Tag: Virginia Tech football

ACC power rankings heading into Week 13

After an exciting Week 12, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 13.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 13 matchups.

Dabo Swinney and No.8 Clemson are coming off a nice 40-10 home win over Miami, where the Tigers played some solid football. Clemson did what it needed to against a struggling Miami team.

Other action around the ACC saw North Carolina lose in a stunner to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech pulling off a big upset win over Liberty.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we have seen this season. So, how did Week 12 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 13:

ACC power rankings heading into Week 12

After an exciting Week 11, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 12.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 12 matchups.

Dabo Swinney and No.10 Clemson are coming off a nice 31-16 recovery win over Louisville, where the team played some great football. It was a much-needed win for the team as they got back on track.

Other action around the ACC saw North Carolina take down Wake Forest in a nail-biter, and Florida State put a beat down on Syracuse.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we have seen this season. So, how did Week 11 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 12:

Suspension of Virginia Tech football player is proof the NCAA’s sports betting rules are outdated

Self-reporting is officially out of the question.

The NCAA fancies itself as some kind of beacon of morality meant to protect the well-being of student-athletes. In reality, it’s just a soul-less cash cow whose udders spew utter nonsense.

The latest example is the case of Virginia Tech football player Alan Tisdale, who was suspended nine games of his senior season for placing bets on NBA games.

The NCAA wouldn’t have known about the violation if Tisdale didn’t self-report in August after learning that his bets on the NBA Finals were against the rules. But did the NCAA show leniency to the athlete it claims to care about for being so forthcoming? Not at all.

As reported by The Athletic, Tisdale missed half of this season (his suspension was reduced to six games on appeal), all because the NCAA remains slow to adjust to changing landscapes and inflexible in its application of antiquated rules.

Change the Rule

Current rules ban student-athletes from earning anything, cash or not, from wagers on any sport the NCAA sanctions, no matter the level. So it didn’t matter that a college football player was betting on professional basketball, it broke the rules.

It’s an incredibly outdated restriction when you consider that sports betting is now legal in over 30 states, including Virginia where Tisdale placed the bets from his mobile phone. The ability to do so is literally at the fingertips of millions of people, and millions more to come.

The NCAA has to know that a good chunk of its athletes are placing bets, and most of them aren’t self-reporting. The priority should be ensuring athletes aren’t betting on the sports they play. Limits could even be placed on all college betting if necessary to uphold the integrity of contests.

But to remain so rigid as to prohibit student-athletes from potentially winning a meal or prize on Super Bowl squares or $20 on an NBA player prop bet — things becoming more recreational and less taboo by the day — only stands to unnecessarily jeopardize the futures of more athletes.

Reward Honesty

By the NCAA’s own research, 24% of male and 5% of female student-athletes wagered on sports within the last year. More than 80% of student-athletes who bet on sports placed their first bets before entering college. Those numbers are only going to increase in the future, and you’ll never know who any of the betting athletes are.

Tisdale, who placed several bets for a total of $400 to win $41, is one of the few who actually did what the NCAA encourages. Once he learned of the violation while attending Virginia Tech’s annual compliance department meeting before the season, he told head coach Brent Pry.

“We try and do things right,” Pry told The Athletic. “And even though the kid was wrong, he didn’t know he was wrong. And as soon as he realized he might be, he came forward. And I just don’t think there was enough consideration given for how things shook out.”

If the NCAA can’t give the one athlete who came forward a break, then what’s the incentive for anyone else to do so. The decision to suspend Tisdale for so long only threatens to make collegiate gambling more underground than it needs to be.

But the one thing it’s not going to do is stop. The NCAA desperately needs to adjust its rules to acknowledge that.

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ACC power rankings heading into Week 11

After an exciting Week 10, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 11.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 11 matchups.

Dabo Swinney and No.12 Clemson are coming off a rough loss on the road at the hands of new head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was a nightmare Saturday for the Tigers as seemingly everything went wrong that night.

Other action around the ACC saw a top-25 battle, with NC State taking down Sam Hartman and Wake Forest and North Carolina barely squeaking by Virginia on the road.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we have seen this season. So, how did Week 10 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 11:

ACC power rankings heading into Week 10

After an exciting Week 8, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 10.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 10 matchups.

Dabo Swinney and No.5 Clemson are coming off a much-needed bye week after the team remained undefeated with an 8-0 (6-0 ACC) record after a 27-21 comeback win over Syracuse. After being replaced by freshman Cade Klubnik in the third quarter, starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei will look to bounce back in Week 10.

There were some great games around the ACC in Week 9, with some upsets dealt. No.10 Wake Forest got dismantled by Louisville, while Syracuse lost by double digits to Notre Dame.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen this season. So, how did Week 9 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 10:

ACC power rankings heading into Week 9

After an exciting Week 8, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 9.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 9 matchups or rests up with a bye week.

