A Devilish Time
Posted October 11th, 2009, 11:01 AM ET

N.C. State...shame on you.

The Duke Blue Devils' 21-point thumping of the Wolfpack on Saturday confirmed that the ACC's Atlantic division is the worst in all of the BCS.

Just look at the results this week, where the Coastal teams thumped their lesser Atlantic foes:

Georgia Tech wins at FSU for the first time, and scores 7 TDs in the process.

Virginia Tech beats BC by 34 points. The Eagles trailed 34-0 at halftime, with a grand total of zero first downs and had all of three yards of total offense.

And, of course, Duke snapped their 20-game ACC road losing streak by pounding the Pack. It was Duke's first win in Raleigh since 1984.

By last count, the Atlantic division is now 0-5 against the Coastal in 2009.

Who would have thought that Duke would have more conference wins than FSU, NC State and UNC combined, as we approach mid-October?

If the Blue Devils keep this up, they might be able to become bowl-eligible, and we all know what that means....Duke immediately comes off of Southern Fried Football™ Probation.

The SEC's big weekend did nothing to change my mind about the league.

Florida and Bama put on impressive defensive performances as they suffocated LSU and Ole Miss, respectively. In fact, the defenses were so good that it immediately eliminated any sign of an upset in either game.

The outcomes also confirmed that the SEC is a two-team league in 2009. I've stated all year that the SEC appears to be down to me, this season. The Gators and Tide might be the two best teams in all the land, but the rest of the SEC has slipped a notch. There isn't another team in the bunch that is really Top 10 worthy. The fact that this is a topic just goes to show you how great and dominant the SEC is, when it comes to the college football world. In the past, they have always had three teams in the Top 10 mix...this year that isn't the case.

LSU is definitely a Top 15 team.....but after that, the league hovers with a bunch of Top 20-25 teams. It still might be the best conference in all the land, but based on their own lofty standards, the SEC is down in 2009. The reason is simple....the QB play is below average.

One team that has dropped considerably is Georgia. They also are the proud recipients of Lane Kiffin's first SEC victory. Kiffin took some shots at Mark Richt and Bulldog Nation during the off-season, and on Saturday, he beat their brains out. Georgia was so weak on defense, they made QB Jonathan Crompton look like Peyton Manning....and that's nearly an impossible analogy.

Auburn finally cracked the polls, just in time to be embarrassed by Arkansas. The reason the Hogs are dangerous is because they have one of the few QBs in the league that can throw the forward pass with purpose in Ryan Mallet.

South Carolina is off to another good start under Steve Spurrier. The Cocks are 5-1 after squeaking by Kentucky, and now they become the Homecoming opponent for Bama this upcoming weekend. We've seen USC pull this move in the past, only to limp home when the schedule becomes more difficult. It's hard to believe that South Carolina is the only ranked team left on Florida's remaining schedule...that is if the Gamecocks can stay in the Polls.