Friday Fiesta Linkfest: Special Edition

Posted by Brandon Rink on July 31, 2009 under ACC Football | 4 Comments to Read

Hope I don't run into CPJ anytime soon...

Hey y’all, welcome to another edition of the FFL. On the OTB Summer World Tour(aka road trip with the fiance and family) in Salem, VA, which is a stone’s throw from Blacksburg. This is a special edition as we reveal our ballot for Gobbler Country’s 2009 ACC Blogger Preseason Predictions.

But to make it a true linkfest, here are a couple blogs I saw who did the ballot already:

BC Interruption gives everybody a lesson on why we are ranking BC too low(and we probably are, but BC has to be the worst team to figure from paper).

College Game Balls picks VT(big surprise), but does have a bit of a stunner from the Atlantic.

And here’s mine…

ACC Atlantic

1. Florida State Seminoles(8-4, 6-2 ACC)
2. North Carolina State Wolfpack(9-3, 5-3 ACC)
3. Clemson Tigers(9-3, 5-3 ACC)
4. Wake Forest Demon Deacons(8-4, 4-4 ACC)
5. Maryland Terrapins(6-6, 3-5 ACC)
6. Boston College Eagles(5-7, 2-6 ACC)

ACC Coastal

1. Virginia Tech Hokies(10-2, 6-2 ACC)
2. Miami Hurricanes(8-4, 5-3 ACC)
3. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(9-3, 5-3 ACC)
4. North Carolina Tar Heels(8-4, 4-4  ACC)
5. Virginia Cavaliers(4-8, 2-6 ACC)
6. Duke Blue Devils(5-7, 2-6 ACC)

My complete rundown and reasoning is over at my previous(and not as aesthetically pleasing) blog. FSU is my choice because of a strong QB and offensive line. Virginia Tech has my vote because they are talented, experienced, and have Frank Beamer at the helm. Georgia Tech’s third place finish might make me persona non grata with FromTheRumbleSeat, but I do have them going 9-3. They lose a tiebreaker to Miami because I have the ‘Canes taking the game in Land Shark Stadium(They really have too much talent to finish worse then I have them with an 8-4 record and 5-3 in conference–coaching would be only thing holding them back…and it might very well). If they are in the Atlantic, they probably take it, but that Coastal is brutal.

ACC Championship: Virginia Tech over Florida State

ACC Offensive Player of the Year: CU RB C.J. Spiller

ACC Defensive Player of the Year: VT DB Stephan Virgil

ACC Rookie of the Year: VT RB Ryan Williams

There’s the linkfest for this week…welcome disagreements and predictions of your own in the comments…will be in the land that wi-fi internet forgot(rural upstate NY) this weekend so I probably won’t be able to get back to you with any rate of speed, but thanks for reading!

OTB's ACC Power Poll: ACC Positional Rankings-RBs

Posted by Brandon Rink on July 30, 2009 under ACC Football | 5 Comments to Read

FWIW, I'm kinda boring and think Dwyer and Spiller are both great backs who deserve respect...I know, not sensational enough(also notice classy Furman fan to Spiller's left).

We are inching closer and closer to football season which means we look for more angles for CFB talk. The month of July is for positional rankings leading up to the unveiling of my first ACC Power Poll preseason ranking the best of the best in the ACC. Today, we look at the running backs of the ACC:

1) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Very good.
Make or Break Player: TB Jonathan Dwyer

2) Virginia Tech Hokies
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Very good.
Make or Break Player: RB Darren Evans

3) Clemson Tigers
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Very Good.
Make or Break Player: RB C.J. Spiller

4) Maryland Terrapins
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: Da’ Rel Scott

5) North Carolina Tar Heels
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Shaun Draughn

6) Boston College Eagles
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Montel Harris

7) Miami Hurricanes
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Graig Cooper

8) Florida State Seminoles
Returning Starters/Experience: Medium. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Jermaine Thomas

9) Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Josh Adams

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Jamelle Eugene

11) Virginia Cavaliers
Returning Starters/Experience: Medium. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Mikell Simpson

12) Duke Blue Devils
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Medium.
Make or Break Player: RB Re’quan Boyette

Hard to not put the ACC at the top of conferences with running backs. Dwyer, Cooper, Spiller, Scott, Evans(though looking in the rear view and seeing Williams), and many more are a gang of special talents. Is your team ranked too low–drop a comment on where they should be in relation to the other eleven members…thanks for your readership!

OTB's ACC Power Poll: ACC Coastal Positional Rankings-RBs

Posted by Brandon Rink on July 29, 2009 under ACC Football | Comments are off for this article

Jonathan Dwyer is so totally better than C.J. Spiller. Oh, we are talking about Coastal RB units--carry on.

We are inching closer and closer to football season which means we look for more angles for CFB talk. The month of July is for positional rankings leading up to the unveiling of my first ACC Power Poll preseason ranking the best of the best in the ACC. Today, we look at the running backs of the ACC’s Coastal:

1) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Very good.
Make or Break Player: TB Jonathan Dwyer

2) Virginia Tech Hokies
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Very good.
Make or Break Player: RB Darren Evans

3) North Carolina Tar Heels
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Shaun Draughn

4) Miami Hurricanes
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Graig Cooper

5) Virginia Cavaliers
Returning Starters/Experience: Medium. Talent: Good.
Make or Break Player: RB Mikell Simpson

6) Duke Blue Devils
Returning Starters/Experience: High. Talent: Medium.
Make or Break Player: RB Re’quan Boyette

And I thought the Atlantic was stacked at RB…even Duke has a pretty solid squad. Have seen a lot of Spiller vs. Dwyer, but not a lot of Clemson RB unit vs. GT RB unit because the Spiller backups(Jamie Harper and Andre Ellington) are not as heralded. We’ll see that matchup tomorrow in the overall rankings.