Wake Forest, UNC and Clemson are making us reevaluate our college football expectations
And welcome to the midpoint of the 2021 college football season.
Not quite what you expected, eh? Not what with [... checks the top of the venerable All-Carolinas Poll ...] Wake Forest undefeated and the highest-ranked ACC team in the land (both here in the less-esteemed Associated Press Top 25). And, hey, wasn’t North Carolina once predestined to win the ACC’s Coastal Division and play in the league championship?
And what of the much-discussed N.C. State, um, stuff? It emerged, indeed, at Mississippi State. But then disappeared in the most unexpected of ways late in that State-Clemson game a couple of weeks ago, so much so that Dave Doeren was even bold enough to suggest that a curse had been lifted. (A wise move? Perhaps not.)
Well, at least some things have gone according to plan to this point. Coastal is undefeated, at least, and may just be the finest team in the Carolinas (unfortunately, no Coastal-Wake Forest grudge match awaits to settle things), and some of the teams we thought might not be so good are, in fact, not all that good (ahem, South Carolina and Duke).
But yes: Lots of football left, as they say. In the meantime, let us proffer midseason grades in Week 6 of the All-Carolina Poll:
1. Wake Forest (6-0, 4-0 ACC)
Previous ranking: 1
Last week: W 40-37 at Syracuse
Up next: at Army, Oct. 23
Mid-season grade: A+. We joke about how we all saw this coming but ... maybe more people should’ve seen this coming, what with the experience the Demon Deacons returned and the fact that, year in and year out, Dave Clawson more often than not just gets it done. Strong 2006 vibes (the last time Wake won the ACC, with a senior-laden team) with this bunch.
2. N.C. State (4-1, 1-0 ACC)
Previous ranking: 2
Last week: Off
Up next: at Boston College, Saturday
Mid-season grade: B+. The uninspired stumble at Mississippi State notwithstanding (and that loss doesn’t look all that bad, given the Bulldogs beat Texas A&M, which just took down Alabama), things have gone about as well as expected for State, especially given the injuries. Question now: Can the Wolfpack take full advantage of a rare opportunity to win the Atlantic Division?
3. Coastal Carolina (6-0, 2-0 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 3
Last week: W 52-20 at Arkansas State
Up next: at Appalachian State, Oct. 20
Mid-season grade: A. As expected. Coastal has routed five of its six opponents, all except Buffalo, and the Chanticleers (such a noble-sounding name) have more or less ... coasted ... through the first half of the season. (See what I did there?) Now comes perhaps the most fun game of the year in the Carolinas: That Mountains vs. Sea grudge match in Boone on Oct. 20.
4. Clemson (3-2, 2-1 ACC)
Previous ranking: 4
Last week: Off
Up next: at Syracuse, Friday
Mid-season grade: C. Great defense plus not-so-great offense leads to average results, and that’s where Clemson is these days. If the offense (last in the ACC in scoring; last in yards per game; second-to-last in yards per play) can find a pulse, then no one would be surprised to see Clemson back in the ACC championship game. If not? Well, it has been a great run.
5. Appalachian State (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 6
Last week: Off
Up next: at Louisiana-Lafayette, Tuesday
Mid-season grade: A solid B. Maybe a B+, if we’re grading on a curve. The Mountaineers are probably right where they expected to be, though if they had to play Miami again now, with the Hurricanes in meltdown mode, that result might be different. Get through this Tuesday (why Tuesday?) game at Louisiana-Lafayette, and all eyes will be on Boone on Oct. 20.
6. North Carolina (3-3, 2-3 ACC)
Previous ranking: 5
Last week: L 35-25 vs. Florida State
Up next: vs. Miami, Saturday
Mid-season grade: [“Yikes” emoji.] As Mack Brown alluded to Saturday night, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way, maybe we should blame the media for giving the Tar Heels too much hype. Of course, neither Brown nor his players did anything to temper expectations. UNC expected to be very good. It is not. It is, instead, a confounding mess, with little evidence of figuring it out any time soon.
7. South Carolina (3-3, 0-3 SEC)
Previous ranking: 7
Last week: L 45-20 at Tennessee
Up next: vs. Vanderbilt, Saturday
Mid-season grade: C. Of course, you should know that a C for South Carolina is not the same thing as a C for Clemson. In the case of the Gamecocks, the mission this season should be: Just don’t get completely embarrassed. A 25-point loss at Tennessee borders on that, but the reality is that Shane Beamer faces a considerable rebuild.
8. Charlotte (4-2, 2-0 Conference USA)
Previous ranking: 10
Last week: W 45-33 at FIU
Up next: vs. FAU, Oct. 21
Mid-season grade: B+. The best news for the 49ers this season: It plays in the right division in Conference USA. A victory against FAU on Oct. 21 would give Charlotte control of the C-USA East, and it avoids having to play “The U’s” of the West: UAB, UTEP and UTSA, which like Charlotte are all off to 2-0 conference starts.
9. Duke (3-3 ,0-2 ACC)
Previous ranking: 9
Last week: L 31-27 vs. Georgia Tech
Up next: at Virginia, Saturday
Mid-season grade: C-. Little was expected of Duke this season, so you have to factor that into the evaluation to this point. Still, losing to Charlotte was not good. And neither was getting blown out by a suspect North Carolina team that has shown an ability to play down to its competition. The good: Victories against Northwestern (close) and Kansas (not so close).
10. ECU (3-3, 1-1 American)
Previous ranking: 8
Last week: L 20-16 at UCF
Up next: at Houston, Oct. 23
Mid-season grade: C. Two of the Pirates’ three losses have come by seven points (a three-point defeat against South Carolina; a four-point loss at UCF). The South Carolina loss hurts. Win that and ECU seems likely headed to a bowl. Still, credit the Pirates for showing some fight in an unlikely win at Marshall and giving themselves a chance for a decent season.
