Here is a list of the top 10 rising players in the ACC for the 2011 season, there were a lot of players who could have made this list.  Anytime you have to cut it down 10 it is never easy.

Andre Ellington, Running Back - Clemson

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Height: 5-10 Weight: 180 lbs. Class: Sophomore 2010 Stats Rushing Yards - 686 Rushing Attempts - 118 TD’s – 10 Andre Ellington was having a great season before a toe injury abruptly ended his season. If you look at all of the stats he put up for only playing in eight games you can see just how talented of a player he is. Ellington averaged 7.2 yards per carry in 2009 with limited work, and averaged 5.8 yards per carry this year which is the type of production you want out of your running back. If you throw in his 109 yard receiving and 12 receptions you can see why there is a cause for excitement when he comes back healthy next year for the Tigers.

Randy Shannon won’t have much to be thankful about during Thanksgiving dinner, despite what he said about him “receiving support” from the university he has to be worried about his job.  From Shannon’s history though he is not worried about himself as much as he will be about his players, who have staunchly supported their coach several times.

Football at the University of Miami is at a cross roads, going into the final game against USF the Hurricanes have turmoil swirling around the entire program.  The Virginia Tech game seems to be the straw that broke the Camel’s back even though the Canes played well for most of the game, the fourth quarter left a bad taste in the mouth of a large number of fans.  Long time Shannon supporters are starting to jump ship, and former players are coming out in droves and firing pot shots and the head coach.

It's Cold In Coral Gables For Randy Shannon Right Now.

You can tell Shannon is feeling the heat because he has named Stephen Morris the starter for the game against South Florida even though Jacory Harris is healthy enough to play.  Morris has looked good in the games he has played save one quarter against Virginia Tech, and Shannon has decided that he needs to move some of his investments to the Stephen Morris portfolio.   Shannon seems to imply it will be good to have a true quarterback competition going into the spring, and Jacory Harris will have to earn the starting job back.

Shannon has already started locking up recruits for the 2012 class, and commenting on the difficulty of the schedule being the only team in the ACC that plays FSU and VT every year.  Shannon is waging political warfare like he never has before in an attempt to stem the tide rising against him.  Some of these are great moves by Shannon for self-preservation,  but there is one problem it may already be too late to save his job.

There is virtually nothing Shannon can do to save his job at this point if that decision has already been made, but if there is a spirited discussion going on behind closed doors he has only one option available to him.  Miami has to go out and beat USF 56 – 7 or something along those lines, the type of beating we have not seen at Miami over an FBS opponent in a long time.  Then if he makes it past Monday whomever the Canes play in a bowl game better get blown out as well, that is the only way to buy back some sort of confidence that things might be able to change.  That still would not be enough to get back any good will from the critics.

With the chatter of John Gruden being interested in coming to Miami seeming to gain steam very quickly, one has to wonder if his interest is true or not.  It’s all rumor at this point, but it has desperate Hurricanes fans clinging to the idea because they have lost hope.  Over at allcanes.com/blog an article was written recently about the Gruden situation, and there were a lot of good points made.  Shalala and Hocutt have not gotten where they are by being stupid and reactionary, if they listened to emotional fans they would make knee jerk reactions and that would not be good.

They are not going to make a change for the sake of making a change to appease fans whining on message boards and blog posts, whatever they decide to do will surely be calculated and planned properly.  Sure we don’t know how much money Miami has in the coffers to spend on a head coach, but a private school with no state funding and a smaller student population is at a disadvantage financially in some areas compared to public universities.    The John Gruden discussion could have an extremely positive effect on the program, or plummet it to a point that it may be hard to recover from.

Gruden won a Super Bowl in his first year with Tampa Bay (some would say with Tony Dungy’s team), and some consider him the Larry Coker of the NFL.  Gruden only had one other double digit win season after the Super Bowl year, and he had a continuous carousel of quarterbacks he collected and messed around with.  Gruden is a big name, but there is not enough there to say he is a sure thing to lead the Hurricanes back to glory.  These are the things Hocutt and Shalala have to look at when they make a decision on the coaching situation.

