We blew out Clemson despite being considerably banged up. In the SEC or the Big Ten, that game is an upset waiting to happen.
Mike Ryan made the point on Tuesday's show, and he was not running down the league to do it. He thinks the ACC is tougher than most of the country knows, but there is still a limit.
"It's still a huge benefit to roll into a place like Clemson as hurt as we are and still blow them out," Mike said. "That's a recipe for an upset in the SEC and its a recipe for an upset in the Big Ten."
We beat Wake Forest with Malachi Toney at less than 100 percent and no real pass protector in the backfield. Then Marquise Lightfoot went down at Clemson with the Tigers still in position to make it a game, and Third Scroggins came in and made an impact.
"It's really impressive that Miami has made these performances look easy when you really contextualize the losses that they've had," Mike said.
That is roster building, and it took a few years to get here.
His caveat is the schedule: We have not seen many offenses or defenses with the NFL skill talent other conferences put on the field.
The other side of that came up right away. The schedule has been light, but it has been on the road; we are the only team in the country with three Power Four road wins. Over the last couple of seasons, road trips in this league cost us three times: SMU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse.
He rates Clemson, with real NFL players on that defense, as probably the toughest test Darian Mensah has had. But, he also thinks Wake's defensive line is the more active one.
"Every game I see of Wake, their guys just don't stop," Mike said. "Deep into those fourth quarters, they are high-motor players, and I really hope that we see them again in the ACC Championship."
Some of that is personal. Wake's head coach Jake ****ert has talked about his team being the more physical one. Our staff had been very complimentary of Wake Forest.
Wake is in DMoney's ACC game of the week, too: Wake Forest and NC State, with CJ Bailey coming off a 380-yard game.
Bailey is on his reclamation tour after his Vandy blunder, and Wake is on fire. DMoney does not think it is crazy to say the winner has a pretty smooth path to the ACC championship.
He would not write off Clemson either. The Tigers' losses are to LSU, out of conference, and to us, and DMoney does not see ours hurting them in a tiebreaker "because Miami is going to be in."
Mike watched North Carolina hang with Notre Dame until a big run-stopping defensive tackle left with an injury, and he came away thinking the Tar Heels have the bodies up front to bother us. The interior of our offensive line is still his concern, even though he thought Ryan Rodriguez was excellent and the rotation is developing.
"That's why we told everybody to calm down," Mike said. "The staff would figure it out, and I think we are a little bit."
DMoney, however, isn't worried at all and Bill Belichick is the reason.
"I'm glossing over this game because of the worst coach currently in the ACC," he said.
North Carolina goes to Pitt, goes to Duke and gets Syracuse before it sees us. Drop one or two of those and, in his words, "you could be looking at just total dysfunction."
None of it changes where the season gets judged.
"The resume is going to be built on that Notre Dame visit," Mike said.
The depth has carried us this far against this schedule. It has to hold a few more weeks, and then it gets a real test.
Watch the full breakdown below:
Mike Ryan made the point on Tuesday's show, and he was not running down the league to do it. He thinks the ACC is tougher than most of the country knows, but there is still a limit.
"It's still a huge benefit to roll into a place like Clemson as hurt as we are and still blow them out," Mike said. "That's a recipe for an upset in the SEC and its a recipe for an upset in the Big Ten."
Our depth is the real edge
Think about what we have played without: Our top three corners have all been out at different times and the offensive line has been shuffled by injuries.We beat Wake Forest with Malachi Toney at less than 100 percent and no real pass protector in the backfield. Then Marquise Lightfoot went down at Clemson with the Tigers still in position to make it a game, and Third Scroggins came in and made an impact.
"It's really impressive that Miami has made these performances look easy when you really contextualize the losses that they've had," Mike said.
That is roster building, and it took a few years to get here.
His caveat is the schedule: We have not seen many offenses or defenses with the NFL skill talent other conferences put on the field.
The other side of that came up right away. The schedule has been light, but it has been on the road; we are the only team in the country with three Power Four road wins. Over the last couple of seasons, road trips in this league cost us three times: SMU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse.
Wake Forest, again
If Mike gets his way, the other sideline in Charlotte belongs to Wake Forest.He rates Clemson, with real NFL players on that defense, as probably the toughest test Darian Mensah has had. But, he also thinks Wake's defensive line is the more active one.
"Every game I see of Wake, their guys just don't stop," Mike said. "Deep into those fourth quarters, they are high-motor players, and I really hope that we see them again in the ACC Championship."
Some of that is personal. Wake's head coach Jake ****ert has talked about his team being the more physical one. Our staff had been very complimentary of Wake Forest.
Wake is in DMoney's ACC game of the week, too: Wake Forest and NC State, with CJ Bailey coming off a 380-yard game.
Bailey is on his reclamation tour after his Vandy blunder, and Wake is on fire. DMoney does not think it is crazy to say the winner has a pretty smooth path to the ACC championship.
He would not write off Clemson either. The Tigers' losses are to LSU, out of conference, and to us, and DMoney does not see ours hurting them in a tiebreaker "because Miami is going to be in."
North Carolina on Halloween
This is where DMoney and Mike split.Mike watched North Carolina hang with Notre Dame until a big run-stopping defensive tackle left with an injury, and he came away thinking the Tar Heels have the bodies up front to bother us. The interior of our offensive line is still his concern, even though he thought Ryan Rodriguez was excellent and the rotation is developing.
"That's why we told everybody to calm down," Mike said. "The staff would figure it out, and I think we are a little bit."
DMoney, however, isn't worried at all and Bill Belichick is the reason.
"I'm glossing over this game because of the worst coach currently in the ACC," he said.
North Carolina goes to Pitt, goes to Duke and gets Syracuse before it sees us. Drop one or two of those and, in his words, "you could be looking at just total dysfunction."
None of it changes where the season gets judged.
"The resume is going to be built on that Notre Dame visit," Mike said.
The depth has carried us this far against this schedule. It has to hold a few more weeks, and then it gets a real test.
Watch the full breakdown below:
