ACC Blogger Roundtable, Week Nine

It's a good thing most of these questions aren't about Maryland; good respite from thinking about this team. Joe Ovies is hosting this week.

1.) Now that we're in the home-stretch of college football, we have enough material to begin campaigns for ACC coach of the year and player of the year. Who ya got and why?

At the moment, I have Paul Johnson as ACC coach of the year, but if Miami runs the table the rest of the way, I have to give Randy Shannon the edge. Johnson is a great coach, and he's proved it. I really didn't think Georgia Tech was a top 15 team this year, but they seem to be, and I have trouble believing they'll lose another game this year. That said, Miami was even more unexpected than Georgia Tech, and has arguably been better. Shannon has completely turned around and revitalized that program.

In that vein, I'm still giving POY to Jacory Harris. He's tenth in the nation in passing efficiency, and has a much bigger sample size than Tyrod Taylor, who's 4th in the nation and 1st in the conference. Excluding the rainy, fluky VT game, he's yet to truly have a bad game.

2.) Would your 2009 ACC coach of the year stand a chance in the SEC battlefields of recruiting and gameday management against the likes of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Lane Kiffin?

Randy Shannon could definitely recruit and coach with these guys; I don't doubt that all. Paul Johnson could coach with them, but he'd probably get killed in recruiting...just a hunce. I'm not that confident about the triple option in the SEC, either...they've got better athletes than the ACC does. Until it's proven wrong, though, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'd still rather have Shannon, though.

3.) Getting away from the breathless week-to-week win/loss reactions such as "OMGZ!1!JUAN! WE WON, BCS NEXT!" or "WTF, WE'RE DA SUX. FIRE COACH!", where is your head coach in 5 years. If no longer with your school, how does the exit go down?

Ralph's definitely gone five years from now, probably at home eating cheeseburgers, to quote Charlie Weis. And the departure will be plenty ugly, I have a feeling. He either leaves the program in a state of shambles, or we kick him out, and you can bet that won't go over well.

4.) Coffee is for closers only. Which means plenty of ACC teams are walking around with empty cups after failing to finish off opponents or lock up divisions. As the worst offender, who gets the steak knives?

I'm saying Miami. They had a great chance to put themselves in a good spot to win the ACC if they just...beat...Clemson. They had a chance, too, until the defense fell apart on that last drive.

5.) Bob Griese wants to take you and Juan Pablo Montoya out for tacos. Where's the best joint in town?

Probably Santa Fe Cafe. Really, I'm just using the pretense of "Mexican food" (hey, they serve quesdillas and fajitas!) to recommend it as a bar, of which it might be the best in CP (second to Bentley's of SVP fame, of course).