet to defeat Tom O'Brien in three seasons. But gosh, you gotta figure the Tar Heels are due to win one of these against the Wolfies, right?
If North Carolina does win the division, does Davis get coach of the year in the ACC? It'd be quite interesting to see, given the certainty that there'd be misgivings from voters in light of the NCAA setting up a full-time Chapel Hill Bureau.
Hard to deny that this has been a heckuva coaching job by Davis so far.
Now for this week's rankings:
1. Virginia Tech (last week-1)--David Wilson is averaging almost 40 yards per kickoff return.
2. Florida State (LW-2)--Seminoles lose back-to-back games and hold their standing at No. 2. Welcome to the ACC.
3. North Carolina (LW-6)--T.J. Yates threw for 851 yards against LSU and FSU.
4. Clemson (LW-5)--How bad are things right now if Dawson Zimmerman doesn't snare that errant snap?
5. Miami (LW-4)--Yes, they drop a spot after a win. Something's just not right down there.
6. N.C. State (LW-3)--Are they two spots lower than Clemson? Probably not. But gosh, O'Brien's decision to punt was just awful.
7. Georgia Tech (LW-7)--Jackets have lost back-to-back games for the first time under Paul Johnson.
8. Maryland (LW-8)--Terps' best win this season was over Navy, and they were lucky to win that one.
9. Boston College (LW-9)--With games remaining against Duke (away) and Virginia (home), the Eagles can wrap up bowl eligibility before a difficult regular-season finale at Syracuse.
10. Duke (LW-11)--Devils are allowing 39 points per game in ACC play. Putrid.
11. Virginia (LW-10)--Cavs are allowing 37 points per game in ACC play. Putrid.
12. Wake Forest (LW-12)--Deacons are allowing 40 points per game in ACC play. Putrid.
On to some Tuesday linkage...
Heather Dinich presents her power rankings and doesn't penalize N.C. State for its loss at Clemson.
Rob Daniels of The ACC Sports Journal offers his rankings and has the Wolfpack fifth.
Dinich also looks at North Carolina's improbable run.
There have been more reasons to count Carolina out this season than there are barbecue joints on Tobacco Road. Against Virginia last month, walk-on offensive guard Peyton Jenest lined up at defensive tackle for the Heels. At FSU, North Carolina literally had three healthy corners who could play. The Tar Heels were down to four defensive ends and two of them got hurt. Running back Hunter Furr, who was on the scout team a week ago, was suddenly instrumental in the game-winning drive. If starter Shaun Draughn (ankle) can practice this week, he’ll obviously play, but if not, it’s up to Furr and -- well, Hatley.
Doesn’t matter. Hasn’t yet.
With quarterback T.J. Yates rising to the occasion every week and receiver Dwight Jones racking up three 100-yard games in the past four weeks, North Carolina has a chance to upset Virginia Tech on Saturday.
What are the odds?
In Miami, Randy Shannon tries to deal with the negativity.
“The thing these young men are starting to see is that everybody’s beating them up, ex-players, fans, beating them up, beating me up. But you know what? I tell them, ‘what we have right now is what we have on the football field. …you’ve got some fans, the 35,000 that’s going to come every game, and support. When you think about it, you have a lot of support out there. You just can’t let the other things affect what we’re trying to do.’”
Shannon was asked how much of the criticism gets to him and how much of it can he block out?
“You try to [block it out], but you’re always worried about the players on the team,” Shannon said. “That’s my total focus. I’m concerned about those guys. Because they make look at me and say, ‘Coach, why is this happening to you?’ and, ‘you’ve got [former UM] players saying bad things about you.’”
With Johnny White out for the season, Ryan Houston could get the call in Chapel Hill.
Here's an interesting tidbit from N.C. State: Kicker Josh Czajkowski was injured on Marcus Gilchrist's long kickoff return in the fourth quarter and would not have been available had the Wolfpack moved into position to kick the go-ahead field goal late.
Czajkowski is out for the year.
Cam Newton: Been caught cheating (allegedly).
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was facing possible expulsion from the University of Florida for academic cheating when he transferred to junior college in the spring of 2009, FoxSports.com reported on Monday.
Newton, a Heisman Trophy front-runner, is said to have been caught cheating three times, including putting his name on someone else's paper without that student's knowledge.
Bad news for Christian Ponder, and good news for Clemson: Ponder re-injured his right elbow last week, and his status for Saturday's game is in doubt.
"I'd be lying if I said preparing as a starter vs. as a second-string guy isn't different," Fisher said, adding that Ponder's uncertain status doesn't make it tough for him "because I think the best way to do it is just act like you're going to play on Saturday."
He spoke to Ponder on Monday and said he "seemed like he was all right; I'm sure he's still kind of groggy after all the medicine and stuff, but they pumped a lot of that stuff out of his arms, so hopefully he'll recuperate pretty fast."
More on Ponder from our friends at Warchant.
So McDaniel vs. Ponder, the sequel, might be on the shelf. Dang.
LW
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