October 15, 2009

Steve Megargee
Rivals.com College Football Staff Writer

MORE: Big 12 | Big East | Big Ten | Pac-10 | SEC | Others

No ACC quarterback has ranked higher than 23rd nationally in passing efficiency in the past five seasons, but that dubious streak likely will end this season. The ACC has five players - more than any other conference - ranked among the top 25 in that category this season.

The ACC quarterbacks in the top 25 are Wake Forest's Riley Skinner (fifth), Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor (10th), Miami's Jacory Harris (17th), Florida State's Christian Ponder (21st) and North Carolina State's Russell Wilson (25th). Georgia Tech's Josh Nesbitt would rank eighth in the nation if he had thrown enough passes to qualify.

That represents a major change from the recent past, when the national perception of the league suffered in part because of the lack of quality passers. While it's easy to cast aspersions on the way passing efficiency is measured - Nesbitt has completed barely half his passes but has a high rating because he averages 11.6 yards per attempt - there's little doubt that the quality of quarterback play has improved across the conference.

ACC coaches don't hesitate to pinpoint the chief reason for the change.

"What's happened is you look around the league right now, all the quarterbacks have at least one good year of experience under their belt."

Indeed, heading into the season, Boston College and Clemson were the only teams in the ACC that lacked a quarterback with at least some experience as a starter.

Skinner and Duke's Thaddeus Lewis (36th in the nation in passing efficiency) are four-year starters. Taylor has started for parts of the past two seasons. Wilson earned first-team All-ACC honors last season, and Ponder started for the entire season. Harris started just twice last season but played in every game and threw just 19 fewer passes than then-starter Robert Marve.

The abundance of experienced quarterbacks finally has allowed the offenses to start catching up to the defenses in the league. Four ACC teams rank in the top 30 in scoring: No. 20 Virginia Tech (34.2 points per game), No. 21 North Carolina State (33.8), No. 24 Georgia Tech (33.2) and No. 30 Duke (31.8). Last season, No. 22 Florida State (33.4) was the only ACC team to rank higher than 43rd in that category.

While the conference doesn't have nearly as much star power on defense as usual - six ACC defensive players were taken among the 45 picks in the 2009 NFL draft - the defenses across the league haven't slipped that much, with the notable exception of Florida State. The ACC has four teams ranked in the top 25 in total defense: No. 5 North Carolina, No. 19 North Carolina State, No. 23 Clemson and No. 25 Virginia.

The defenses haven't slipped as much as the offenses have upgraded. And that all starts at quarterback.

Best matchup: Georgia Tech running game vs. Virginia Tech run defense. After allowing Alabama's Mark Ingram and Nebraska's Roy Helu Jr. to run wild earlier this season, the Hokies' defense has stiffened. Virginia Tech has allowed 71.7 rushing yards per game and 2.3 yards per carry in its past three games. The real challenge comes Saturday against Georgia Tech's fourth-ranked rushing offense. The Yellow Jackets are averaging 277 rushing yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry. Both RB Jonathan Dwyer and QB Josh Nesbitt are on pace to rush for 1,000 yards this season. The Yellow Jackets rushed for 278 yards - including 151 by Nesbitt - against Virginia Tech last season, but a couple of Georgia Tech fumbles helped the Hokies escape with a 20-17 victory.

Player on the spot: Clemson QB Kyle Parker. Parker, a redshirt freshman, is 50-of-101 for 475 yards with three interceptions and no touchdown passes in Clemson's past three games. The lack of production explains why Clemson lost two of those games and failed to score an offensive touchdown in the lone victory (a 25-7 win over Boston College). Parker has an excellent chance to rebound Saturday against a Wake Forest defense that has allowed 13 touchdown passes through its first six games. The Tigers need a big effort from Parker to avoid falling to 1-3 in conference play. Although a third conference loss wouldn't necessarily knock a team out of Atlantic Division title contention, Clemson can't afford to drop to 1-3 in ACC competition with a trip to Miami looming next week.

