Posted by Chip Patterson

N.C. State linebacker D.J. Green has been ruled ineligible for to compete for the Wolfpack in 2012, reportedly for a nutritional supplement that tested positive as a banned substance.

Green reached out to Joe Giglio of the News and Observer on Monday, issuing an explanation and apology to the NC State fans through a text message.

"I wasn't responsible enough to check with our coaches to make sure that it was something legal and now I'm paying the consequences," Green said in his message.

"I apologize to my teammates, my coaches and to all the Wolfpack fans and hope that all the other players out there learn from my mistakes."

Green will remain on the team, and have one year of eligibility remaining after sitting out 2012. However, the rising junior will remain on the team and be allowed to participate in practice. Green was expected to be a starter in 2012, as he was in 2011 before missing the final five games with a broken foot. He recorded 28 tackles, a sack, and an interception in seven games of action.

N.C. State will open the 2012 ACC regular season in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta. The Wolfpack play Friday night (Aug. 31) in the Georgia Dome against Tennessee. This will be the first year the Chick-fil-A Kickoff includes two games, with Clemson taking on Auburn on Saturday.

You can check out the Spring Practice Primer for Duke and Boston College - already underway in spring practice session - and get the rest of the ACC schedule at the Spring Practice Home

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Posted by Chip Patterson

After ironing out the last few non-conference kinks, the ACC released the 2012 regular season schedule on Monday.

Friday, August 31, 2012
Tennessee vs. NC State (Chick-fil-A Kickoff, Atlanta, Ga.)

Saturday, September 1, 2012
Auburn vs. Clemson (Chick-fil-A Kickoff, Atlanta, Ga.)
 Miami at Boston College
Florida International at Duke
Murray State at Florida State
William & Mary at Maryland
Elon at North Carolina
Richmond at Virginia
Liberty at Wake Forest

Monday, September 3, 2012
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech

Saturday, September 8, 2012
Maine at Boston College
Ball State at Clemson
Duke at Stanford
Savannah State at Florida State
Presbyterian at Georgia Tech
Maryland at Temple
Miami at Kansas State
North Carolina at Wake Forest
NC State at Connecticut
Penn State at Virginia
Austin Peay at Virginia Tech

Saturday, September 15, 2012
Boston College at Northwestern
Furman at Clemson
North Carolina Central at Duke
Wake Forest at Florida State
Virginia at Georgia Tech
Connecticut at Maryland
Bethune-Cookman at Miami
North Carolina at Louisville
South Alabama at NC State
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh

Saturday, September 22, 2012
Memphis at Duke
Clemson at Florida State
Miami at Georgia Tech
Maryland at West Virginia
East Carolina at North Carolina
The Citadel at NC State
Virginia at TCU
Bowling Green at Virginia Tech
Army at Wake Forest

Saturday, September 29, 2012
Clemson at Boston College
Duke at Wake Forest
NC State at Miami
Florida State at South Florida
Middle Tennessee at Georgia Tech
Idaho at North Carolina
Louisiana Tech at Virginia
Virginia Tech at Cincinnati (FedEx Field, Landover, Md.)

Saturday, October 6, 2012
Miami at Notre Dame (Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.) 
Boston College at Army
Georgia Tech at Clemson
Virginia at Duke
Florida State at NC State
Wake Forest at Maryland
Virginia Tech at North Carolina

Saturday, October 13, 2012
Boston College at Florida State
Duke at Virginia Tech
Maryland at Virginia
North Carolina at Miami

Saturday, October 20, 2012
Boston College at Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech at Clemson
North Carolina at Duke
Florida State at Miami
NC State at Maryland
Wake Forest at Virginia

Thursday, October 25, 2012
Clemson at Wake Forest 

Saturday, October 27, 2012
BYU at Georgia Tech
Maryland at Boston College
Duke at Florida State
NC State at North Carolina

Thursday, November 1, 2012
Virginia Tech at Miami 

Saturday, November 3, 2012
Boston College at Wake Forest
Clemson at Duke
Georgia Tech at Maryland
Virginia at NC State

Thursday, November 8, 2012
Florida State at Virginia Tech

Saturday, November 10, 2012
Notre Dame at Boston College
Maryland at Clemson
Georgia Tech at North Carolina
Miami at Virginia
Wake Forest at NC State

Thursday, November 15, 2012
North Carolina at Virginia 

Saturday, November 17, 2012
South Florida at Miami
Virginia Tech at Boston College
NC State at Clemson
Duke at Georgia Tech
Florida State at Maryland
Wake Forest at Notre Dame

