Miami may test UNC's stout defense

tool name

tool name

Jagodzinski left just in time

Athletic director Gene DeFilippo boldly declared the "fun is back" in Boston College football in 2007. Unless futility is a code word for fun, the "Happy Days" are history at BC, or at least on hiatus.

After coach Jeff Jagodzinski took the Eagles to two straight ACC Atlantic Division titles, DeFilippo fired him for interviewing with the New York Jets, but more on Jagodzinski later.

The first ACC game for Jagodzinski's replacement, rookie head coach Frank Spaziani, ended in a 25-7 loss at Clemson. There's no shame in losing at Clemson, but it's how the Eagles lost that should have DeFilippo and the people who care about the program concerned.

Devils aiming for better ACC play

MIAMI

Record: 7-6 overall, 4-4 ACC (fourth, Coastal)

Bowl: lost to Cal, 24-17 in the Emerald

Hokies favored to win Coastal Conference

With three conference titles in five seasons and a 32-8 conference record, Virginia Tech has dominated the ACC since joining in 2004.

But to be clear, the Hokies did not dominate in 2008. Actually, they were lucky to win the Coastal Division, getting help from Maryland and Georgia Tech down the stretch.

Then they played their two best games of the season in the ACC title game (beating Boston College) and Orange Bowl (throttling Cincinnati).

ACC so-so, so far

Halfway through the 2009 college football season, some ACC teams are better than expected -- take a step forward, Miami and Wake Forest -- and others are not as good -- not so fast, Florida State, N.C. State and North Carolina.

Virginia Tech has lived up to its preseason billing as the ACC favorite, ranked No. 4 in the AP poll and in control of the Coastal Division race as the conference's only 3-0 team.

Unpredictability is the only predictable part of the Atlantic Division where Florida State, the media's choice to meet the Hokies in the title game in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 5, is the ACC's only 0-3 team.

(12) Miami-Florida (7-2) at North Carolina (6-3)

GAME NOTES: The 12th-ranked Miami-Florida Hurricanes head to Chapel Hill this weekend to square off against the North Carolina Tar Heels in an ACC Coastal Division clash.

The Hurricanes have enjoyed a successful campaign under third-year head coach Randy Shannon and they head into the weekend with an outside shot of winning the Coastal Division crown. At 4-2, Miami trails only Georgia Tech (6-1), a team it beat already, but the Yellow Jackets can wrap up the division with a win over Duke this weekend. With that said, Miami kept its ACC championship game hopes alive last weekend, trouncing Virginia by a 52-17 score

"This was a nice win to be at home on Homecoming," said coach Shannon. "Coming off the last time we played them at home in the Orange Bowl, this was a big win for us."