It is not an easy decision on what to do next, and the decision to fire Shannon is going to be based on what coaches are available to take the job and want to come here.  Gary Patterson, Chris Petersen are two names Canes fans would love to have in Coral Gables, but who says they would leave the god like situations they are in right now?  Firing Shannon for another young coach or an unproven assistant has a lot of risk as well.

Regardless of what decision is made Hurricanes fans will be waiting anxiously on Sunday to see if there is movement in Coral Gables.  The fan base is split by those who want Shannon gone, and those who want to give him one more year.  If the Hurricanes convincingly win the last two games of this season, then some of that bad taste won’t taste as bitter.

Virginia Tech Ruined Any Hope of a National Title Shot For Boise State. The Hokies embarrassed themselves this weekend by losing to James Madison at home; it probably had a lot to do with the short week after having just played on Monday.  It is no excuse though; the Hokies have a lot more talent than James Madison and dropped the ball big time in this game.  Boise State who beat the Hokies the first week of the season have a good chance to run the table, and were going to make their case to be in the National Title game based around the Virginia Tech win.  The Broncos lost several first place votes in the polls this week as a result of the Virginia Tech loss, and even if they run the table they will lack the impressive wins to get them into the big game.

South Florida had their shots to beat the Gators. The South Florida Bulls led their game against the Florida Gators 7 – 0 for a majority of the first half, but five turnovers by the Bulls allowed the Gators back into the game and an eventual blow out.  The game did reveal that the Gators are not as strong as once believed, and that South Florida has the athletes to play with just about every team in the country.  The Bulls need to find a solution at quarterback; B.J. Daniels threw too many interceptions although he did move the team with his running ability.  The Gators for the last two weeks have been bailed out by outstanding runs by Jeff Demps, but as they get into tougher games won’t be able to count on that every game.

Kevin Durant led the United States Basketball team to a gold medal at the world championships. It is the first time in 16 years that the United States has won the gold medal at the world championships.  Kevin Durant led the U.S. team throughout the tournament, and in the title game scored 28 points in the game.  Durant set a record for the most points scored throughout the entire tournament with his most recent performance added to the totals.  They defeated Turkey 81 – 64 in blow out fashion using t he fact that people called them the “B” team because “A-list” stars like Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade were sitting at home.

Arian Foster had a record day in defeat of the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe all the Texans really needed was a running back like Arian Foster. But, who couldn’t use a rusher capable of a team-record 231 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Indy’s supposedly improved running defense? Houston might be a pass-first team most games, but against Indy, head coach Gary Kubiak had the good sense to feed Foster the ball 33 times and running him for more yards than anybody ever had against the Colts.  Peyton Manning seemed frustrated the entire game as his young receiving core dropped pass after pass, and finally seemed to  hold on to the ball in the second half.  By then it was too late, and surely their change came as a result of a tongue lashing from Manning.

Calvin Johns was robbed of a touchdown late in the Detriot Lions loss to the Chicago Bears. Driving late in the game Lions backup quarterback Shaun Hill threw a pass into the end zone that was snagged out of the air by Calvin Johnson aka: Megatron for what seemed to be a touchdown pass.  But Johnson lost control of the ball after getting two feet, a knee, and a hand on the ground in the end zone.  Based on the letter of the law in the NFL the process of a catch was not completed and the pass was ruled incomplete, the Lions went on to lose the game.  Was it a touchdown pass?  No doubt it was, and the rule probably needs to be amended.  But at the same time Johnson could have helped himself; instead of tucking the ball under his arm after making the catch he held it out with one hand.  Then has he landed the ball hit the ground in his hand and flew out of bounds, had he simply tucked the ball they win that game.

