... Trixie hasn't really been challenged much this year. Well, on the field, I mean. He has faced many challenges this year. First, the obvious challenge of figuring out where to park. It takes a few times to get that right. Don't forget the strenuous activity of getting up on time. And you can't pretend to understand the hardship of deciding which tally whoo-ahs he should give one of his custom-made "Chris Rix, #16, Quarterback, Florida State University" business cards to. On the field, look what he had to contend w/ this year. Whew, I am getting tired just thinking about this! He not only had to face off against a team in top 25 (I know, he lost, but stick with me here) but he then played against a 5-4 conference "foe" in a game interesting only because the father stood to help the son get canned. Except, of course, he lost that one too. But it takes a lot of effort to lose to teams that get worked over by Wake Forest. Somewhere AD is rolling his eyes and saying, "Hell, I played better than that and I was trying to throw the damn game!" http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teamsched?teamId=52 Now, check out this cakewalk: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teamsched?teamId=57 So Florida has played (at the time of the game) #'s 3, 12, 6, 11, 4 and soon to be another 11. That is unless Phil Rivers outduels Rix. Oh wait, that's happened three years in a row now, right? OK, never mind. We'll have to settle for playing numbers 3, 12, 6, 11, 4 and say 18. Anyways, no big deal, anybody can get up for a ranked opponent, right? As you know, the current ACC has had pretty much just one team ranked all year (Trixie and Blobby do Tally). Which doesn't deviate very far from the norm of the last decade or so. Which hasn't dawned on most people living here in our nation's capital who dodder about in an Alice-in-wonderland-like fantasy world where people are still insisting that Maryland and Virginia are both good football programs (see ESPN2 tonight). Remember, this was the same group telling us a few years back that North Carolina was a rising ACC power. Yes, that North Carolina, the 2-8 one. Then Maryland rose for a year or so (just in time to get molested by the SEC champion Florida Gators in an Orange Bowl). Then, starting off this year, we were told that NC State and Virginia were DEFINITELY going to be forces to be reckoned with this year, remember? Apparently, I reckon that all that reckoning is occurring outside that top 25, having been replaced by teams like Miami (of OHIO), Bowling Green, and Texas Christian, who are doing much more of the reckoning this year. Meaning playing games while in the top 25 and the like. So, what ended up happening this year is is the SAME DAMN THING that has happened EVERY YEAR in the ACC post-FSU. Basically, little more than Blotchy and his eight dwarves. Almost Competitive Conference? Not hardly. More like FSU's free bus pass into a BCS bowl. The current ACC has ONE TEAM in the BCS top 25, .5$u at #13. ONE OF NINE SCHOOLS, so many of which, we were told only a few short months ago, were forces to be reckoned with! The MIDAMERICAN CONFERENCE (yes, the MIDAMERICAN CONFERENCE) has three, count 'em, three in the BCS top 25, including the noncriminal version of Miami at #16, BGSU at 21 and Terp-beater Northern Illinois at 23. It looks like the Cracker Jack people can still hand out those ACC rings in their boxes this year... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/abcsports/BCSRankings So let us now consider the highly-touted (for some strange reason) "Nuevo" ACC, which we were reminded frequently this year had three teams in the top 6. Wow! Of course, the SEC has had three teams in the top 10 during substantial parts, if not most, of the past several years. And, here's one difference, not just the same three "usual suspects" but UF, UT, UGa, LSU, and Auburn in just the last two years alone. That doesn't even count Arky's short-lived peak at #11 this year, a 'Cocks team that was knocking on that door two years ago (well, till we showed up in Columbia to fix the "blackout") and an Ole Miss team that should be there in another week or two. Now THAT'S what a real conference looks like fellas! EIGHT of TWELVE teams in or near the top ten in the past two years. Oh well, maybe someday... ... or maybe not. ACC "The Next Generation" (ACC TNG) currently has three teams in the BCS top 25, occupying spots 12, 13 and 15. Again, the exact same amount as the MAC. That's the MIDAMERICAN CONFERENCE in case you haven't heard of them before. Interestingly, the SEC also has three teams in that same range, occupying BCS spots 7 (Tennessee), 9 (Georgia) and 14 (the greatness that is Gator). Oh, my mistake, that's just the SEC EAST!!! Which is currently faring better by itself than the entire ACC. No, not the current ACC (that wouldn't exactly be a news flash) but the mighty ACC TNG!!!!! Say it ain't so?!?!?! But, as of today, the entire ACC TNG is now about as strong as the SEC... East. In what is an admittedly down year for the SEC East! ROTFLMAO! If you dare to compare ACC TNG to the entire SEC (gasp!) you would find three teams at #12, 13 and 15 (3 of 12) compared to #4 LSU, 7, 9, 14 and 18 Mississippi (5 of 12). Therefore, even taking into account the two marquee programs wearing their shiny new ACC pledge pins (A ppppppp-PLEDGE PIN!!! On your UNIFORM?!?!?!), they remain a full step below the SEC and Big XII by any objective viewpoint. Which only underscores how pathetic the ACC has been over the current years when compared to SEC, Big XII, Big 10+1 or Pac 10. And now people want to take away the Big East's BCS bid? Why? After all, the ACC has had one all these years!