Week 3 - November 17, 2011

Slight Shakeup in the ACC. SEC down to three.

Another interesting meeting Monday night where we heard reports from eight different ACC and SEC games for various teams we’re scouting. There were no big surprises this week, but some key games did start to shape our short list. We’ll replace two ACC teams and one SEC team this week and trim our short list to seven teams.

Including the Thursday night game, we’ll scout another five games this week. Make sure you check our Facebook page for the full list of games we’ll visit.

Keep the comments coming on this blog. I like reading the different arguments from each team and love the debate.

You can also use our new U-Post feature on the front page of our website to put in a plug for your team and some possible match-up options for our game this year. Click here to add your post. This is the best visibility for your message and we all read those comments.

Here is the latest version of our short lists and possible teams from each conference.

Most Likely In the ACC:

Clemson – I’m pretty sure you could classify the Clemson-Wake Forest game as a barn burner. What a game that was! Both teams had a chance to win it, but Clemson did what they needed to do and won the Atlantic and a chance to play for an ACC title. If they do not win the ACC Championship, this team is definitely in our picture so we’d like them to finish strong against NC State and South Carolina. If we selected the Tigers, our best scenario has them hitting Atlanta at 11-2.

Florida State – The Wake Forest loss to Clemson also opened the door to get the Seminoles back into our picture. This team was always there for us, but the head-to-head loss to Wake kept them just off the short list last week. After a strong win against Miami, FSU is back in the Top 25 and could finish the season with seven straight wins and the Florida state championship. Manuel is healthy again and it looks like this team is back to form. We’ll keep a close eye on them the rest of the way with another trip to Atlanta a definite possibility.

Virginia – A nice win against Duke puts the Cavs at 7-3, 4-2 and into striking range in the Coastal with a monster game at home against the Hokies to finish the season. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Virginia, so it’s good to see them back in our mix. With two tough games remaining against two other teams in our selection process, the Cavs will be put to the test and wins in both will put them in the ACC Championship Game and make them a strong possibility for our game for the first time since 1998.

Virginia Tech – We were at the Thursday night game against Georgia Tech and saw first-hand the tough, hard-fought win over the Jackets. This was a physical football game and Virginia Tech really had to earn this one. The Hokies look to be headed for another ACC championship game, but they will have to win on the road against Virginia to get there. If so, a loss to Clemson, would put them in our picture as a Top-15 team.

Most Likely in the SEC:

Auburn – The road loss to Georgia may not have eliminated Auburn because it’s looking like the Bulldogs may win the East. We looked deeper into the Tigers’ losses and found that all of them were to top-15 teams while playing a pretty tough schedule in the SEC West. We’d like to see them get to 8-4, but even without an upset victory in the Iron Bowl, they may still have a solid shot at our game.

Florida – The loss to South Carolina probably hurt the Gators’ chances, but they are still on the board with a chance to get to 7-5. Florida has got to win both games against Furman and Florida State (at home) to stay in our selection process.

Vanderbilt – A huge win against Kentucky gets the Commodores to 5-5 with winnable games against Tennessee and Wake Forest still on the schedule. We’ll add Vandy to the short list this week, but they MUST win out and get to 7-5 to have a real chance to get to our game. And with Florida holding the head-to-head advantage over them, they may need to get some help as well. Vanderbilt is on the radar, but we’ll take it week to week from here.

Our scouts are still Tweeting from the games, so make sure you follow us (@chickfilabowl) to see when we’ll be on your campus.

You can check out our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/chickfilabowl) for the complete list of games we’ll see this week.

Who do you think we should select? Let us know by posting on U-Post at www.Chick-fil-ABowl.com.

Good luck to all the teams and enjoy the games!