Late Hits: Oct. 25

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Duke: Break up the Blue Devils, the best team in the state! Saturday's win over Maryland was a major step forward in the 40-year rebuilding project that is Duke football — winning games you're supposed to.

Suspect scheduling means the Devils still need three more wins to qualify for a bowl, but if Duke's better than UNC and N.C. State in football, anything is possible.

Iowa: Whew. Ricky Stanzi's 7-yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt (Gerald McBoing-Boing was apparently covered) on the last play of the game kept the Hawkeyes (8-0) among the ranks of the unbeaten.

Cross your fingers, with four more Iowa wins and the right combination of losses, we'll get to watch another lousy Big Ten team get waxed in the BCS title game. Unless, of course, Iowa loses at Ohio State on Nov. 14. Oh, the irony.

North Carolina: If only pageantry counted on the scoreboard. The Tar Heels had Erin Andrews and LT in the house for Thursday's big national showcase against Florida State, even Chancellor Holden "Look at me" Thorp was on the keyboard for the national anthem.

Actually, the Heels didn't need the pomp-and-circumstance assist in the first 38 minutes but then a 24-6 lead turned into a 30-27 loss to even Butch Davis' record at UNC to 16-16. For the record, that's a four-game improvement of John Bunting and two wins better than Carl Torbush, so it's technically progress but it's not what the Heels are paying for.

Miami: So close to a BCS return, yet so far. At least the Canes play their home games at the site of the Orange Bowl, 10 other ACC teams would be happy to get that close.

Fans of "The U" aren't the only ones disappointed by its overtime loss to Clemson and subsequent departure from the Coastal Division race. Orange Bowl organizers had all but dotted the second "I" in Miami and crossed the second "T" in Penn State for the Jan. 5 spectacular.

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Ranking the ACC

1. Georgia Tech: Should petition Orange Bowl to move date to Dec. 12.
2. Virginia Tech: Most teams would take 10-2 ...
3. Miami: ... like these guys.
4. Clemson: Yabba-Dabo-do!
5. Boston College: No luck against Irish.
6. Virginia: Blame it on the rain.
7. Duke: 2-0 vs. red-and-white ACC teams
8. Wake Forest: Anchors aweigh on those bowl hopes.
9. FSU: Still own the Heels.
10. Maryland: In Greivis we trust.
T11. UNC: In Ol' Roy we trust.
T11. N.C. State: In ... um ... Matt Hill we trust?

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Coachspeak-to-English translation

“The talk that we’ve had down there, there’s only one thing that solves it. Winning. Play close and fight your guts out? Who cares? You’ve got to win.”

— Florida State coach Bobby Bowden after a 30-27 win over North Carolina, the Noles' first ACC win after an 0-3 start.

Translation: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.