Now it's up to the public to decide whether that's good or just plain mediocrity. The ACC will spin it as a great achievement saying that with the exception of Duke every team had a shot towards the end of the season to be a bowl team. In reality, every ACC team had at least 3 losses in the conference and overall. There are no double digit win teams going into the bowls and there was never a team who even sniffed being a national title contender all season.

Schools like Wake Forest, Clemson, Maryland and Miami were disappointing. The play in the conference was really quite poor and although there were a lot of good players who had good years, trying to compare the talent level in the ACC to that of the SEC, Big 12 or even Big 10 is a joke.

So, I say the 10 bids are window dressing for a terribly average season for a conference that should strive for much more.

It must be noted that these would be fairly significant upsets. Maybe not as big as App St over Michigan but only because App St is an FCS team. If any of these did occur, it would spell the end of national title hopes for the favored team.

Appalachian State at LSU (August 30): This one doesn't need
any buildup. It'll be impossible for LSU to overlook Appy.
Nevertheless, it should be a fun game and if the Tigers get sloppy with
their tackling it might be close in the fourth quarter. Another thing
to remember is that LSU will be breaking in an unproven QB while App
St's Armanti Edwards is a star. The following week when LSU faces Troy
could be a possible scary game as well.

Central Michigan at Georgia (September 6): The Dawgs actually have a difficult game the week before against FCS power Georgia Southern. With QB Dan Lefevour throwing the ball all over Athens, this has the chance to be a shootout. True, CMU didn't fare well against top shelf teams last year losing to Kansas, Purdue and Clemson by a combined 167-43. They did however rebound and nearly beat Purdue in a rematch in the Motor City Bowl.

Texas at UTEP (September 6): The Miners have a nice three pronged attack with QB Trevor Vittatoe, RB Terrell Jackson and WR Jeff Moturi. They only won 4 games last year but with all of the returning talent this is a danger game for the Horns. In fact, this is the second straight year Texas will go on the road to face a team with a veteran head coach. Last year they barely survived UCF in Orlando.

The Citadel at Clemson (September 6): This is a sandwich game for the Tigers in between the opener against Alabama and their ACC opener against NC State. The Bulldogs scored 35 or more in 8 of their 12 games last year including hanging 31 on Wisconsin. Clemson has a history of laying an egg once or twice a season. If they do here, The Bulldogs will hang around.

Troy at Ohio State (September 20): This will be another high
scoring game. Last season Troy beat Oklahoma State and gave Georgia a
scare. Larry Blakeney is a proven coach who will have his team ready
despite what will be a new QB situation. If the Buckeyes upset USC the
week before, this will be a typical let down game.