There have been many conversations about how the Miami Hurricanes will finish this year, and the lines are fairly well divided.  Hurricane fans are very optimistic about the potential this upcoming season will bring, but of course all the other naysayers seem to doubt what the has been assembled down in Coral Gables.

The Atlantic Coast Conference preseason picks were voted on by media members, and they picked the Hurricanes to finish second in the Coastal division.  The Media members of course picked Virginia Tech to win it’s fourth ACC title in only it’s seventh year as a member of the ACC.  I think these media members felt that they can’t go wrong by picking Virginia Tech, they always have a solid team and have a very good team returning led by Tyrod Taylor.  The Hokies have never been able to win the big game when it counted, the Hurricanes on the other hand have slowly been returning to form and media members are not ready to jump on the bandwagon yet.

When you break it down the Coastal is really a two horse race this year.  Miami and Virginia Tech are the only two teams with a “Viable” chance to win the Coastal Division.  Duke and Virginia we can go ahead and toss out of the race those teams are still behind the curve in talent and ability to make any ripples in the conference.  North Carolina was not that good last year, going 4 – 4 in the ACC, and 8 –   5 overall the Hurricanes had no business losing to the Tar Heels last year.  I think Miami gets it right this year, plus with all the shady business hanging over North Carolina’s football program right now they may be in for a long season.

Georgia Tech lost Demaryius Thomas and Jonathan Dwyer, so the only returning player from their big three is Josh Nesbitt.  He won’t have an explosive receiver like Thomas on the outside to make enough big plays to keep teams honest against the options.  Couple that with   losing the speed and power of a Jonathan Dwyer and  giving ACC defenses a third year to look at this offense, and they will have a hard time threatening for the Coastal Division title.

It has been well chronicled why Miami is going to have a good season, so we will talk about why the Hokies will finish in second place.  People will look at Miami’s loss to Virginia Tech last year and say there is no way they beat the Hokies this year.  You can’t blame it on the weather or anything like that, Miami just failed to show up for that game.

Pride will win out this year, and comparing the two quarterbacks Harris is a much better passer than Tyrod Taylor which will help provided the Hurricanes stick to the running game.  The Hokies defensive line won’t have the same success they had last year, they will still be able to pressure Harris somewhat.  Miami will play smarter this time, and have a game plan to account the pass rush.  Looking at the stats Taylor only threw for 98 yards on four completions, Virginia Tech ran the ball well, but that was really it.

Most of their points came off of Miami mistakes, if the Hurricanes limit the turnovers and run the ball with authority.  The defense will be more than sufficient to shut down Taylor, they just need to worry about stopping the running game.  Looking at it closely if Miami takes care of the ball I do not see where the Hokies are going to get enough points to beat them.

Miami should win the Coastal Division without much of a fight, if they get past Virginia Tech none of the other teams are really built to win right now.  Unless Paul Johnson comes up with replacements who are Dwyer and Thomas’ caliber they won’t’ have enough to win it either.  Miami should have been the team voted to win the Coastal, but let the Hurricanes play the underdog role where they have always been successful.

I have sat and watched the last few years as The Boise State Broncos have put together an impressive run, which culminated in another big win against TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.  As to be expected a myriad of articles and commentary have been written about Boise State being deserving of a National Title shot.   Of course the pundits have come out who believe the Broncos do not deserve a title shot and have vehemetly defended their position.

This article isn’t going to delve into that discussion for the most part enough has been written from both sides.  Boise State is not unique, as a matter of fact I will tell the Broncos to get in the back of the line and don’t complain about it either.  Several other teams have gone the entire season undefeated, and did not win or even have a shot at winning the National Title.

The teams are as follows:

1994 Penn State Nittany Lions – Rolled Oregaon 38 – 20 in the Rose Bowl, but finished second to Nebraska in the Polls.

1998 Tulane Green Wave – Went 12 – 0 defeated BYU 41 – 27 in the Liberty Bowl, finished ranked seventh in the country.

1999 Marshall Thundering Herd – Went 13 – 0 defeated BYU 21 – 3 in the Motor City Bowl.  FSU won the National Title, they had a common opponent Clemson both beat the Tigers by 3 points.

