Last Updated on December 1, 2009 1:52 pm by drew
ACC Championship
Columbia,
Both ACC division winners were beaten by their in-state, Southeastern Conference rivals and had large holes exposed that must be fixed by Saturday’s showdown in
Oddsmakers from online sports book SPORTSBETTING.com have made
“You can make of it what you want,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said Sunday. “A year ago, we beat
Then again, SEC teams have won the past three national titles – Florida in 2006 and 2008, LSU in 2007 – and are on track to play for it again with a pair of unbeatens, the top-ranked Gators and No. 2 Alabama set to tangle in that league’s title contest. It’s a hard act to challenge in the football crazed Southeast.
Georgia Tech slipped five spots this week in the Top 25. Clemson fell 10 positions.
Johnson’s not prepared to surrender anything to the higher-profile SEC.
“Give them credit, we got beat last night, but I don’t think it was a dominating, steamroll performance,” he said. “They played better than we did and that’s what happens. Last year, we played better than they did.”
Tiger coach Dabo Swinney has too many other things to fret over to spend any time considering the ACC’s stature.
“I don’t worry about that all,” said Swinney, an
Players for both the Yellow Jackets and Tigers swore last week they had their focus squarely on their rivals and weren’t peaking ahead to the championship game. Neither looked sharp early and it cost them.
Georgia Tech trailed 17-3 at the half and could not rally past the Bulldogs. Clemson was down 24-7 through three quarters and its explosive offense was limited to 138 yards in that stretch.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who knows something about coaching in conference title games, said Saturday the Gamecocks caught Clemson “at the right time” between their division-clinching day against Virginia a week earlier and the ACC’s big game this Saturday.
Probably the most troubling aspects for Johnson and Swinney were the defensive performances.
The Yellow Jackets gave up more than double their season average (135 yards a game) in rushing yards to
“Did not play well in our season finale, so a lot to get corrected and coached up,” Swinney said.
The game will be a rematch of a Thursday night nail-biter in
“These games have been some humdingers,” Swinney said.
Both Johnson and Swinney said their teams would quickly refocus on what’s ahead, even sharing the same coach-speak phraseology, “Turn the page.”
Win Saturday, after all, and only the hardest of die-hard fans will stew about losing rivalry games.
“We’re in postseason play,” Swinney said. “Everybody else is at home.”
Posted: 12/1/09 1:52PM ET