ACC/SEC Challenge: A Look At Tuesday’s Games

It’s probably not going to go well

The ACC/SEC Challenge starts Tuesday night and while we’re ACC true blue and all that, it’s not looking good for the league. Take a look at these matchups:

Tuesday

• Arkansas @ Miami
• Notre Dame @ Georgia
• Cal @ Missouri
• South Carolina @ Boston College
• Syracuse @ Tennessee
• Wake Forest @ Texas A&M
• Ole Miss @ Louisville
• Georgia Tech @ Oklahoma
• Florida State @ LSU
• Kentucky @ Clemson

Wednesday

• Alabama @ UNC
• Virginia @ Florida
• Auburn @ Duke
• Pitt @ Mississippi State
• Texas @ NC State
• Vanderbilt @ Virginia Tech

On Tuesday, we think we can reasonably concede Arkansas-Miami and Cal-Missouri to the SEC. Either of those games could be huge blowouts. Given the way Miami has been playing, we’d be surprised if it wasn’t a blowout. And by blowout we mean 30+. Cal could be just as bad if not worse because Cal’s toughest opponents have been Vanderbilt and USC and Vandy beat them by 16. USC was basically a conference game even though that conference has fallen apart. Those teams know each other, so it wasn’t a surprise that Cal won.

We’d be shocked if Syracuse pulled off an upset of Tennessee at Tennessee - or anywhere, really and we really don’t expect Georgia Tech to win at Oklahoma.

Notre Dame has a shot at Georgia we’d take them for sure if Markus Burton was playing - and BC might pull off the win over South Carolina.

Wake Forest could win at A&M, but don’t count on it. We don’t know a whole lot about Ole Miss, but that team is coached by Chris Beard. And while Beard nearly destroyed his career at Texas after allegedly assualting his fianceé, no one doubts his coaching ability. This could be the most interesting game Tuesday given what Pat Kelsey has already accomplished.

Florida State is recovering from the late-career slide Leonard Hamilton suffered recently but we’re not sure they’re up to beating LSU. But they might be. We’d feel better if this one was in Tally.

Finally Tuesday, there is Kentucky at Clemson and that one is really interesting.

On the surface, we’d take Kentucky. Mark Pope has shown some real chops in his return, but this game is at Clemson and Littlejohn is a world-class pit - at least when Duke or UNC come to town. It’s totally wild for those games, and it’s going to be for Kentucky too. And while Pope has shown real talent, this is his first season and he doesn’t have immense talent on the roster. Clemson is usually an excellent defensive team and we could imagine the Tigers clamping down on Kentucky and winning. Not saying they will...but you can picture it. And 10,325 screaming Tiger fans won't hurt.

We’ll look at Wednesday’s games in our next installment.