Late Hits

Going up ...

N.C. STATE

Old Milwaukee could have updated its "It doesn't get any better than this" commercials with a group of happy Wolfpackers on Saturday.

Not only did State beat a ranked ECU team, which was in the midst of a dream season, but UNC lost an important ACC game.

The only downer was, and big shock here, another injury. State needs a healthy linebacker Nate Irving to keep the momentum going against USF.

WAKE FOREST

Jim Grobe is a great coach, the best in the ACC, but it's time to recognize the Deacs for what they really are -- a talented football team.

The Deacs have the best quarterback in the ACC in Riley Skinner and Sunday-caliber defensive stars in cornerback Alphonso Smith and linebacker Aaron Curry.

Don't hand the Deacs the 2008 title yet, but give them credit for what they really are.

VIRGINIA TECH

Everyone, almost everyone, had given up on the Hokies after the season-opening loss to ECU.

But with Saturday's win at UNC, the "new" ACC's best team improved to 16-1 in ACC road games.

Certainly the injury to UNC's T.J. Yates helped their cause, but the Hokies won the way all well-coached teams do -- by not beating themselves (re: penalty yardage, turnovers).

There's something to shoot for, Tarheelia.

VANDERBILT

We're four weeks into the college football season, and the first-place team in the SEC East is not Florida, Georgia or Tennessee but the other SEC team from Tennessee, the one without an athletic department.

The Dores are 2-0 in the conference with wins over South Carolina and Ole Miss. The first-place run may not last another week, but Bobby Johnson and a host of former N.C. State assistant coaches, notably Robbie Caldwell, deserve a merit badge.

LONG SNAPPERS 'R' US

Instead of focusing on the negative -- like its absence from the top 10, its BCS record or lack of coaching ingenuity -- the ACC needs to shine the light on the positive, such as the conference alumni in the NFL.

The 12 ACC schools have produced 271 players currently in the NFL (224 actually played in the ACC). Smart marketing types would advise the ACC to brag about its six members from the All-Pro team, but the ACC's real forte is pumping out long snappers (six), compared to starting quarterbacks (three).

What other profession can legitimately claim to make a living upside down and backward?

Put that on a business card.

It even works with the conference's current slogan: "A Tradition of Excellence ... Then, Now and Always ... in long snappers."

COACHSPEAK-TO-ENGLISH TRANSLATION

"Things haven't gone right for us or for Mike."

-- Rutgers coach Greg Schiano after his team fell to 0-3 with a 24-21 loss to Navy. In the final seconds, quarterback Mike Teel was caught on tape punching teammate Glen Lee in the facemask.

TRANSLATION: Maybe I should have listened to Miami or Michigan or Sul Ross State.