2004 Auburn Tigers – Went 13 – 0 undefeated in the SEC and was denied a shot at the National Title.

2004 Utah Utes – Went 12 – 0 invited to a BCS bowl game and beat Pittsburgh.

2006 Boise State Broncos – Undefeated 13 – 0 invited to a BCS bowl game and defeated Oklahoma.

2008 Utah Utes – Went 13 – 0 became the first team in the BCS ERA to finish with two perfect seasons, destroyed Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

2009 Boise State Broncos – Undefeated 14 – 0 beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, second team to have a 14 – 0 season ever.

**1994 Texas A&M Aggies – Went 10 – 0 – 1 this was before the overtime rule was instituted, did not play for the National Title.

**1995 University of Toledo – Went 11 – 0 – 1 before overtime rule was instituted, did not have an opportunity to play for the National Title.

That’s a total of ten times a team went undefeated, and was not given an opportunity to play for the National Championship.  The two teams with ties were included because had overtime been around when they played maybe they win those games and finish the season with a perfect record.

The point here is that Boise State wants to play victim here, and claim they are being wronged because they do not have a shot to play for the National Title which is a true to some degree.  But if you look through history they weren’t the first, and they won’t be the last to be passed over for a chance at the big game.

If you look at the Penn Sate and Texas A&M examples, you can say those were before the current BCS system that we have in place.  That doesn’t make it any less tragic that two teams from “power” (current BCS) conferences went undefeated and didn’t get a chance to play in the big game.  The Auburn example is the best one since it was during the BCS era, you have a team go undefeated and win the supposed “best conference” in college football, but yet they were not admitted to the title game.

The schedule played by Auburn that year dominates in comparison to anything Boise, TCU, or any other non-BCS team could have shown for a deserving schedule.  To top it off they beat ACC champion Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl to finish off the season, and they end up finishing #2 in the polls behind USC who beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

This is the single most egregious case of a team being left out in the cold after putting in a thorough body of work during the season.  I am not saying what Boise State accomplished wasn’t great, but the clamoring for National Title is not warranted and I will give you another example.

The Utah Utes started the BCS busting before Boise did, the 2004 team dominated Pitt easily in the Fiesta Bowl 35 – 7 yet I saw not clamoring for a National Title.  The primary reason for that was because BCS busting was new (they were the first to do it), and Pitt was not a highly regarded team that year.

Then the Utes followed that up in 2008 with a dismantling of the SEC’s #2 team 31 – 17 in the Sugar Bowl, and yet there was not the same clamoring I am hearing for the Broncos.  Somewhere along the line Boise State became the sexy underdog that everyone seems to like, and people don’t hate Utah, but for some reason they forget that Utah invented BCS busting.

I think it stems from the fact that beating Pitt in 2004 was not considered a big deal, while Boise splashed on the scene by beating a more highly regarded team in Oklahoma.  If you think about it Utah’s run is a bit more impressive because they required no trick plays to win their games, they lined up and dominated Pitt in 2004 and Alabama in 2008.

I don’t knock Boise for the trick plays it’s good coaching, and Bobby Bowden practically became a legend off of them.  I am simply stating that Utah never needed to pull out all the stops to win their two BCS games, while Boise could have easily lost both of theirs.  If you look at both of the Utes BCS performances you can easily say both of the teams they played almost looked inferior, they were that dominating both times.

I don’t want to diminish what the Broncos have accomplished because it is truly impressive.  I want to highlight that Utah was more impressive and deserving last season, and even a team from a BCS conference can be left out in the cold when running the table.  Until the current system changes these situations will continue to occur, and at some point everyone will have an equal shot to play for the National Title.