Saturday, November 24, 2012
Boston College at NC State
South Carolina at Clemson
Miami at Duke
Florida at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Georgia
Maryland at North Carolina
Virginia at Virginia Tech
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest

Saturday, December 1
Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game
Bank of America Stadium- Charlotte, NC



You can check out the Spring Practice Primer for Duke and Boston College - already underway in spring practice session - and get the rest of the ACC schedule at the Spring Practice Home

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Posted by Chip Patterson

Breaking down who won and lost in the ACC on National Signing Day

WINNER: Florida State

For the second year in a row, multiple top uncommitted prospects picked Florida State in widely publicized National Signing Day announcements. Cornerback Ronald Darby (pictured above, No. 3 athlete in 2012 class) never even told head coach Jimbo Fisher he was definitely coming to Florida State, but when decision time came he reached for the Seminoles' hat. It started with Mario Edwards, Jr. signing his letter on ESPN in the morning, then on to Eddie Goldman's commitment and Jameis Winston's public recruitment of Darby just before the cornerback's announcement. For Florida State, the revolution was televised.



LOSER: North Carolina schools

Recently, high school football in the state of North Carolina has been on the rise. Unfortunately, it has not resulted in a boost to any of the North Carolina schools in the ACC. North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, and Duke missed out on every North Carolina prospect in Tom Lemming's Top 100 Players, and allowed 31 of the 55 in-state prospects to sign with out-of-state schools. If these football programs want to shake the "basketball school" reputation of Tobacco Road, they need to stop letting the best in-state talent get poached by other programs.

WINNER: Miami

The Hurricanes got a jump start on the competition due to self-imposed bowl ineligibility, and those early verbal commits helped secure enough to talent to keep the Hurricanes as a Top 10 class despite some defections. Miami also got a much-needed boost in the secondary with the commitment of Tracy Howard, and defensive end Tyriq McCord signed his letter despite rumors he may flip to USC or South Carolina. The heart of Golden's 2012 recruiting class lies right in Miami's backyard, with over half of the class from Southern Florida - many from Broward-Dade County area. Several Hurricanes' signees openly spoke about expecting NCAA action, and are willing to follow Golden's plan for success anyway.



LOSER: Georgia Tech

Recruiting is just not a great time for the public image of Georgia Tech football. Head coach Paul Johnson was publicly critical of oversigning again, and the Yellow Jackets' stiff academic requirements have become a topic of conversations when competing against the SEC for in-state talent. But Georgia Tech did have a hat on the table when defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was making his decision between the Yellow Jackets, Alabama, and Georgia on National Signing Day. Tomlinson, one of the top uncommitted in-state recruits, paused on the Georgia Tech hat, only to publicly spurn the Yellow Jackets and commit to Alabama. Additionally, Georgia Tech offensive line coach Todd Spencer resigned amidst potential NCAA violations from impermissible text messaging. Just not a good PR day for Georgia Tech.

WINNER: Maryland

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs (No. 14 overall prospect) did not commit on National Signing Day. The top ranked unsigned recruit is strongly considering Florida, Auburn, and Maryland. While many believe the Gators are in the lead for Diggs, MaxPreps' Stephen Spiewak writes that Maryland still might have a chance. Former Illinois head coach Ron Zook believes that new Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who has a great relationship with Diggs' family, could convince the Olney, Md. standout to stay in-state. With Locksley playing catch up in the recruiting game, every day without a Diggs commitment is likely to Maryland's advantage.

LOSER: Virginia Tech

While the Hokies pulled in another solid class, including talented wide receiver Joel Caleb, there was one decommit that caused an unwanted scene. Linebacker Jawand Blue, a Boca Raton, Fla. native, was committed to the Hokies until an opportunity arose at the last minute to jump in with Miami. When he called Virginia Tech, the phone conversation apparently did not go well. Unfortunately, a local reporter heard the conversation (from Blue's end) and began tweeting quotes "from Frank Beamer." A Virginia Tech spokesperson later clarified it was not Beamer, but assistant coach Charley Wiles. For more on the interaction, you can check out ACCSports.com's Signing Day blog. Blue was not a make-or-break recruit for Beamer, but the whole situation was a loss on a very public day for all recruiting news.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

In 62 years at Penn State, former head coach Joe Paterno impacted the lives of players, coaches, and fans all over the college football world. The recent decline in Paterno's health and death on Sunday have led to responses from many of the current and former head coaches around the ACC.

Joe Paterno became the winningest coach in FBS history this season with 409 career victories, and on Sunday afternoon Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, the winningest active coach, offered a statement on the coach's legacy.