Dabo Swinney and No.5 Clemson are coming off a 27-21 home win over Syracuse, where the Tigers had to overcome a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t near the Tigers’ best football as DJ Uiagalelei took a seat for true freshman Cade Klubnik to give the team the spark they needed in the second half to pull it out.

There were some great games around the ACC in Week 8, while a handful of teams had their bye weeks. Duke beat down Miami on the road, while Louisville continued their bounce-back handling Pittsburgh.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen this season. So, how did Week 8 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 9:

ACC power rankings heading into Week 7

After an exciting Week 6, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 7.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 7 matchups.

Dabo Swinney and the Tigers are coming off a dominant 31-3 win on the road over Boston College, with DJ Uiagalelei continuing his hot start to the season. The win helped keep No.4 Clemson undefeated as they head into a tough Week 7 road matchup against Florida State.

There were some great games around the ACC in Week 6, with FSU falling in a close one to NC State while Georgia Tech continued its hot streak taking down another hot team in Duke. It was yet another wild week in the ACC.
In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen this season. So, how did Week 6 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 7:

Pitt RB Izzy Abanikanda absolutely dominated Virginia Tech with record-breaking 6 (!!) TDs

Izzy Abanikanda had an absurdly awesome day for Pitt against Virginia Tech.

Izzy Abanikanda had a great day on the football field. Virginia Tech’s defense did not.

Pitt’s junior running back ran over and around the Hokies, scampering up and down the field at Acrisure Stadium in the Steel City on Saturday. When the dust settled, Abanikanda had racked up a bunch of impressive stats and wrote his name in the record books with a Sharpie – putting his name alongside incredible college football running backs such as Ricky Williams and Tony Dorsett.

Abanikanda totaled an eye-popping 320 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 36 carries. That’s an average of 8.9 yards per carry. That’s a spectacular performance regardless of the rest of the game.

Here’s are the marks Abanikanda set, or broke:

  • He’s the first player from a team in a Power 5 conference to rush for more than 300 yards and six touchdowns since Williams did for Texas in 1998.
  • He joined Willis McGahee of Miami as the only players to rush for more than five touchdowns against Virginia Tech.
  • He broke Dorsett’s single-game rushing record for a Pitt running back. Dorsett rushed for 303 yards against Notre Dame in 1975.
  • He set the ACC record for the most rushing touchdowns by a player in a single game. And Abanikanda was just 19 yards shy of the single game ACC record for rushing yards, set by Boston College’s Andre Williams in 2013.
  • It’s the most rushing yards Virginia Tech has given up to a single player in one game – ever. North Carolina’s Gio Bernard held the previous mark, with 262 rushing yards in 2012.

It was, indeed, an absurdly awesome day for Abanikanda. And for Pitt football too – which covered the 14.5-point spread in this game thanks to Abanikanda’s final touchdown run.

It’s worth taking another look at that scamper, and his other scores.

You might remember that Pitt had a prolific Kenny Pickett-powered passing attack last season that led the Panthers to their first ACC title.

In the offseason, prickly Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi chased former offensive coordinator Mark Whipple off to Nebraska and replaced him with Frank Cignetti Jr., formerly of Boston College. It’s clear that this version of Pitt isn’t all that interested in running an offense that relies on passing, as the Panthers are averaging just 167 yards through the air per game this season, compared to 337.4 passing yards per game last season under the direction of Pickett and Whipple.

Good thing is Pitt doesn’t have to worry about passing all that much with a running back like Abanikanda and an offensive line that can pave the way.

Pitt also clearly doesn’t have a problem scoring points either, as it blew past the over-under of 41.5 points set for this game all on its own. The Panthers are 3-2, and have scored 27 points or more in all but one game this season.

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ACC power rankings heading into Week 6

After an exciting Week 5, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 6.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 6 matchups.

Clemson is coming off another big-time win as they took down former No.10 NC State 30-20 as they hosted ESPN’s College GameDay. It was a statement in-conference win for the Tigers.

There were some great games around the ACC, with Wake Forest handling business on the road against Florida State and Georgia Tech upsetting Pittsburgh after Geoff Collins’ departure. The ACC has been a wild conference so far this season.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen this season. So, how did Week 5 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into 6:

ACC power rankings heading into Week 5

After an exciting Week 4, here’s our ACC power rankings heading into Week 5.

Another week of the 2022 college football season is behind us as each team around the ACC prepares for their upcoming Week 5 matchups.

Clemson is coming off a massive 51-45 double overtime away win against Sam Hartman and Wake Forest in the biggest game in the conference last week. The rest of the conference had its ups and downs, with teams such as Syracuse and Virginia battling it out in a close one and Miami falling in a shocking loss to Middle Tennessee.

In college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen so far this season. So, how did Week 4 shake things up in the ACC? Who rose in our and fell in our rankings?

Here’s a look at our ACC power rankings heading into Week 5: