Example 1: Late in August, veteran Hokies coach Frank Beamer announced that Tyrod Taylor, who played well as a freshman in splitting time with Sean Glennon, would redshirt. Taylor, a mobile, run-first quarterback, and Glennon, a dropback-style passer, took the Hokies to the Orange Bowl in their first year together, where VT lost to Kansas.

"I think in the long term, thinking about our football program, if we could get this done this is what we need to do," Beamer said on Aug. 27, the day he announced Taylor's redshirt.

In other words: "We think, even without Tyrod Taylor, the ACC is so God-awful that we'll win it anyway, so why waste a year of eligibility?"

Ahhhh, bliss. Everything's great, another ACC title is on the way and another fat check from those fools at the Bowl Championship Series can be deposited in our coffers.

But wait: Things went awry? You don't say!

East Carolina, now No. 15 in all the land, beat the Hokies in Charlotte to open the season. Glennon completed 14 of 23 passes for 139 yards and threw two interceptions, and admitted after the game that, while he didn't necessarily cost his team the game, he needed to play better.

"Do I feel I played good 90 percent of the time? Yeah," Glennon said at the time. "But a senior quarterback's got to play good 100 percent of the time."

Now, on to example 2: The ACC is so bad that, a flawed team that would finish in the middle of the pack or lower in the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big XII can still win the title. Hey, here's an idea! Bring Taylor back! I was shocked when, on vacation in Richmond, Va., I saw that headline in the Times-Dispatch.

Yes, ECU has played well, but the Hokies aren't good, at least now; perhaps they'll improve as the season goes along. Since their loss to ECU, the Hokies have beaten Furman by 17 and Georgia Tech by 3. Not exactly world-beaters, eh?

In any of the conferences mentioned above, Beamer would have been forced to realize that, hey, redshirting my young stud quarterback is the best route to take, even if it means we don't make a BCS bowl game this year. Instead, the ACC's weakness has given Beamer hope, and Taylor is an ol'-fashioned sophomore this year.

And heck, it might just pay off (and Taylor has already sparked the team): Clemson is obviously flawed, though they're still the most talented team in the league; North Carolina is playing well but is inexperienced; Wake Forest is showing signs of weakness, as evidenced by a close win over Ole Miss; and Florida State is ... not that good, to put it plainly, and yet they're ranked.

The fact that I'm even writing that Virginia Tech still could win a BCS conference title is evidence enough of how bad this particular conference is.

ACC football: Catch the fever!!