ACC Gets Second Chance to Make First Impression in Atlanta

For the ACC, the curtain didn't so much rise on the 2008 football season as it did crash into the footlights.

In last year's national opener on Thursday night, N.C. State traveled to South Carolina, but left its offense at home in a 34-0 debacle. That Saturday, East Carolina staggered No. 17 Virginia Tech, returning a blocked punt for a touchdown for the winning points. In Charlottesville, Va., USC scored three touchdowns in the first 11 minutes and put away a 52-7 scrimmage before the ice melted in the Gatorade. And that Saturday night, Alabama walloped Clemson 34-10 in a game that was the football equivalent of standing in homeroom in only your underwear.

Clemson's vaunted ground game rushed for just as many yards as the goalposts – zero. And just as the league tried to take a step forward on a national stage, somebody tied their shoelaces together.

For the Tigers, and the ACC's reputation, Week 1 was a wound that wouldn't heal.

"It seemed to have a lingering effect for a while," said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who was an assistant under Tommy Bowden during last year's game. "I don't know exactly how long, but it was something that I think affected us for the next few weeks. ... As a result, things just kind of spiraled from there."

The following week, Middle Tennessee State humbled one-time ACC strongman Maryland 24-14, another game ACC partisans had to watch through their fingers. There probably have been worse debuts than the ACC's last year, but by the end of Week 2, it was hard to come up with one that didn't end up a with a sunken ship and Leonardo DiCaprio movie titled for it.

For a league trying to find its identity as a football power, it was a reminder that basketball season was just six weeks away.

But as the 2009 season starts, the ACC again finds itself with an opportunity to build its reputation at the expense of the nation's traditional conference powers. The first two weeks include two games against the SEC, three against the Pac-10, one against the Big 12, and the re-emergence of the Florida State-Miami rivalry, a game that has thus far played the undercard to a game played on blue turf and in the shadow of a giant Carl's Jr. cup.

Even league caboose Duke, seemingly resurgent under second-year head coach David Cutcliffe, takes a stake of league pride against reigning FCS champion Richmond. Think that game is a gimme even for Duke? Ask a Michigan fan about former FCS champion Appalachian State.

Then duck.

But for the ACC, the reclamation project of 2009 will begin where 2008 went oh so wrong, when Alabama beat Clemson in a game that wasn't so much over at the first punch. It was over when they touched gloves.

"We weren't ready to play," Swinney said. "The teams lined up and they popped us in the mouth."

And they struck the ACC below the belt. Not even Virginia Tech's climb to the top 10 by season end, and its Orange Bowl victory of Cincinnati, champion of the only league the ACC can kick sand of and get away with, made up for that season-starting stumble.

But, should the Hokies beat No. 5 Alabama in the primetime showdown Saturday night, it will be a victory for the whole league.

Just don't expect Coach Frank Beamer, who lost star tailback Darren Evans for the season earlier this month, to put the weight of the conference on his team's shoulder pads alone.

"There's no question it's a big game," Beamer said. "It would do a lot for Virginia Tech. It would do a lot for the ACC. But at the same time, you can't put all your eggs in one basket."

The Hokies will have to compensate for another ugly loss by N.C. State that sucked the excitement, and the offense, out of opening night. The Pack gained just 133 total yards, dropped the game-winning touchdown pass and lost 7-3 to a suddenly smasmouth Steve Spurrier team Thursday night.



"We lacked the ability to sustain on offense," said Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien in an early nominee for understatement of the season.

But as the Blue Raiders proved in a win over Maryland last year, it's not just the big boys that can bring down the ACC. In Week 1, no team can be overlooked. Clemson hosts the Middle Tennessee State squad this eyar, a team brimming with confidence and now with offensive coordinator Tony Franklin on the sideline, the mastermind of the spread attack that turned Troy into a mid-major nuisance and earned him a job with Auburn last season..

"This is a team that we've got to be prepared for," Swinney said. "You can't overlook these guys at all. They're not a team you can make a lot of mistakes against and beat. They've played ACC and SEC caliber football."

Middle Tennessee State isn't the only minor team that could turn into a major embarrassment. Georgia Tech hosts Jacksonville State, one of the best FCS teams in the nation even without suspended quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, William and Mary plays for state pride at Virginia, Maryland visits Cal as a three-touchdown underdog, and Wake Forest hosts Baylor, a team that still has one of the nation's most dynamic quarterbacks in Robert Griffin. The Deacons, meanwhile, must replace stars Aaron Curry and Alphonso Smith defensively.

"There is a history when you look ahead," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, "and it is not pretty."

And if there's one thing the ACC doesn't need, it's another lesson in ugly losses.