![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joker_duke.jpg\")
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I had a conversation with the one guy at the gym I actually speak with occasionally, about the current state of ACC football, namely the Coastal division that we\u2019ve both got vested interest in, as I\u2019m a Virginia Tech fan, and he\u2019s a Miami fan.\u00a0 Naturally, I had to rub in his face about how bad the Hokies decimated the Hurricanes last Saturday, but to diffuse the taunting, since he is pretty much a body double for Michael Clarke Duncan and could probably literally throw me head first into the ceiling like a dart, we got to talking about the current ACC Coastal standings.<\/span><\/p>\n At the time I\u2019m writing this, the scrubs from Georgia Tech are leading the Coastal with a 5-2 division record, despite the fact that earlier in the year, they jobbed to Virginia Tech\u00a0as if they were the Honky Tonk Man jobbing to the Ultimate Warrior<\/a>.\u00a0 But division wins count more than overall wins, and they didn\u2019t lose to fucking Duke.\u00a0 But speaking of Duke, they\u2019re tied for third with Miami, both of them behind Virginia Tech.\u00a0 This is something notable, because we\u2019re talking about football and not basketball, and Duke is very much alive in the bowl selection picture.\u00a0 And it\u2019s Duke\u2019s unexpected presence in the football scene this season that sparked this train of thought, and it all boils down to the fact that thanks to the ACC Coastal division, the remainder of this season has the potential to be one gigantic chaotic mess; this is typically no different in the overall college ranking systems, but the fact that several bowls can be potentially impacted by the outcomes of two weeks\u2019 worth of games from one division in one conference is pretty interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anyway, it boils down to who in the Coastal is going to play Florida State in the ACC Championship?\u00a0 If it were decided now, then it\u2019s Georgia Tech, and that wouldn\u2019t be a fun game at all.\u00a0 If Virginia Tech wins their last two games, and Georgia Tech loses one, then Virginia Tech owns the tie-breaker over GT, and gets to go to Charlotte instead, for a far more enticing matchup against FSU.\u00a0 But it\u2019s wholly not impossible (believe me, I\u2019ve witnessed it happen to both) for GT and VT to both shit the bed, lose their last two games, and then get passed by Duke or Miami, which makes this weekend\u2019s matchup between the two third-place teams that much more important, so that one can surpass the other, and at worst, own the tie-breaker over the other.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of tie-breakers, Virginia Tech has them over GT and Miami, Georgia Tech has one over Duke, Miami has one over GT, and Duke has one over Virginia Tech.\u00a0 It really is a clusterfuck of who really is the best team in the division, because as of right now, it\u2019s completely up in the air, and nobody\u2019s really going to know who makes it to Charlotte for the ACC Championship until November 30th<\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n But let\u2019s get back to the elephant in the room: Duke.\u00a0 They shouldn\u2019t even be in this picture, because this isn\u2019t basketball.\u00a0 Fuck Duke.\u00a0 They\u2019ve essentially bolstered their football programs via acquiring transfers from other, stronger football programs, probably because these kids realize that if they can get their feet into Duke, it opens up a world of doors, connections and opportunities by virtue of nothing but the Duke connection, if their football careers pan out, all while playing in a program where expectations are vastly more relaxed and they don\u2019t have to excel so much.<\/span><\/p>\n But the point remains that they\u2019re very much alive in the bowl picture, and very much have the capability to absolutely fuck everything up if they continue to defy their reputation and actually play solid football and win some games.<\/span><\/p>\n Like for instance, is the worst-case scenario that VT and GT both shit the bed, and Duke runs the table; that puts them at 6-2 in the division, 10-2 overall, they win the ACC Coastal, and get a trip to Charlotte to play against FSU for the ACC Championship.\u00a0 Duke would undoubtedly enjoy home field advantage despite playing on a neutral field by simple proximity.\u00a0 But honestly for me, a FSU vs. Duke ACC Championship game would pretty much be the worst thing possible, as I detest both teams.\u00a0 But in the interest of picking someone, I would go with the devil (no pun intended) I know, over the one I don\u2019t; meaning FSU, just to keep the status quo of Duke not belonging in the football scene.<\/span><\/p>\n But then the more I think about it, where would be the fun in maintaining the status quo after all?\u00a0 If Duke beats FSU, then it\u2019s massive chaos throughout the entire college football scene, and not just the ACC.\u00a0 Sure, it would suck to see Duke be able to hang a fucking football banner amidst their legions of basketball championship banners, but the repercussions of Duke beating FSU would be pretty entertaining to watch.<\/span><\/p>\n FSU would undoubtedly lose their #2 rank in the nation and be knocked out of the National Championship game.\u00a0 Although I\u2019m confident that Alabama would trounce FSU like they trounce everyone else, it eliminates the \u201cbut\u201d factor, and all risk of FSU becoming National Champions.\u00a0 And by virtue of the flawed bowl system, regardless of their overall rank in the BCS, winning the ACC gets Duke in the door of the Orange Bowl, which, as long as Stanford doesn\u2019t finish the season at #2, could potentially be their opponents.<\/span><\/p>\n Think about it for a second; Duke wins the ACC, knocks FSU out of the National Championship picture,\u00a0and then\u00a0<\/em>draws Stanford in a bowl game.\u00a0 Duke versus Stanford.\u00a0 Two of the whitest, preppiest, arrogant, most-reviled-by-the-middle-class schools in the country, squaring off in football.\u00a0 Not lacrosse, not Ultimate Frisbee, and not Quiddich.\u00a0 Football.<\/span><\/p>\n As much as I\u2019d hate to see Duke win the ACC, I have to admit that I would be absolutely thrilled to watch a Duke vs. Stanford bowl game if it happened.\u00a0 Stanford would no doubt destroy Duke, as in spite of their white collar intellectual school reputation, they\u2019re good every year at football.<\/span><\/p>\n The whole time I\u2019ve been writing this, I\u2019ve been feeling torn.\u00a0 In one hand, of course I want to see Duke shit the bed, and Virginia Tech win all the games, beat FSU for the ACC Championship, where they\u2019ll inevitably shit the bed on a national stage in a bowl game.\u00a0 But at the same time, the sheer massive amount of chaos and collateral damage throughout the entire college bowl picture that could occur with Duke running the table would be incredible to see.\u00a0 Eliminate FSU, face off against Stanford, for the cost of one vaunted ACC title \u2013 is it worth it?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had a conversation with the one guy at the gym I actually speak with occasionally, about the current state of ACC football, namely the Coastal division that we\u2019ve both got vested interest in, as I\u2019m a Virginia Tech fan, and he\u2019s a Miami fan.\u00a0 Naturally, I had to rub in his face about how … Continue reading Some men just want to watch the (sports) world burn<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[106,155,15,58],"class_list":["post-37920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-football","tag-hokies","tag-og","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37922,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37920\/revisions\/37922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}