C-minus for ACC bowl effort

The ACC's a mediocre conference so why is everyone surprised it went 4-6 in bowl games?

Granted, the conference should have done better but that's the crap shoot of taking a month off.

And ultimately, 4-6 with a long-overdue win in a BCS bowl, is about all you should expect from the fourth-best BCS conference.

Virginia Tech's 20-7 Orange Bowl win ended an eight-game losing streak in major bowls for the conference and it's the first time the ACC beat a team not currently in the ACC in a major bowl since Florida State topped Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl after the 1997 season.

The problem with 4-6 is two of the wins were against teams outside the BCS, which means the ACC went 2-6 against its big conference brethren.

A backseat look at how the bowls broke for the ACC:

Games it won
Wake Forest over Navy
Maryland over Nevada
Florida State over Wisconsin
Virginia Tech over Cincinnati

VT's win was the most important image-wise for the league, which couldn't take another BCS hit, especially from a relatively-weak Big East team.

FSU clobbered a bad Big Ten team but the other two wins were window-dressing.

Games it should have won
N.C. State-Rutgers
UNC-West Virginia
Clemson-Nebraska

All three ACC teams led at halftime, only UNC by less than two scores, and not one ended up winning the game.

N.C. State certainly has an excuse with Russell Wilson's injury but Wilson doesn't play defense. Still, Rutgers needed a fake field goal and a blocked punt to win by six points so it wasn't the epic comeback performance ESPN or the AP made it out to be by the Scarlet Knights.

Hakeem Nicks caught seven passes in the first half of UNC's 31-30 loss and one in the second. Look, I'm not as smart as Butch Davis but you think it would have been a good idea to get Nicks the ball more in the second half?

Davis said WVU changed its pass coverage in the second half but a double-team didn't stop Nicks from hauling in a 73-yard TD in the first quarter.

Bottom line, you win with your fastball and you make sure the other team beats your fastball, not check-down routes to Cooter Arnold. Not getting the ball to Nicks was bad coaching and the reason UNC lost, not an incredible performance by Pat White or Shaun Draughn's late fumble.

You are all convinced I hate UNC but there's a difference between "hate" and analysis. UNC should have won that game and the UNC fans who have communicated with me (since this column) and leaving comments on this blog are in denial about Davis and his mismanagement of the bowl game and the final third of the season.

Clemson led 14-3 at the half and 21-10 in the third quarter. Any questions?

Games that hurt
Vanderbilt over Boston College
LSU over Georgia Tech

Boston College won the Atlantic Division. Vanderbilt went 4-4 in the SEC and 6-6 overall with losses to Duke and Wake Forest.

On paper, that's a bowl the ACC should win. But, you factor in BC's injury at quarterback, the freefall from the Orange Bowl to the unfortunately-sponsored "Gaylord" Bowl and the fact that Vandy was playing in a bowl for the first time in 26 years and that's a pu-pu platter of doom for the ACC.

There's no way around LSU's butt-kicking of Georgia Tech. The Tigers lost three of four before the bowl game and, in general, had mailed in the season. GT was the ACC's highest-ranked team, playing in its backyard and with a funky offense that is tailor-made for a bowl win.

It turns out, GT emptied the chamber in beating Georgia and LSU just needed a month off to realize it had an NFL roster and had no business going 3-5 in the SEC.

Either way, 38-3 is 38-3 and to borrow a line from the GT fight song, that's a battle axe being dropped on your head.