Numbers game: Last week marked the first time in ACC history that all seven of the conference's winning teams scored at least 42 points. Duke beat North Carolina State 49-28, Georgia Tech edged Florida State 49-44, Miami whipped Florida A&M 48-16, Virginia Tech trounced Boston College 48-14, Virginia pounded Indiana 47-7, Wake Forest defeated Maryland 42-32 and North Carolina handled Georgia Southern 42-12. Florida State's 44-point outburst was the fourth-highest total for a losing team in ACC history.

What they're saying

"I'm strongly leaning [toward returning]. I just hope I can present a case out there that would warrant that." - Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, discussing his plans for 2010 to Tony Barnhart of CBS College Sports network.

"One of Coach's sayings that I love is, 'The bull doesn't care what you did last week.' When a cowboy is riding a bull, the bull doesn't know who's on his back. He doesn't know if you rode the last 100 bulls before him. All he knows is he's trying to get you off his back. That's kind of the way we approach games. The bull doesn't care if you won the previous week or not. That other team's trying to beat you. It's Coach's way of saying, 'You can't be complacent.' '' - Virginia LB Aaron Clark, to The Roanoke (Va.) Times about how the Cavaliers are reacting to their two-game winning streak

"This team is not quitting. Last year we had a lot of doubters on our team. They would have quit by now. We know we're not a 2-3 team. We know we can play a lot better than we have been. Unfortunately, we are 2-3, but I know we're going to get this program moving in the right direction." - Clemson WR Jacoby Ford, to TigerIllustrated.com

"It shouldn't be too bad. Orlando is not that far. I'll probably just take a nap like I do on the plane. It shouldn't be that big of a difference." - Miami LB Darryl Sharpton, to The Miami Herald about the Hurricanes' upcoming bus trip to Orlando for a game at UCF. Miami chose to bus to Orlando rather than fly as a budget-cutting measure

"If we want to win our side of the conference, it's an important game. Anyone that follows the ACC knows that if they come in here and beat us, they would have to lose two games - probably three - because they would have the tiebreaker over us. It makes it almost impossible for us to win the division. Now if we beat them, it doesn't mean we're going to win the division. We still have a lot of conference games left. So do they." - Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, discussing the importance of Saturday's home game with Virginia Tech

Etc.: Plans to move the 2011 Georgia-Georgia Tech game to the Georgia Dome have fallen through. Georgia Tech was willing to face Georgia in the 2011 season opener at the Georgia Dome as long as the 2012 game was played at Tech. Georgia didn't like the idea. The 2011 game now will take place at Tech, while the 2012 game will be played in Athens. ... Florida State TE Caz Piurowski will miss the rest of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his right knee last week against Georgia Tech. ... Boston College is playing much better at home this year. How much better? The Eagles have gone 4-0 and have averaged 396.8 yards of total offense at home, but they're 0-2 and are averaging 108.5 yards of total offense on the road. ... Virginia Tech will be playing its fourth ranked team this season when it travels to No. 19 Georgia Tech this week. No other team in Virginia Tech history has faced four ranked squads this early in the season. ... Clemson's three losses this season have been decided by a total of 10 points. ... This bit of trivia surrounding this week's Wake Forest-Clemson game is brought to you courtesy of Clemson sports information director Tim Bourret. Clemson QB Kyle Parker and Wake Forest TE Andrew Parker both graduated from Fruit Cove (Fla.) Bartram Trail, but they aren't related. Wake Forest QB Riley Skinner and Clemson LS Matt Skinner both graduated from Jacksonville Bolles, but they aren't related. The Clemson-Wake matchup features a combined 21 players from the Jacksonville area. ... Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis threw five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth score last week against North Carolina State. Being responsible for a total of six touchdowns tied an ACC single-game record. ... Although North Carolina State lost to Duke last week, the Wolfpack didn't commit a penalty, which marked the first time since 1989 they hadn't been flagged in a game. ... Maryland WR Torrey Smith continues to lead the nation with 236.7 all-purpose yards per game, while Clemson RB C.J. Spiller ranks third (206.6). Spiller also has produced at least one 60-yard gain in each of his five games this season.

Steve Megargee is a national writer for Rivals.com. He can be reached at smegargee@rivals.com.