The sorry state of the ACC

Prior to the season, some were opining the ACC Coastal as the best in the country. Alas, that was before the season started.

So far the best the Coastal can claim is a 3-1 record vs lower division FCS schools. Against FBS schools?
Well:
0-1 vs WAC
0-1 vs Big-12
0-1 vs SEC
0-1 vs Big-10
0-1 vs ACC Atlantic
0-1 vs PAC-10

Only Virginia's loss to USC could be considered a "great mismatches" to the ACC teams. Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami all lost to teams within ten spots in the polls. You may be able to argue that Miami and VT faced higher ranked teams, while North Carolina had just seen a good junk of its team suspended.
However, even those excuses hold no water for the ugly loses this week. Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech were both top 15 teams that managed to lose games that were supposedly gimmes. VT lost to FCS James Madison, while GT lost to Big-12 doormat Kansas (who were coming off their loss to an FCS team.) At least Duke's loss to Wake Forest was a 'fair' match-up between two conference teams that finished last year with identical records.

Perhaps we can look at a moral victory - the teams have all played close in their loses - which is something that cannot be said for Atlantic Division's Florida State. (Utah State's performance in Norman last week looked positively brilliant compared to what Florida State did there.) However, that is the lone loss in the Atlantic. Alas, there are not many quality wins there, either. NC States win over UCF and Maryland's over Navy are the lone wins over FBS teams that finished last season with winning records. Boston College's slugfest with a mediocre Kent State does not exactly inspire confidence, nor does Clemson's disposal of North Texas, or Wake's narrow victory over Duke.

When the new rankings come out, look for Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech to totally fall out. They probably wont even show up in "others receiving votes?" - though James Madison might. Florida State should also be gone. (Oklahoma tumbled after beating Utah State. Now that they embarrassed Florida State look for them to be gone.) Miami might have a prayer in the lower reaches of the poll. Without any convincing wins, it is hard to see any of the Atlantic teams making it in the polls at all. It wouldn't be surprising to see the ACC shut out of the polls.

Now why does the conference get an automatic BCS bid? Must have something to do with the pull of the basketball teams.