By Marty Gordon
College football is back.
If there were some things to take away from the first full weekend of college football, we might be expecting too much from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Almost every conference team took it on the chin.
Florida State might be close to being back as one of the top teams in the ACC. The Seminoles put together a great game plan and almost took down a nationally-ranked Notre Dame team. Now can they do the same on the national scale?
Clemson is no longer the dominant team it has been. In the loss to Georgia, the Tigers showed they are a different team without Trevor Lawrence. This is bad for the ACC and bad for Clemson. They probably still are a top-10 team nationally but will have to regroup after a horrible opening weekend.
The Atlantic Division still runs through Clemson, and they might have a chance to take one loss back into the top five and a possible playoff run. The competition also might have a say in the Tigers’ success the rest of the season.
While Virginia Tech picked up a good win over North Carolina, several questions remain as to what their season will look like. The Hokies have “showed up” over the years, but they have also fallen to the likes of James Madison after picking up a big win like this one. They must beat teams they are supposed to beat, so the Hokies will have to prove themselves.
Off the field in Blacksburg on Friday night, a lot of things must be cleaned up. Eliminating entrances was a great idea on paper, but it did not work. People were waiting in line too long. Tech students were climbing over fences to get into the game.
The wait was also too long in the concession and beer lines. The game-day experience has to be tightened up. Unruly fans did act poorly, and that has to change also if Lane Stadium is to be a great experience for the typical Hokie fan. Security did not have enough personnel to deal with everything, so there has to be another solution.
The positive was the fact that after COVID-19 forced last season to mainly be to empty stadiums, the crowd is back in Lane Stadium. Players admitted they used the roar of the crowd to play at a high-level.” Enter Sandman” had a sold-out crowd jumping for the sky.
Alabama remains the top college program in the entire land. Their recruiting and coaching are the best, and they proved it in an easy win over Miami. Everyone else is chasing them and will be for a long time.
Georgia’s play in the win over Clemson also means the Southeastern Conference could get two teams into the college football playoffs.
Virginia Tech’s play on Saturday means they could crash the party. Don’t be surprised if the Hokies are playing for the ACC title later this year. A win over Carolina gives them the tie-breaker in the head-to-head with the Heels.
Some takeaways that should not have been:
Florida State University playing “Enter Sandman” during their Sunday night game against Notre Dame. Some things are just meant to stay in Blacksburg.
Notre Dame’s “Rudy” running the Brigham Young University flag out onto the field during their pregame with Arizona. He is an Irish icon who needs to stick to his alma mater.
My top five college football teams: 1) Alabama, 2) Georgia, 3) Texas A&M, 4) Ohio State, 5) Notre Dame.
