No bowls
There's a decent possibility that none of the Old North State's five Division I-A teams will make postseason football play. That hasn't happened since 1987, when there weren't nearly as many games as there are today. And even then, Wake Forest went 7-4.
If Wake (4-4) beats visiting UNC (4-5) at noon Saturday, the Tar Heels will be eliminated while the Demon Deacons will retain their chance at qualification. They'd need one more win -- and the best bet for that would come at slumping Maryland on Nov. 27 -- to make it.
The Heels must beat Wake and Duke.
N.C. State (4-5) must beat Florida State in Carter-Finley Stadium on Thursday and East Carolina in Charlotte 16 days later to have a shot.
The larger question is whether there will be a place for any of the alleged Big Four. Their best hope may be shortfalls from the Pac 10 and SEC and nothing wacky out of the Mountain West.
Specifically, here are the results ACC teams' fans should be hoping for this weekend (* denotes home team):
BYU* over New Mexico
Wisconsin over *Michigan State
Stanford* over Oregon State
Arizona State* over Washington State
Michigan* over Northwestern
South Carolina over Florida*
Comments (3)
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As a local sports writer, I know you need to appeal to local readers, but I would highly suggest when writing about ACC football, you and your fellow writers stop referring to the North Carolina schools as the "Big Four." What's that make Florida, the "Gigantic Two" or Virginia, the "Colossal Two?" Your "Big Four" are anything but big in the newly aligned conference and may prove to be the "Bottom Four" by the end of this season. Need not worry; North Carolina's precious basketball season has arrived.
P.S. I know who wrote "alleged" Big Four, but is there any question of how lowly NC is and will most likely continue to be in ACC football?
Posted on November 11, 2004 3:47 PM
To Local Hokie Alumni,
The "Big Four" term was derived from the excellence of North Carolina Basketball. Frankly something a VT grad would not know about!! Especially one who is afraid to post there actual name.
Posted on November 12, 2004 2:26 PM
Please...even though VT may win the ACC football season, there is no room for VT to talk about anything sports related. When has VT ever been truly relevant in any sport, even football? They've been a solid middle-of-the-pack team for years and had ONE stellar year under Michael Vick. And VT's one loss in the ACC (thus far) was to one of NC's "Big Four".
Given VT's two upcoming losses to Miami and Virginia, I expect VT to quickly lose relevancy again. They should surface some time again next August for another mediocre run.
Posted on November 15, 2004 11:21 AM