Nearly a week has passed since Wake Forest and North Carolina each recorded upset wins over highly-ranked opponents, and the dust still has not yet settled. Neither Wake head coach Jim Caldwell, nor UNC head coach Mack Brown could downplay the significance of the victories, as coaches from around the Atlantic Coast Conference continued to shower praise on the respective programs.
"Those are two big wins for the ACC, and it's a shot in the arm, because last year we had a very disappointing year [against] non-conference opponents," said North Carolina State coach Mike O'Cain.
Virginia coach George Welsh concurred. He notes that the ACC may be as good as it has been in a long time from top to bottom. Welsh was not surprised by the Tar Heels victory, as he believes they have a great defensive team. But Welsh admitted that Wake's victory did surprise him.
Several coaches echoed Welsh's sentiments about the Demon Deacons 28-27 triumph over then 13th-ranked Northwestern. Brown, whose Tar Heels were victorious over Big East power Syracuse, noted that Wake's victory will immediately elevate it from the bottom of the conference to a position of respect.
"What a great win for Wake Forest," Brown said. "These two wins have to give our conference the recognition that we deserve nationally to start the season."
Nearly every coach in the conference pointed to the two games as opportunities for the conference to gain some measure of national respect or prestige. Brown and others noted that some people have been reluctant to give the ACC the credit it deserves as a football conference.
"I've always thought the ACC was a much better football conference than [the media] has given it credit for," said Georgia Tech head coach George O'Leary, whose Yellow Jackets face the Demon Deacons on Saturday. "Our team is very impressed with [Wake]. I think a lot of their young players have come through and they are really helping to give them some depth."
O'Leary and his colleagues also pointed out Florida State as an important factor in the improvement of the conference's overall level of play. In addition, he realizes that having the Seminoles in the ACC has increased the amount of respect granted the conference.
"I think all the teams have improved with the addition of Florida State, because we know that they are such a great team" Brown said. "Everybody has to start recruiting at a level to compete with them, and if you can compete with FSU in your own league, you can compete with anybody nationally."
Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden refused to take credit for the elevation of the ACC, but he admitted he was very pleased with last week's victories.
"I'm proud of [UNC and Wake], Bowden said. "I'm proud of the conference and I'm sorry for me-I have to play those two!"
Several coaches also suggested that it was too early in the season to know if either Syracuse or Northwestern was as good as originally believed. Duke head coach Fred Goldsmith, whose Blue Devils face Northwestern on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium, remained wary, nonetheless.
"Northwestern is potentially a much better team than they were last week," Goldsmith said. "We have watched a lot of film, and we will have to be prepared. [Wildcat head coach Gary] Barnett is gonna have them extremely fired up.
"We'll have to play our greatest game to defeat Northwestern here, and I hope that we will have a full stadium of Duke fans to help us. We'll need all the help we can get."
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