Instead of Texting Pick ‘Em: Week 8

As the college football season has reached its midpoint, the ACC Atlantic Division has been taking a beating from pundits for major media outlets to little-known blogs.

Atlantic teams have an opportunity to redeem their side of the conference this weekend with three matchups against Coastal Division teams, starting with Florida State’s visit to North Carolina on Thursday night. Boston College, the current leader in the division, can also make a statement for the entire conference with its annual game against that other Catholic school, Notre Dame.

The only intradivisional meeting of the weekend features a battle for first place in the hotly contested Coastal between Georgia Tech and Virginia. After about as miserable a start as any team can have, the Cavaliers are somehow still undefeated in the ACC and leading a division that includes three teams in the top 14 of the BCS rankings. One of those teams is the Ramblin’ Wreck, which won its long-anticipated showdown with Virginia Tech last Saturday.

Meanwhile, this could prove to be a pivotal moment for another major college football race — the two-man IoT picks league. Jimmy and I have been trading a game in the standings with each other for the last three weeks. That could change this weekend as we go head-to-head on three of the six ACC games on the schedule.

Jimmy is going with road underdogs FSU, Maryland and Wake Forest. I’m sticking with the theory that Atlantic Division teams can’t win away from home. All five Atlantic teams in action this weekend play on the road, so I’m picking against them all. (I was tempted to take the Bye over N.C. State just for good measure.)

If Jimmy is right, he could build an insurmountable lead in the IoT standings. If I’m right, we could be right back where we started the season — dead even.

	Jimmy’s Picks (40-17)	Jeremy’s Picks (37-20)
Florida State at North Carolina	Florida State	North Carolina
Georgia Tech at Virginia	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech
Maryland at Duke	Maryland	Duke
Clemson at Miami	Miami	Miami
Boston College at Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
Wake Forest at Navy	Wake Forest	Navy