ACC roundtable #7

This time around, we're hosted by..... well, I'd link to Joe's site if he provided one, but in the middle of his outfit being bought out by corporate sharks, things along those lines are a little up in the air at the moment. But there's questions:

1.) Now that we're in the home-stretch of college football, we have enough material to begin campaigns for ACC coach of the year and player of the year. Who ya got and why?

It's hard to give it to Paul Johnson after he just won last year. The media will likely try and think of someone else. Then again, it's hard not to after the way the rest of the ACC has choked on its own vomit for most of the season.

As for the player side of things, I know everyone's all over C.J. Spiller's nuts for being the king of all-purpose yards blah blah blah. But I've actually been more impressed with Christian Ponder this year, somewhat against my judgment from the preseason when I called Ponder the one factor that might hold back Florida State's offense. In fact it's been quite the other way round. Whatever struggles TFSU's had lately, and they are indeed many, aren't Ponder's fault. Not when he's completing passes at a better than 70% clip with a yards-per-completion that stacks up to everyone else's (in other words, he's not dinking and dunking his way to that 70%.) Plus, 12 TDs and just one pick. If this was a prediction, I'd pick Spiller, but it's not, it's a quasi-vote, and mine's for Ponder right now.

2.) Would your 2009 ACC coach of the year stand a chance in the SEC battlefields of recruiting and gameday management against the likes of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Lane Kiffin?

He coaches in Georgia and put together a pretty fine class last year. +1. His team got mauled by LSU in their bowl game last year. -1. All in all, though, I don't see why the SEC should be so special that it can handle the Johnson offense any better than anyone else.

3.) Getting away from the breathless week-to-week win/loss reactionssuch as "OMGZ!1!JUAN! WE WON, BCS NEXT!" or "WTF, WE'RE DA SUX. FIRE COACH!", where is your head coach in 5 years. If no longer with your school, how does the exit go down?

Retired, hosting the occasional fundraiser, and maybe consulting for the athletic department every now and again. Even supposing Groh miracles his way out of this fix, he'll be 70 in five years. Either it goes down this year in similar fashion (but more cordially) to the Leitao firing (in which Leitao was "asked to resign" and "resigned"), or the man just gets old. Smart money is not on the latter.

4.) Coffee is for closers only. Which means plenty of ACC teams are walking around with empty cups after failing to finish off opponents or lock up divisions. As the worst offender, who gets the steak knives?

I'm calling out Miami on this one. They even seduced me into wavering a little on my preseason ACC pick. Damn them for that. And then they went and got ruined by VT and followed it up with a loss to an Atlantic Division team. The Atlantic Division doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground. The current occupant of the driver's seat is Clemson, which has 1) removed Miami from the driver's seat in the Coastal and 2) lost to Maryland. Neither should have happened. Miami's punishment is not to get fired or miss out on the Eldorado or anything - I sentence them to another at-home loss to UVA.

5.) Bob Griese wants to take you and Juan Pablo Montoya out for tacos. Where's the best joint in town?

Might as well be the Baja Bean. It's right there on the Corner. Don't even have to get in the car, which is good because Juan Pablo might think the other drivers are bumping him too aggressively and get us in trouble with the Charlottesville police.