The Virginia Tech Hokies defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 37 – 14 in the Chick-fil-A bowl, Virginia Tech was who represents the ACC was ranked while Tennessee out of the SEC was not ranked.  The outcome of this game was a bit of a surprise too many as you could see the disbelief on the faces of Tennessee fans as the game progressed, at some point that perception should change because conferences are more evenly matched today as ever before.

You have heard all too many College Football experts tell you how inferior the ACC is when compared to the SEC, but watching the Chick-fil-A Bowl last night it sure did not seem that way.  Now before you talk about how Virginia Tech was the higher ranked team and they were supposed to win, we all know that.  But its the way in which Virginia Tech dominated Tennessee for most of the game that was impressive.
The experts will tell you that the SEC is a tougher brand of football, and the ACC plays a soft more finesse style of football.  These experts are largely basing this off the fact that the SEC plays great in conference games against each other, but for the most part they are just a bit above average when they play out of conference games against other BCS schools.

From 1998 – 2008 the SEC was 45 – 36 against the ACC (.556 win percentage) I would hardly call that dominating when the two conferences match up.  The SEC did go 5 – 2 this season against the ACC to slightly improve it’s winning percentage, but a 7 – 3 win by South Carolina over NC State, and Virginia Tech played Alabama tougher than Florida this season.  I wouldn’t call any of those performances dominant.

On this night Tennessee looked inferior to Virginia Tech, and coming into the game Tennessee had the SEC’s fourth ranked defense which isn’t bad in a “power” conference.  Virginia Tech made them look almost pedestrian tonight, this is the same defense that held Alabama to 12 points and held Florida to 23 points.  The Hokies easily put up 37 points on the Vols defense, and with a former NFL defensive coordinator running that defense made it all the bit more surprising.

I am not saying that the ACC conference is the cream of the crop over the SEC or anything of that nature, I am simply stating that SEC “dominance” is highly overrated and you can see when they play teams from other BCS conferences the games are fairly competitive.  Sure if Florida played Duke I would expect the game to be a blowout in Florida’s favor, there are always mismatches.

The true gauge is the middle of the conference, if you take out the two best teams and two worst teams in each conference the SEC isn’t going to be much better than the other BCS conferences.  The league just isn’t as tough as everyone makes it out to be, your conference opponents know you best that’s why they game seem tougher.  That is a true fact about every conference, and USC is a perfect example of that fact with their losses to inferior conference opponents seemingly every season.

Yes those in conference games are great, watching Auburn and Alabama go at it is fantastic.  But I can name several ACC, Big Twelve, and Big Ten in conference games that were just as exciting.  The SEC gets the benefit of the doubt at every turn it seems, and I don’t think it’s really warranted.  Yes Florida is/was dominant for the past few years, and Alabama is poised to win a National Title this season.  But after those two teams it’s quite a mediocre conference with every other team boasting at least three loses.

The reason it matters stems from the fact that the pre-season college football rankings always put SEC teams in favorable positions, and it gives them a leg up on BCS bids and opportunities to play in the championship game.  It plays itself out when you have several one loss teams vying for a spot in the BCS title game, and more often than not the benefit of the doubt is given to the SEC schools.

This comes from the perception that schools like Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arkansas are much better teams than the average school from other conferences.  That just isn’t true anymore of the programs listed none of them have been all that good for the past several years except Georgia.

You commonly hear sportscasters say I would take a one loss SEC school over an undefeated school from another conference.  I don’t understand the logic in that statement, SEC schools have been ducking tough out of conference games for years.  Florida canceled their annual game with Miami years ago, and it has been rumored that several SEC schools turned down offers from Boise State to play them.

I am sure fans of the SEC will find reasons to validate the SEC as being deserving of the consideration they are given by pollsters every year.  If the conference is so dominant why duck tough out of conference games to play teams like Charleston Southern and Memphis?  I don’t think the gap between the SEC and other conferences is as wide as some would like you to think.  Virginia Tech’s performance against Tennessee is further proof of that fact.