Staff video: Travis Long, Caulton Tudor, Joe Giglio

Topic: The best Saturday of the football season, maybe ever, for the state of North Carolina.

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Update (9:18 a.m. and 4:16 p.m.): Totals include Koren Robinson's signing with Seattle and omissions

The 12 ACC teams have produced 271 players currently in the NFL. That's on the actual roster, including the injured list but not the practice squad or a shot of espresso in training camp.

No surprise, Miami's the overall leader, with 46, and Duke is last, holding steady with three.

Of the total, 224 spent at least one season in the ACC. Forty-seven — from Miami (24), Virginia Tech (12) and Boston College (10) and one from Florida State (Brad Johnson) — did not play a down in the ACC but will no doubt soon be honored by the conference as "ACC Legends."

Among the interesting notes:

Looking ahead to Wake Forest at Florida State on Saturday, a question was posed to Wake's Chip Vaughn: Will he sport his black "Conquered" T-shirt with the Seminoles logo?

Vaughn, a starting free safety for the Demon Deacons, revealed the shirt after Wake's 24-21 victory over Florida State. It was an original Florida State shirt he got from friends in Florida with FSU's "Unconquered" motto written across the front.

Christian Ponder says Florida State is "not going to lose" for a third straight year to Wake Forest.

Wait, who's Christian Ponder? If you haven't been following FSU this season, he's the new Peter Tom Willis/Thad Busby/Chris Rix/Drew Weatherford. Ponder won a preseason scrum at quarterback beating out the senior Weatherford, and has performed quite nicely against a pair of Southern Conference teams (6 TD, 0 INTs).

Note: J.P. Giglio is one of 65 voters in the AP Top 25. This is his ballot.

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USC is No. 1 for the foreseeable future, unless the NCAA decides to shut them down. Given the Pac-10's performance on Saturday, it's a safe bet the Trojans will be in Miami on Jan. 8 and not just on a visit to South Beach.

I almost left Ohio State out of the Top 25 but we know the Buckeyes are better than the rest of the Big Ten, especially Penn State, so they fall from No. 9 to No. 15, one slot ahead of the Nittany Lions.

The East Carolina at N.C. State game on Sept. 20 is scheduled for noon on ESPN or ESPN-2, ACC officials announced Monday afternoon.

In other Sept. 20 games involving North Carolina schools, Wake Forest will start at 7 p.m. at Florida State on ESPN-2, and Virginia Tech at North Carolina will start either at noon for a Raycom Sports broadcast or 3:30 p.m. in an ABC regional broadcast.

The Virginia Tech at North Carolina kickoff time will be announced Sunday.

It’s hardly a shock to see Wake Forest off to a 2-0 start, but it is surprising the Deacons are getting by with such relatively modest rushing punch. That has to concern Wake coach Jim Grobe.

There’s ample time to make corrections before the next game — Sept. 20 at Florida State. But it’s going to take some improvement over the 81 yards on 31 rushes in Saturday’s 30-28 escape against Ole Miss and maybe even the 156 on the ground in a 41-13 win at Baylor on Aug. 28.

Note: J.P. Giglio is one of 65 voters in the AP Top 25. This is his ballot.

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The Ohio State bandwagon emptied before you could say “Frank Solich and gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid.” After the Buckeyes’ 12-point win over
Solich’s Ohio team, I was one of 14 AP voters to drop the Buckeyes from No. 1 (they’re No. 9 this week).

On two levels, I can understand why the Buckeyes struggled with the Bobcats, who lost their opener at Wyoming and went 6-6 in 2007:

GREENVILLE — The ACC's champion, or maybe that should be survivor, is all but guaranteed an Orange Bowl bid. The opponent on Jan. 1 could be none other than East Carolina.

After clearing the hurdles of West Virginia and Virginia Tech, who's going to stop ECU from an unbeaten regular season?

The smart answer would be ECU, given the Pirates' propensity for firing a cannon off its big toe the past two Novembers, losing at Rice in 2006 and Marshall in 2007, keeping them out of the Conference USA title game each time.

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WINSTON-SALEM — Mississippi scored with 1:01 left in the game, forcing Wake Forest's Sam Swank to nail a 41-yard field goal for a 30-28 victory.

Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead hooked up with Cordera Eason for a 5-yard touchdown to tie the game at 27. The extra point gave the Rebels a one-point lead to set up the Deacons' final scramble.

Wake quarterback Riley Skinner calmly marched his squad downfield and got Ole Miss to commit a crucial error — a defensive pass interference on Josh Adams to bring the Deacons within Swank's reach.