Quote:Look on the bright side, folks

Caulton Tudor, Staff Writer
Chins up all you long-suffering ACC football fans. There is finally a glimpse of light at the end of this long, dark, varmint-infested cave.
The worst should be over now that we've reached the fourth weekend in September.

The majority of those cutthroats from the I-AAville -- not to mention the Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and Big East -- are finally in the rear-view mirror.

Starting tonight -- Virginia at Georgia Tech -- ACC teams will play mostly conference games to the finish line. From now until Thanksgiving dinner, it'll be largely us against us.

In other words: "PILLOW FIGHT!"

And thank goodness. This year, the calendar can't turn fast enough.

Just look at N.C. State's light workload ahead: After Boston College on Saturday, the Wolfpack's next four opponents are Florida State (can't run), Wake Forest (should have lost to Duke), Maryland (can't defend) and Virginia (can't win).

It's not as though Boston College is packing the Fluties and Hasselbecks this season, either. The Eagles can be beaten. If you're a football team with an "ACC" logo stitched on your uniform, you can lose even on your best day.

That goes for Virginia Tech, too. The Hokies look like the best team in the league, but that's after games against Northeastern, North Carolina and Duke. If you're capable of counting to three, you can go 3-0 against that crowd.

I know, I know. I hear the Wake Forest fans yelling. I know you're 3-0 and leading the Big East. But get back to me after these next two games against Mississippi and Liberty. Particularly Liberty. Jerry Falwell may attend that game, and he'll be praying for an upset.

The Deacons can't really start feeling fat and happy until Oct. 7, when Clemson arrives. By that time, the Tigers should be down to no healthy linebackers and will be the first team in football history to employ the 7-0-4 defensive alignment.

At North Carolina, John Bunting can't figure out what's up with his defense, but it's really very simple.

The defense was awful against Rutgers, then pretty good against Virginia Tech, then awful against Furman. That means the defense will be pretty good this weekend at Clemson, then awful at Miami on Oct. 7, then pretty good against South Florida on Oct. 14, then awful at Virginia (Oct. 19) and so on forever.

On the other side, the Tar Heels' offense was pretty good against Rutgers and Furman, but terrible against Virginia Tech, meaning the offense will have good games against Miami, Virginia, Notre Dame and N.C. State, but flat as a summer sandal against Clemson, South Florida, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Duke.

A big part of the ACC's problem this season -- as it was last season -- is youth.

Almost all of the coaches point to the youth factor, and they're right. I went through a long, exhaustive review of all 12 ACC rosters, and guess what? Almost every player in the entire league is younger than 22 or 23 years old.

No wonder these players don't know how to act old yet. But when you constantly bring in kids just out of high school, what do you expect? You would think the coaches would catch on, figure out why their teams are always so blasted young and then get out there and sign some 28-year-olds.

Oh, well. It is what it is, as Herb Sendek used to say.

ACC football can still be fun this season. Even if every team in the league finishes 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference, we'll still have the conference championship game on Dec. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., when the winner of the Pooh Division takes on the champion from the Winnie Division.

You can throw the records out the window for that one