Ranking the SEC and ACC for '09
So just as I predicted last summer, Clemson will play in a January bowl game.
But enough about this season. Time to look ahead to Dabo, Tebow and TiVo next season.
Once again, the Atlantic Boast Conference will be better than the Slippin' Southeastern Conference. But the SEC still will have the two best teams.
Again, Florida and Alabama will not meet in the regular season but will clash in the SEC Championship game.
An early look at the SEC and ACC, from 1 to 24, for 2009:
BCS-caliber
1. Florida. No doubt, with Tim Tebow leading the offense and Fort Dorchester High School grad Carlos Dunlap sacking his way high into the first round of the 2010 NFL draft.
2. Alabama. Might be 200,000 on hand for the spring game.
3. Georgia. Down two spots if Matthew Stafford leaves early, but Summerville's A.J. Green makes Uga the Bulldog look good at quarterback.
4. Georgia Tech. 2009 ACC champs. So boring to watch, so effective in the short run. Running back Jonathan Dwyer, the ACC player of the year, is among 16 starters who are sophomores or freshmen.
Decent bowls
5. Florida State. 2009 ACC Atlantic Division winner. A mix of nice progress and cold perspective: A bowl win this month means the first nine-win season since 2004.
6. Mississippi. A five-game improvement from 2007 (so far), and Houston Nutt, with Jevan Snead at quarterback, is positioned to take advantage of a weakened SEC.
7. LSU. Scrambling for second place in the SEC West is the future for Les Miles.
8. Miami. A mere 7-5 so far in 2008, but it's a young team that suffered back-to-back close home losses to North Carolina and Florida State.
9. Virginia Tech. A power shift to the Coastal Division.
10. North Carolina. Enough talent for more improvement.
Lesser bowls
11. Auburn. Will bounce back above .500 under a new coach.
12. Clemson. Drops three spots if game-breaker C.J. Spiller trades Dabo Swinney's "Spiller for Heisman" campaign for NFL bucks. Note that the ACC schedule changes to include a road game at Miami instead of a home game against Duke.
13. N.C. State. Four wins in a row under part-time Daniel Island resident Tom O'Brien and the last three losses were by a combined 19 points. Redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson threw 16 touchdown passes and only one interception — on the last play of a Sept. 13 loss at Clemson.
14. Boston College. We should all learn to stop underrating these guys. Probably will overachieve again.
15. South Carolina. The Stephen Garcia Show opens in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 1.
16. Arkansas. Might be the SEC's most improved team next season. Might be able to build around freshman tailback Dennis Johnson.
17. Wake Forest. A big step back on offense this year and seven of the starters on defense in last week's game against Vanderbilt won't be back.
No bowls
18. Tennessee. Lane Kiffin is assembling a fine staff. He needs more players.
19. Maryland. But Ralph Friedgen typically finds a way to make the sum appear better than the parts.
20. Duke. Headed in the right direction.
21. Virginia. Headed in the wrong direction. Finished 5-7 but the Cavaliers going into their Nov. 22 home loss to Clemson had a chance to win the ACC title.
22. Kentucky. Should not have lost to South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Tennessee this year.
23. Vanderbilt. Junior cornerback D.J. Moore of Spartanburg is sixth in the nation in interceptions and last week against Wake Forest caught two passes for 60 yards and rushed twice for 20 yards.
24. Mississippi State. Two 2008 SEC wins a noble accomplishment for this bunch.
Reach Gene Sapakoff at 937-5593 or gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.
Projected ACC/SEC standings '09
SEC East
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. South Carolina
4. Tennessee
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt
SEC West
1. Alabama
2. Mississippi
3. LSU
4. Auburn
5. Arkansas
6. Mississippi State
ACC Atlantic
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. N.C. State
4. Boston College
5. Wake Forest
6. Maryland
ACC Coastal
1. Georgia Tech
2. Miami
3. Virginia Tech
4. North Carolina
5. Duke
6. Virginia
- Gene Sapakoff
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Comments
surfer (anonymous) says...
Actually you said they'd go 12-0, but they beat us so what can I say?
December 7, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rebel1 (anonymous) says...
NO THEY DIDNT> SOS AND STINKY DID
December 7, 2008 at 3:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ashleyriver (anonymous) says...
rebel1---you've posted some stupid stuff on here before and undboubtedly you're extremely young and immature. But this post hits a new low.
