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 The first month or so of the college football season is as much about how conferences fare against each other as it is about which teams win.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, forever trying to shed its reputation as the fifth best of the major football leagues, gets three shots to knock off the neighborhood bully SEC during the opening weekend.
On Thursday night, North Carolina takes on No. 6 South Carolina, one of six Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the Top 12 of the AP preseason poll.
Virginia Tech can pull off a huge upset Saturday when it faces No. 1 Alabama in Atlanta.
The main event comes Saturday night in Death Valley -- the one in South Carolina.
No. 8 Clemson plays No. 5 Georgia. It's the Tigers' third straight game against the SEC after losing to South Carolina to end last regular season and beating LSU in the Chick-fil-A bowl.
"Regardless of what conference they're from, you've got the No. 5 team coming to your stadium," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "That's all that really matters."
Well, maybe to you, Coach.
Aside from Clemson, the ACC went 0-5 against the SEC last season.
The ACC also gets a crack at Penn State (vs. Syracuse), BYU (at Virginia) and Louisiana Tech (at North Carolina State) during the opening weekend.
Win about half those big games and the ACC gets to boast. Win no more than one, and the when-does-basketball-season-start? jokes begin.
The picks (all games Saturday unless noted).
MAIN EVENT
No. 5 Georgia (minus 2) at No. 8 Clemson
Tajh Boyd, your Heisman front-runner ... CLEMSON 45-38.
MARQUEE MATCHUPS
North Carolina (plus 11 1/2) at No. 6 South Carolina
Jadeveon Clowney meet Tar Heels QB Bryn Renner. He's not scared ... SOUTH CAROLINA 28-17.
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No. 1 Alabama (minus 19 1/2) vs. Virginia Tech at Atlanta
Tide too much for Logan Thomas and banged-up Hokies ... ALABAMA 34-10.
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Rice (plus 27) vs. No. 7 Texas A&M
Johnny Football will sit out the first half. Doesn't matter ... TEXAS A&M 48-14.
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No. 12 LSU (minus 4 1/2) vs. No. 20 TCU at Arlington, Texas
Lots of new starters, same tenacious LSU defense ... LSU 24-17.
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No. 13 Oklahoma State (minus 12 1/2) vs. Mississippi State at Houston
Two quarterbacks equals twice the fun for Cowboys ... OKLAHOMA STATE 42-21.
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BEST BET
No. 22 Northwestern (minus 6) at California
Wildcats ruin debut of Cal's Bear Raid offense ... NORTHWESTERN 35-17.
UPSET SPECIAL
No. 19 Boise State (plus 3 1/2) at Washington
Grand re-opening of Husky Stadium, but Broncos are ultimate party poopers ... BOISE STATE 23-20.
PLUCKY UNDERDOGS
Toledo (plus 23 1/2) at No. 10 Florida ... FLORIDA 38-21.
Louisiana-Monroe (plus 22) at No. 16 Oklahoma ... OKLAHOMA 48-17.
Nevada (plus 20 1/2) at No. 21 UCLA ... UCLA 49-31.
Ohio (plus 20 1/2) at No. 9 Louisville, Sunday ... LOUISVILLE 31-17.
No. 11 Florida State (minus 10) at Pittsburgh, Monday ... FLORIDA STATE 23-7.
Eastern Washington (no line) at No. 25 Oregon State ... OREGON STATE 40-21.
The MAC is coming off one of its most successful seasons and Toledo and Ohio are both expected to be championship contenders. ULM was an early-season darling in 2012, knocking off Arkansas and nearly beating Auburn and Baylor. Nevada's pistol offense is potent and Pittsburgh brings a tough defense, though not much offense, to its ACC debut. Eastern Washington is one of the top FCS programs in the country.
MISMATCHES
No. 24 Southern California (minus 21) at Hawaii, Thursday ... USC 50-24.
Buffalo (plus 35) at No. 2 Ohio State ... OHIO STATE 45-7.
Nicholls State (no line) at No. 3 Oregon ... OREGON 60-10.
Temple (plus 29 1/2) at No. 14 Notre Dame ... NOTRE DAME 37-7.
New Mexico State (plus 42 1/2) at No. 15 Texas ...TEXAS 58-10.
Central Michigan (plus 31 1/2) at No. 17 Michigan ... MICHIGAN 38-13.
Wyoming (plus 29) at No. 18 Nebraska ... NEBRASKA 48-16.
UMass (plus 44 1/2) at No. 23 Wisconsin ...WISCONSIN 58-10.
[Associated
Press; BY RALPH D. RUSSO]
Follow Ralph D. Russo at
http://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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