May I present to you the 2006 ACC Football Champion:
Miami
Florida State
Virginia Tech
Clemson
Boston College
Georgia Tech
Wake Forest
That's right, everyone had at least six teams they thought could conceivably win the ACC title based on past history and present talent. Of course that does not include teams like Maryland, Virginia, UNC, and NC State who everyone assumed would at least be better than the Demon Deacons. Instead of the usual suspects we get Wake, who is an astonishing 11-2 for the first time ever in Winston-Salem. Another humorous part about this is the manner in which NC State and UNC for years have been flopping around like a bass on the floor of a fishing boat trying to find that magic formula for ACC title success and Wake Forest quietly builds a program and then steps up this season to take the top prize.
As for the game, it was not that good. 9-6 was the score all on field goals. In fact, when I checked the score on my Blackberry it was tied 3-3 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. I was quite certain at that point John Swafford must have been very close to taking his own life. All of this wonderful expansion and not only do you get Wake and Georgia Tech in the title game but it turns into a battle of field goal kickers and since it was raining the crowd was somewhat lacking in numbers.
And one more note, over at the 850 blog I was debating with some of the other commenters on the feasibility of having the ACC title game in Charlotte as opposed to Jacksonville since the only domed stadium you could play it in is the Georgia Dome and the SEC has that sown up. A complaint was registered that the weather in NC might be a negative factor since it could be colder and possibly include rain. Well, on Saturday it rained in Jacksonville while in North Carolina it was sunny and almost 60 degrees. So my vote(if I had one) would be to put the game in Charlotte since it is more centrally located, I think the weather is a crapshoot at either location.