Is BC-GT the Best ACC Has to Offer?

No slight intended against either Georgia Tech or Boston College. As a resident of Atlanta and a BC grad, I am glad that both teams have arisen to the top of the conference and this Saturday's game could be a preview of the ACC Championship Game. However, as a football fan and a defender of the ACC expansion, there is part of me that is a little disappointed. I like that BC and GT are playing well...what is bothersome is that no one else in the conference is. The marquee teams in the league (Miami, Virginia Tech and Florida State) all have quarterback problems. Maryland got run over by West Virginia Thursday night. Defending Champ Wake Forest is 0-2. Expansionists envisioned a new super conference. After Saturday there may be only two ranked ACC teams.

These shifts in power tend to be cyclical, so it is just a matter of time before the ACC is good again. And if your marquee teams are struggling, it doesn't hurt to have programs like Boston College and Georgia Tech filling the void. Both are respected academic institutions. Both have respectable football traditions and both are in major media markets. (It there is one thing the ACC does right, it is play the TV game.)

While the loser of this game will face a setback, the winner will also have the added burden of carrying the conference mantle. From a respect standpoint, the ACC needs a Top 10 team to win the conference. If either Georgia Tech or BC falter down the stretch and the conference sends another three or four loss team to the BCS, the ACC critics and haters will be out in force.