As an ACC football fan (more specifically a UNC fan) I found tonight's game to be bittersweet. Bitter because an ACC team who was projected to compete for their division lost to a bottom-tier SEC team and failed to score a touchdown, but sweet because it was NC State. However, I think the fact that I'm more upset that the ACC lost is the more important point here. If the ACC is EVER going to be considered on par with the SEC, the Big XII, or even the Big Ten and the Pac-10 they are going to have to start winning games like this - and convincingly.

Here's the ACC schedule for Week 1:

Jacksonville State @ Georgia Tech
Northeastern @ Boston College
Baylor @ Wake Forest
Citadel @ North Carolina
Middle Tennessee State @ Clemson
William & Mary @ Virginia
Richmond @ Dook (yes, that's the correct spelling)
Alabama @ Virginia Tech (in Atlanta, GA)
Maryland @ California
Miami @ Florida State

In that schedule, three teams are playing BCS schools outside of the ACC - Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Maryland. VT is not favored against Alabama (and I'd be willing to bet that the Hokies will lose that game) and Maryland is not favored against Cal (and Maryland will likely lose that game as well). Wake and Baylor is the only game that would likely be a toss-up in my opinion.

Basically - the ACC is having a hard time gaining national respect, and with a schedule like that (as well as outcomes like the NC State-South Carolina game tonight) they will continue to have a hard time showing the country that they belong as an elite BCS conference.