Flash back a few weeks:
When I was asked to write an article for The Cavalier Daily's Gridiron special about parity in the ACC, I thought it would be a good chance to defend the conference against the many haters out there. I remember e-mailing a few Cavalier Daily Sports staffers when I found the ACC had more teams in the preseason Top 40 than any other conference, because who wouldn't be excited to finally have the chance to fire back at those who belittle our ACC? This would finally be the year we got some respect.
Back to present time.
Only two weeks into the season, I feel betrayed. The conference is in shambles. There's parity, all right, but not the kind there should be after a dozen or so early season, non-conference games. Seven teams are 1-1, and Virginia is 0-2 (as if you don't know), while only four teams have made it through these apparently grueling two weeks unscathed.
Looking back, I guess I was foolish. I mean, we all should have seen it coming that Virginia and Duke would lose to FCS teams William & Mary and Richmond in their season openers, right? How did we ever expect ACC schools to win purposely scheduled "pay-per-victory" games against teams from the lower conference? I guess I was just delusional to expect teams that can give absurd amounts of scholarships and have highly paid coaches to win these kinds of games.
Also during week one, Maryland got blown out by preseason-No. 12 California, and Virginia Tech lost to powerhouse then-No. 5 Alabama; considering the opponents, those results are somewhat understandable. But N.C. State barely did anything against unranked South Carolina, and Wake Forest dropped a close game to Baylor, another unranked team. Those are not necessarily "should-win" games, but for the conference to get on the national radar, it needs those types of wins against respectable but beatable opponents.
During week two, Virginia fell to No. 16 TCU - an inevitable result, I'm sadly resigned to say - but one that brought the ACC's non-conference loss total to seven. The only thing I can say for the Cavaliers: At least they didn't get shut out. All those fans dressed as steel benches must have been thrilled to see those two late touchdowns.
Last year, the ACC's regular season non-conference record was 41-17, good for a .707 winning percentage. So far this year, the ACC is 12-7 in non-conference games. Not to mention that of those 12 wins, nine were "gimme" games (with UConn, Stanford and Army being the only somewhat legitimate opponents). ACC schools have defeated the following teams: Northeastern, Jacksonville State (twice), The Citadel, Kent State, James Madison (in overtime), Murray State and Marshall. Not exactly an all-star list, and a pretty bad drop-off from last year.
So what does this all mean? The ACC won't win all the games it should win and has lost the games it needed to win. It's kind of depressing, but if there is any silver lining out there, consider this: If everyone in the conference is good for a few awful losses this year, maybe Virginia has a chance to win a game.
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