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Duke's turn

Pondering who should be awarded the No. 1 spot in this week's Tarheel Top Ten, this unlikely question would not go away:

Why not Duke?

With UNC, N.C. State and Wake Forest all having held, and lost, the top ranking, it seems possible that surging Duke really is the best college football team in the state of North Carolina.

Which just goes to show we're not Florida, Texas, California or even Virginia.

Tarheel Top Ten

1. Duke, 4-3 (No. 4 last week)

2. North Carolina, 4-3 (1)

3. Wake Forest, 4-4 (2)

4. Elon, 6-1 (3)

5. Appalachian State, 5-2 (5)

6. East Carolina, 4-3 (6)

7. N.C. State, 3-4 (7)

8. Gardner-Webb, 5-2 (8)

9. N.C. A&T, 5-3 (9)

10. UNC-Pembroke, 7-1 (10)

Big Four

Duke, 1-0

Wake, 1-0

UNC, 0-0

State, 0-2

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Posted by Doug Clark on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 9:03 pm

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Andrew Clark

October 25, 2009 - 9:49 pm EDT

Despite not yet having a team, I'm starting to think Charlotte deserves a spot in the top ten. It's a rather unimpressive year for the state in various levels of football competition.

brian444

October 26, 2009 - 2:28 am EDT

Stop. Just stop. Or if you simply must a weekly list, how about the 10 roundest things on your desk? Something people might care about.

Interested

October 26, 2009 - 7:49 am EDT

Why not Duke? Because both Elon and UNC-P have much better records. Obviously, they play different teams, but if you are going to compare apples and oranges to begin with, shouldn't you go on their records?

Doug

October 26, 2009 - 10:52 am EDT

I don't see it as apples and oranges, except in the case of UNC-Pembroke, which plays at a substantially lower level of competition than the others.

Comparisons are fair when teams either play each other, obviously, or have common opponents.

Elon took a good drubbing from Wake Forest, so it's hard to argue for Elon to rise above Wake Forest in any ranking.

Duke and A&T played one common opponent: N.C. Central. A&T won by a little; Duke won by a lot.

Certainly it's subjective, and it's most definitely unimportant. Whether it's interesting is strictly a matter of individual opinion.

brian444

October 26, 2009 - 12:47 pm EDT

Well, it is kind of interesting. Like a list of the ten nicest serial killers. Or the ten warmest kinds of ice.

But I think a sense of propriety would dictate that we simply avert our eyes from N.C. football altogether and wait until basketball season.

Doug

October 26, 2009 - 12:59 pm EDT

College football in North Carolina offers opportunities for nice outings. The weather is usually very pleasant, and tailgating is fun. In fact, a lot of people simply continue tailgating after game time rather than risk spoiling the day by watching a mediocre performance on the field by whatever team they claim allegiance to. The worst mistake college football fans around here can make is to raise expectations of success. State and Carolina fans fall into that trap and end up with deeper disappointments.

I place more importance in the Big Four standings than the weekly rankings. The Big Four title is very meaningful, even if the over-expanded ACC has forgotten the Big Four.