As far as weekends go, don’t ask anyone walking around the ACC headquarters in Greensboro this morning how their weekend was. You might get a knuckle sandwich.
As ESPN SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt might say, “it was a bad beat.”
How bad, you ask?
Well, let’s start on the hardwood. It’s early in the season and teams can redeem themselves. We can only hope.
No. 1 ranked North Carolina lost not once, but twice over the weekend. On Sunday, the Tar Heels lost in four overtimes to Alabama, 103-101. On Friday, UNC was clipped by Iowa State, 70-65.
Duke fought off Xavier Friday night, 71-64, but was bludgeoned by Purdue, 75-56, on Sunday. Both Carolina and Duke have two losses, and the calendar hasn’t flipped to December.
And it gets worse.
Florida State fell to 1-7 on the year after a 75-58 loss to Nebraska on Sunday, after losing to Siena by 17, 80-63, on Thursday. But I saved the best (or worst) for last. Syracuse was beaten at home by Bryant, 73-72, Saturday evening. And by Bryant, I mean Bryant University, not former Virginia great Bryant Stith.
To add insult to injury for the Orange, two players were ejected for fighting along with assistant coaches Adrian Autry and Allen Griffin. For good measure, Syracuse director of operations Pete Corasaniti was also tossed. Stay classy, Syracuse.
But as the saying goes, “misery loves company.” Clemson lost to Big Ten foe Iowa, before the ACC-Big Ten challenge even starts, 74-71, on Friday.
And not to be outdone by anyone in the conference, Louisville is currently one win away from their first win of the season. The Cardinals are 0-6 and counting.
This is usually the time of the season when the ACC feasts on a smorgasbord of pastries. Not so this year. The bottom four teams in the conference are a combined 8-19 on the season. Ouch.
Now to the gridiron, where the conference got grilled as well.
In head-to-head games against the rival (?) SEC, the ACC was a woeful 1-3. Only Florida State could manage a win, beating a pedestrian Florida team 45-38 in Tallahassee.
As expected, Georgia Tech was overwhelmed by Georgia, but Louisville lost to a slumping Kentucky squad, 26-13, and in the biggest shocker Clemson saw its 40-game home winning streak end with a 31-30 loss to South Carolina. The loss was especially brutal for Clemson and the ACC as the Tigers saw their College Football Playoff hopes squashed, and the huge payday that won’t happen as well.
Even in conference games, where one team was guaranteed a win, there was some ugliness as well. UNC lost for the second consecutive game, and the Tar Heels will head to the ACC Championship Game with their heads tucked between their tails.
But I leave you with one last ugly pimple on the weekend in ACC football action.
It occurred down in Miami, where the Hurricanes (they are officially not back) got eviscerated by Pittsburgh, 42-16, in a game that wasn’t that close. The loss dropped Miami to 5-7 for the year, their worst season in 45 years (I looked it up) and bowl-ineligible.
An announced crowd of 46,000 was, well, a downright fib. It may have been half that, and most of those folks were long gone by halftime. I had to take a hot shower after watching only a few minutes.
So, an unforgettable weekend in the ACC, it can only get better; we know for sure. Or can it? At least football is all but over.
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