ACC fever, and stats and stuff

Weekends like this are made for Mike Hogewood.

Hogewood is the TV personality who tries his best to be excited for games that are patently unexciting. And the weird thing is, his excitement might not be manufactured.

So he'll be in, say, Chestnut Hill for a game featuring Duke and Boston College, and his halftime soliloquy will go something like this:

(And apologies to Upstate radio personality William Qualkinbush, who does spot-on Hogewood impersonations on a regular basis.)

"HERE we are in the HEART of ACC country for a SHOWDOWN between the Blue Devils and Eagles!!!! The CROWD is going NUTS at this offensive SMORGASBORD!!!! Boston College is up 3-2, but Duke is threatening to EXPLODE in what promises to be an ACTION-PACKED second half!!!! You can just FEEL the INTENSITY down here on the field. THIS place is going BONKERS!!!!"

If this guy were a writer, his caps lock key would be on at all times (yeah, one of those guys).

And I'm betting he's looking at the docket for this weekend and getting PUMPED.

Central Michigan at N.C. State
Miami at Virginia Tech
Boston College at Clemson
Florida State at Wake Forest
Maryland at Georgia Tech
Louisville at North Carolina

Four intraconference matchups, and none of them all that sexy. Florida State's trip to Winston-Salem looks somewhat compelling on the surface, but when a "packed house" consists of 35,000 fans ... sorry.

These are the kinds of weekends that made it a bit of a surprise when the ACC locked up that sweetheart TV deal with ESPN.

Some stats to ponder as we prepare for a spine-tingling Week 6 of ACC play:

-- Clemson SID Tim Bourret sent this clarification out to the media yesterday:

"Further research has uncovered an instance when the University of Maryland defeated three straight top 25 opponents who were ranked in at least one of the two major polls. In 1984 Maryland defeated Miami (#6 in AP, 6 in UPI), Clemson (#20 in AP, unranked in UPI) and Virginia (ranked #17 in UPI, unranked in AP) on consecutive weekends November 10-24. Virginia was not ranked in AP entering that last game. The ACC media guide only lists games against AP ranked teams and that is how this was missed. So, you can write the note one of two ways. Clemson is the first ACC school to defeat three consecutive opponents ranked in the top 25 of both polls. Or, Clemson is the second ACC team to defeated three consecutive opponents ranked by at least one of the two major services."

Either way, it's still an impressive feat.

-- Georgia Tech A-back Orwin Smith is averaging 15.1 yards per carry on 28 rushing attempts.

-- When Montel Harris rushed for 108 yards on 22 carries in last week's loss to Wake Forest IN THE HEART OF ACC COUNTRY, it marked the 22nd 100-yard rushing day of his career. That's more than anyone in ACC history excepting N.C. State's Ted Brown (27) and North Carolina's Amos Lawrence (23).

And given how weak the Eagles' passing game has been during Harris' career, that's strong stuff.

-- Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly has totaled 27 straight games of 10 or more tackles. I remember two years ago, a few days before Boston College came to Clemson, a writer from the Boston Globe telling me that this freshman named Kuechly was the real deal. I watched a little of him on DVR and wasn't all that impressed. Yeah, I'm smart.

-- Over the last 13 games, North Carolina receiver Dwight Jones has averaged 104.3 receiving yards per game. He had a spectacular catch in last week's win at East Carolina.

-- Tajh Boyd's interception last week at Virginia Tech halted a streak of 141 consecutive passes without an interception. It tied Jameel Sewell for the 12th-longest such streak in ACC history.

-- If Virginia Tech doesn't make that field goal Saturday and is shut out by Clemson, the Hokies would've snapped a streak of 207 consecutive games in which they have scored. Their 208-game streak is the sixth-longest in the nation.

-- The last time both Clemson and Georgia Tech started a season 5-0 was 1948. The coaches that year: Frank Howard and Bobby Dodd. The Tigers finished 11-0; the Jackets finished 7-3.

-- The Chessmaster's defense is showing some signs of leakage. Georgia Tech allowed N.C. State to run for 195 yards last week in Raleigh a week after the Wolfies went for minus-26 on the ground in that abominable Thursday-night showing at Cincinnati.

-- What do we know about North Carolina at this point? Not a whole bunch, I'd say. They've played James Madison, Rutgers, Virginia, Georgia Tech and East Carolina.

-- Miami's defense allowed 422 yards to Bethune-Cookman. And I'd bet B-C's balance (219 rushing, 203 passing) made a certain assistant named Rob Spence happy.

-- The Hurricanes could only muster 126 rushing yards against Bethune-Cookman?

-- Boston College is averaging just 116 yards rushing a game and is last in the ACC in pass efficiency. Not a good combination.

-- The Eagles' rushing average is bad, but it ranks eighth in the ACC. The four teams that are averaging less are Wake Forest (108), N.C. State (107), Duke (97) and Florida State (79).

-- No excuse whatsoever for the Seminoles to average 79 rushing yards a game. Tremendous flaw in a team that was supposed to reassert its ACC supremacy this year.

-- Four of Clemson's remaining ACC opponents rank in the bottom half of the ACC in rushing defense: Georgia Tech (145), Boston College (153), N.C. State (170) and Maryland (177).

-- Clemson has totaled 13 kickoff returns over five games. That's the fewest in the ACC. N.C. State and Duke have the most, with 27 apiece.

-- Clemson and N.C. State are the only two teams in the conference that have missed two extra points.

-- Boston College is last in the ACC in third-down conversions with a 37.3-percent clip. Georgia Tech is first at 61.3 percent, and Clemson is second at 50.6.

-- Clemson leads the ACC in opponents' penalties with 63 yards of infractions a game. Georgia Tech is last with 24 yards worth of penalties by opponents.

Wow, Oct. 29 in Atlanta is going to be fun. And we're not talking Hogewood-style fun.



LW