It’s the final weekend of a wild ‘n wacky year in the Atlantic Coast Conference where four schools remain alive for a berth in the league’s Dec. 6 title game at Tampa.
Virginia Tech (7-4, 4-3 ACC) and Boston College (8-3, 4-3) are in control of their own destinies, but if they lose they’re out. Georgia Tech would capture the Coastal Division if the Hokies fall to Virginia (5-6, 3-4) while Florida State would back into the Atlantic Division title should BC drop its home game against Maryland (7-4, 4-3).
Regardless, both teams in the ACC championship game will have three league losses.
“We’ve got a lot of good football teams that are close to each other,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “Every week, you’d better bring your best game.”
Meanwhile, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson are involved Saturday in their annual season finales against intrastate rivals from the Southeastern Conference.
No. 18 Georgia Tech (8-3, 5-3 ACC) travels to No. 13 Georgia for a noon kickoff while second-ranked Florida (10-1, 7-1 SEC) visits No. 23 Florida State for a 3:30 p.m. start.
Georgia (9-2, 6-2 SEC) has won eight straight over the Yellow Jackets while Florida will be after its fifth win in a row against the Seminoles (8-3, 5-3 ACC).
Like Virginia, Clemson (6-5, 4-4) needs a victory to become bowl eligible since two of its wins are over lower-division opponents.
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POSTSEASON HONORS: The jumbled standings in the Atlantic Coast Conference may serve as a predictor of how scrambled the voting could turn out for individual awards to be announced next week.
Boston College’s Jeff Jagodzinski and first-year ACC mentors David Cutcliffe at Duke and Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech are the top candidates for coach of the year.
Linebackers Matt Herzlich from Boston College and Aaron Curry of Wake Forest, Florida State defensive end Everette Brown and cornerbacks Alphonso Smith from Wake Forest and Victor Harris of Virginia Tech are among those who have each earned support for defensive player of the year.
Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper was a runaway preseason pick for offensive player of the year, but teammate C.J. Spiller, a running back, and North Carolina State redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson are likely to win plenty of backing along with Georgia Tech running back Jonathon Dwyer.
Wilson could also become the first freshman or redshirt freshman to win first-team quarterback honors the all-conference selections that will be announced next week.
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BACKING UP RYAN’S BACKUP: Dominique Davis won’t have much time to grow into the role as No. 20 Boston College’s starting quarterback.
Davis, who is from Lakeland, Fla., came off the bench after senior Chris Crane was injured and led BC to a 24-21 comeback victory over Wake Forest last week. On Saturday, the redshirt freshman will get his first start against Maryland with a spot in the ACC championship game at stake.
“He did have a shaky start, but at the end of the game, (he put) us in position to win the game,” BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said. “So that says a lot about what’s inside the kid.”
Crane had the unenviable job of replacing Matt Ryan at Boston College after the 2007 ACC player of the year was taken in the first round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons. But the Crane era only lasted 10 1/2 games before he broke his collarbone against Wake Forest.
Davis, who is more mobile than Crane, was 13-of-23 for 103 yards against Wake, with two fumbles that were returned for touchdowns. But he made enough throws on the nine-play, 70-yard drive in the final 5 minutes, including a 1-yard sneak with 1:12 left for the game-winning touchdown.
“Dominique ended up settling down there toward the end of the end of the game,” Jagodzinski said. “That’s a good sign. I think he’ll be OK.”
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ion to bench veteran quarterback Drew Weatherford in favor of a more mobile Christian Ponder may prove fruitful down the road.
But as a first-year starter and with a more balanced offense, Ponder’s passing numbers are well behind those of his senior predecessor, who remains the leader among active ACC quarterbacks in career passing despite not appearing in a conference game this year.
Weatherford set a freshman passing record for the conference in 2005 when he led the Seminoles to the league title. Florida State finished 8-5 that season.
Without a productive running game, Weatherford completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 3,206 yards and 18 touchdowns with 18 interceptions during his redshirt freshman year. Ponder, a redshirt sophomore, has completed 56.4 percent for 1,747 yards and 12 touchdowns with 11 interceptions to accompany an effective running game.
Weatherford, who hasn’t been on the field for a league game this year, has a total of 65 rushing yards in his career while Ponder has gained 390 this year.
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JD GUARANTEE: Clemson’s James Davis has been much quieter on and off the field this season.
Lightning” tailback tandem (C.J. Spiller) possibly playing in his final college game against rival South Carolina on Saturday, his teammates wondered if it wasn’t time for one of Davis’ patented guarantees?
“I told them, if you need a guarantee for this one, there’s something wrong,” Davis said. “This is a game right here you’ve been waiting for all year.”
A season ago, Davis guaranteed Clemson would win a difficult road game at Maryland. The Tigers backed him up with a 30-17 victory.
Davis figured to be just as vocal this season, but his words slumped along with his yards.
He returned for his senior season needing 837 yards rushing to become Clemson’s all-time career leader. For a player who’d gained over 1,000 yards the last two years, it seemed a lock.
But Davis has rushed for 634 yards and needs 203 to surpass Raymond Priester’s career mark of 3,966.
Whether he gets the record or not, Davis hopes he’s left a a good impression.
“I think I’ll be remembered as a hardworking player who loved the fans, who enjoyed his team and who cared about the youth around here,” Davis said.
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NOLES’ BOWLS: Florida State has the longest bowl eligible streak going in the nation, but where the Seminoles end up could be interesting.
Unless Florida State somehow wins the conference and makes it to the Orange Bowl, it’s anyone’s guess where they’ll wind up during the holidays. Jacksonville or Atlanta would be good possibilities unless the Seminoles are embarrassed again Saturday by Florida.
owl game, but the Irish are likely to be 6-6 after Saturday’s game against USC and the best team they’ve beaten all season is Navy.
The Seminoles haven’t been to the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta where a matchup against an SEC opponent would ensure a big crowd. With Alabama, Florida and Georgia likely to be off the board for that game, maybe Bobby Bowden will again be looking across the sidelines at the South Carolina Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier, a familiar foe from his days at rival Florida.
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Associated Press Sports Writers Jimmy Golen in Boston and Pete Iacobelli in Columbia, S.C. contributed to this report.
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