Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
Here's your ACC 101 for this week:
FUMBLE STATE U?
- You want to know the problem with Florida State and Maryland? Look no further than the NCAA statistics for fumbles lost. FSU and the Terps are tied for 118th nationally out of 120 teams with eight fumbles lost each. Only Oregon, with nine, has more. That's just fumbles, not the turnover category, which also includes interceptions, and the Terps have five of those. On the flip side, Miami is tied for No. 7 with just one fumble lost, and Clemson and Duke have just two fumbles lost each.
- When Miami faces No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday, the Hurricanes will be completing an unprecedented run in the ACC. No other ACC football team has ever opened the season playing four consecutive nationally-ranked opponents. Miami opened the year against No. 18 Florida State in Tallahassee, then hosted No. 14 Georgia Tech before traveling to No. 11 Virginia Tech last Saturday. North Carolina came close in 2001, going on the road to face No. 3 Oklahoma, then unranked Maryland and No. 4 Texas before hosting No. 6 Florida State. Maryland, though not ranked when UNC played them, ended the 2001 season ranked 11th nationally.
- Virginia Tech’s first four opponents are a combined 11-0 in games not played against the Hokies: Alabama 3-0 (4-0 overall); Marshall 3-0 (3-1 overall); Nebraska 3-0 (3-1 overall); and Miami 2-0 (2-1 overall). Marshall, Nebraska and Miami all suffered their lone loss to the Hokies, who are ranked sixth in the country in the AP poll with a Sagarin rating of No. 3 and a national strength of schedule ranking of four.
- NC State quarterback Russell Wilson silenced any speculation about his hampered running ability last weekend against Pitt. He rushed for a career-high 91 yards (in addition to throwing for 322 yards), the highest rushing total for a Wolfpack quarterback in more than three decades. The last NC State quarterback to rush for more yards was Johnny Evans, now a color commentator on the Wolfpack radio network. Evans ran for 126 yards on 15 carries against Clemson in 1976. Wilson has 503 rushing yards for his career.
- Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell has been as involved in Virginia’s offense as any player in the country has been for his team. Against Southern Miss, Sewell was in on a school-record 69 plays (23 rushes, 46 passes). To put that in perspective, the Golden Eagles had a total of 68 plays in the game. Sewell passed for a career-best 312 yards, topping his previous high by 24 yards. He also had 23 rushing attempts in the game, the second most by a UVa quarterback in school history.
- Despite previously playing 31 seasons in the SEC from 1933 through 1963, Georgia Tech will play inside the Mississippi borders for the first time in 117 seasons on Saturday when the Yellow Jackets play at Mississippi State. In all, the Yellow Jackets have only played Mississippi State and Ole Miss a total of six times (three times each) with four of the meetings coming at Bobby Dodd Stadium, including all of the previous meetings with the Bulldogs. The Jackets faced Ole Miss twice in bowl games, one of those were in Atlanta, and once at Grant Field.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Heather Dinich
Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.
ACC SCOREBOARD
Saturday, 12/17
Final Temple 37 Wyoming 15 Final Ohio 24 Utah State 23 Final San Diego State 30 Louisiana-Lafayette 32
Tuesday, 12/20
Wednesday, 12/21
Final 18 TCU 31 Louisiana Tech 24
Thursday, 12/22
Saturday, 12/24
Final Nevada 17 21 Southern Miss 24
Monday, 12/26
Tuesday, 12/27
Final Western Michigan 32 Purdue 37 Final Louisville 24 North Carolina State 31
Wednesday, 12/28
Final Toledo 42 Air Force 41 Final California 10 24 Texas 21
Thursday, 12/29
Final Florida State 18 Notre Dame 14 Final Washington 56 12 Baylor 67
Friday, 12/30
Final Brigham Young 24 Tulsa 21 Final Rutgers 27 Iowa State 13 Final Mississippi State 23 Wake Forest 17 Final Iowa 14 14 Oklahoma 31
Saturday, 12/31
Final Texas A&M 33 Northwestern 22 Final/OT Georgia Tech 27 Utah 30 Final Illinois 20 UCLA 14 Final Cincinnati 31 Vanderbilt 24 Final Virginia 24 25 Auburn 43
Monday, 1/2
Final 19 Houston 30 22 Penn State 14 Final Ohio State 17 Florida 24 Final/3OT 17 Michigan State 33 16 Georgia 30 Final 20 Nebraska 13 9 South Carolina 30 Final 10 Wisconsin 38 5 Oregon 45 Final/OT 4 Stanford 38 3 Oklahoma State 41
Tuesday, 1/3
Final/OT 13 Michigan 23 11 Virginia Tech 20
Wednesday, 1/4
Final 23 West Virginia 70 15 Clemson 33
Friday, 1/6
Final 8 Kansas State 16 6 Arkansas 29
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