I have no problem with you throwing your coach under the bus----but I don't think much of you throwing your QB under the bus in that classless, deluded-gamecock fan style I've grown to expect after the annual humiliation (the guy's a college student for pete's sake--not a professional).
But for you to suggest, imply or state outright that Clemson "DIDNT"(sic) win the game is preposterous. Smelley was wearing a gamecock uniform and Spurrier was leading your team...maybe they didn't perform to your expectations, but rest assured, CLEMSON DID WITH THE GAME.
Your whiny poor sportsmanship in no way changes that fact.
December 7, 2008 at 6 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ddelving31 (anonymous) says...
Ashley,
Congrats on your big with! Undboubtedly, you must be proud.
Ironic much?
December 7, 2008 at 8:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
youmanyo (anonymous) says...
I wondered what the chickens excuse would be this year, and now we have it.
Their hall of fame coach ( make that hall of shame now) and their 4 star QB.
31-14
December 7, 2008 at 9:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
youmanyo (anonymous) says...
classic
1. Unknown Hillbilly hired to coach Clemson after Charlie Pell defects to Florida.
2. Go 3-7-1 against Hillbilly.
3. Hillbilly fired. Boring Milquetoast hired. Now Clemson can't cheat.
4. Go 1-3 against Clemson during Boring Milquetoast's tenure.
5. Boring Milquetoast run out of town. Replaced with Hillbilly, Jr. Ha ha. Now they're really dead.
6. Go 2-3 against Hillbilly, Jr., in era now referred to as the Golden Years.
7. "Got Lou" billboards first erected. Up the road, guy who will eventually be referred to as "Tammy" hired away from powerhouse Tulane. Clemson's in trouble now.
8. Proceed to go 1-5 against Clemson under 2008 College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
9. Future Hall of Fame inductee hired. Clemson's in REAL trouble now.
10. Future Hall of Fame inductee (and Heisman Trophy winner and former coach of 6-time SEC Champ and 1996 National Champion Florida) goes 1-2 against Clemson, forcing eventual ouster of Tammy.
11. Tammy replaced with ex-real estate developer turned wide receiver coach with cartoon character's name. See light at end of tunnel.
12. Light turns out to be Lightning and accompanying Thunder. Go 0-1 against Cartoon Character.
13. Now they're really gonna get it.
December 7, 2008 at 10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
youmanyo, now, THAT is a funny story.
December 8, 2008 at 6:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AtlHoosfan71 (anonymous) says...
just a passerby here but wow, gene, uva in dead last? Won't happen. The Coastal will be very competitive again and any one of GT/Miami/UNC/VT/UVA could win it.
December 8, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
s_wheelermp52002 (anonymous) says...
I signed up just to tell you that I didn't even read your weak story. I couldn't get past the " slipping SEC" part! There isn't another conference that can stack up! Hunker Down!!!!!!
P.S. Clemson SUCKS
December 10, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
WLM8288 (anonymous) says...
Well if the SEC isn't slipping Wheeler please give us all and explanation on how they aren't slipping? You can't ride Florida and BAMA and say the whole conference is great. Then if I say something about the BIG 12 you will probably say well they don't play defense....well the SEC's best defense just gave up 31 to a "pathetic" ACC team (thats what all you gamecocks like to think anyways). Two really good teams. Florida, and BAMA.
The SEC: 6 out of the 12 teams finished over .500.....is that not slipping?
Big 12: 7 out of 12 finish about .500 three of those teams in the same division won atleast 11 games.
The ACC: 9 out of the 12 teams finished about .500 and the one that finished at .500 is still going to a bowl.
The Big 12: 87-59
The ACC: 86-60
The SEC: 86-60
By overall record seems pretty even.Oh yeah all but 2 teams in the ACC are going to bowls. So if you can't admit that the SEC is slipping then something is really wrong. The excuse of they beat up on each other in the SEC is also getting tired and weak.
A little fun for us Clemson fans.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WshOJ...
December 10, 2008 at 9:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GoalieLax (anonymous) says...
GT's offense is boring to watch? are you freaking serious? did you even watch one minute of a game this year? or are you one of those people who thinks the option is 3 yards and a cloud of dust.
at least charleston is a really nice city, because you clearly don't have the football intelligence to write for a paper in a larger city
December 15, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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