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The ACC's Out-of-Conference Schedule
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

There has been some talk recently about the best and the worst schedules throughout college football, so we thought we would add to it. Since we know all of the schedules in the ACC, we'll take a look around the conference and rank the out-of-conference schedules.

There's no standard ranking procedure. I just looked at the schedule and decided if I liked it or not. Here are the rankings, and then the explanations.

Boston College plays Kent State in Cleveland, and UCF, Rhode Island and Notre Dame at home. First of all, why would you travel to Cleveland to play Kent State? Is that some sort of made-for-ESPNU game? Secondly, Rhode Island is a really bad 1-AA team. UCF is a big yawner for people in Boston. Notre Dame is a big name, but still, I find this schedule to be quite lame.

Florida State plays Florida as usual, and also hosts Colorado. They play two 1-AA teams in Western Carolina and Chattanooga. I'll give them credit for playing all of them at home. Florida is a big one, but FSU fans are used to playing them.

Duke hosts James Madison to start the year. They also have home games against Northwestern and Navy, and then travel to Vanderbilt. Things could be a lot worse. It's not impossible for them to start 3-0 with three home games. They beat Northwestern on the road last year, and nearly defeated Navy. Don't get me wrong, it's not a very exciting schedule, but it could potentially be good for the Blue Devils.

Maryland gets props for hosting the Cal Bears in College Park. And then they get those props taken away for traveling to Middle Tennessee State. If you are going to play a team like that, at least play them at home and make some money and let your fans see you play. Last year UVA traveled to Middle Tennessee, and this year it's the Terps. What's wrong with people? Maryland also hosts Delaware and Eastern Michigan.

North Carolina will play 1-AA McNeese State at home. They'll then travel to Rutgers, host South Florida, and host Notre Dame. That's not a bad schedule. A cupcake, two teams who went bowling last year, and playing Notre Dame at home is something fresh for their fans. Wouldn't you like to get the Irish in Lane Stadium? Yeah, me too.

Wake Forest's schedule isn't bad at all. They play Baylor on the road, and their other OOC games are at home. Like Duke, they'll host Navy. They'll also get Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in Winston-Salem. I don't care which teams they are...Wake Forest is getting two SEC teams at home in the same year. It can be done. I'd love to play a home-and-home with Ole Miss, that's for sure.

Virginia Tech has a neutral site game with East Carolina in Charlotte to start the season, and then hosts 1-AA Furman. Their other home game will be against Western Kentucky, a recent addition to the 1-A ranks. The Hokies will also travel to Nebraska. This is the second year in a row that Tech fans get a great road trip. The home schedule is a yawner this year, but the road schedule certainly is not.

Georgia Tech does play two 1-AA teams in Jacksonville State and Gardner-Webb. However, they also play two SEC teams in Mississippi State and Georgia. I'm not a fan of playing two 1-AA teams at all (GT probably isn't either, but finding opponents is tough these days). However, if I could play the other two games against SEC opponents, I'd take it.

NC State will get great exposure by starting the college football season at South Carolina on a Thursday night. That's a great regional game. The Wolfpack will also host East Carolina and South Florida, two bowl teams from last year. They'll play their cupcake game against William & Mary.

Gotta give Virginia credit. They are hosting Southern Cal on August 30, the opening weekend of the season. They are traveling to UConn, but remember that the Huskies are in a BCS conference now and they went to a bowl last year. The Hoos also host East Carolina. Their one cupcake is Richmond. Getting one of the top two or three programs at home gives the Hoos a lot of points in my book.

Miami has home games against Charleston Southern and UCF. They travel to Florida and Texas A&M. As a fan, I'd love trips to Gainesville and College Station in the same year, so I'm ranking this schedule highly. However, in reality Miami just needs to win some games, and traveling to face teams like that isn't a way to do it.