“We have lost someone with great and special talents," Beamer said in an official release. "He had great and special talent as far as being a leader, which is very obvious by his winning record. And, he had a great and special talent in how he treated people. In my experience with him, he was always charming, gracious and thoughtful. I think he was a great fighter, and I know he fought this illness to the very end. College football will miss Joe Paterno.”

Former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden, a longtime colleague and frequent opponent of Paterno, was coaching in the Battle of Florida high school all-star game on Saturday in Miami. Upon hearing the news that Paterno's health had worsened, Bowden offered some insight on his 40+ year relationship with the former Penn State head coach.

"I've known Joe forever," Bowden told The Miami Herald. "I've known him personally since 1966. The first time I met him was 1962. We've always been very close. We're close to the same age. He's just one of the best coaches ever. I felt like he would go down as probably the best ever, but after this little thing it kind of tainted it. But I'm sorry it happened. I hate it happened. I hate to see something happen to Joe."

Bowden echoed the sentiments of several others, acknowledging the difficult circumstances surrounding Paterno's tenure but choosing to remember him for other reasons during this difficult time.

"Just remember the good things. I don't remember the bad things. He didn't have many bad things. I would only remember the good things. He and I spent a lot of time together. We played him 10 times at West Virginia and played him twice when I was at Florida State in bowls. I never beat him in Pennsylvania. He had too many good players."

Paterno had an 62-18-2 record against the current ACC teams during his tenure as Penn State's head coach. He was 1-3-1 in bowl games against ACC opponents, including a 17-17 tie with Florida State in the 1967 Gator Bowl. Find his records against current ACC schools below.

Maryland: 23-1-1
Boston College: 16-4
NC State: 12-2
Miami: 7-5
Virginia: 2-2
Georgia Tech: 1-1
Wake Forest: 1-0
Florida State: 0-2-1
Clemson: 0-1
Duke: N/A
North Carolina: N/A
Virginia Tech: N/A


For more reaction from State College, follow CBSSports.com's Penn State RapidReports.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

Just one day after NC State linebackers coach Jon Tenuta reportedly accepted the defensive coordinator position on Tim Beckman's staff at Illinois, the 31-year veteran assistant coach has decided to return to Raleigh.

Tenuta has played a big role in the Wolfpack's success at linebacker over the last two seasons, coaching all-conference talent like Nate Irving, Terrell Manning, and Audie Cole. On Wednesday, Illinois released an official statement from Tenuta regarding his decision to return to NC State.

"Illinois is a great program and I think the world of Tim Beckman," Tenuta said the official release. "I've known Beck for 20 years and I have no doubt that with the staff he is putting together, he will have Illinois at the top of the Big Ten very soon.

"However, my family comes first and I may have made a decision without fully thinking through the situation with them. My son is a senior in high school and has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at N.C. State, and it is something I just don't want to miss. I was one of the first people to contact Beck and congratulate him on the opportunity at Illinois, and I wish him and the Illini nothing but the best."

The Wolfpack have won 17 games in two seasons since Tenuta joined Tom O'Brien's staff, including two bowl game victories. He spent time with Chan Gailey at Georgia Tech and Charlie Weis at Notre Dame, but was not retained after head coaching changes at both stops.

The decision leaves Beckman with four unfilled slots on the Illinois coaching staff. He will be bringing two assistants with him from Toledo - Alex Goldsh as an offensive assistant and Mike Ward as a defensive assistant - and has opted to retain defensive line coach Keith Gilmore from Ron Zook's staff. Beckman has chosen to wait on assigning specific titles, though it was reported Tenuta would be the defensive coordinator.

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Posted by Eye On College Football 


Occasionally the Eye on CFB team gathers, Voltron-style, to answer a pressing question from the world of college football. Today's question is:

What changes, if any, would you make to the current bowl schedule and/or bowl eligibility requirements?

Bryan Fischer: Any time you have a team like UCLA playing in a game at 6-7, I think it underscores that there needs to be a new rule that you not only be 6-6, but 7-5 at the very minimum. I get that the bowl games are a treat for the players but shouldn't we be rewarding winners and not the mediocre? The entire bowl system seems to have turned into the college football equivalent of a participation trophy. This, of course, ties-in with the line of reasoning that there are too many bowl games. At some point we'll get to the point where there's a good number of games for good teams but right now the excess causes mediocrity. For every crazy New Orleans Bowl finish we get, there's just as many Beef O'Brady Bowl duds it seems.

Tom Fornelli: I tend to agree with Bryan in that I'm not a big fan of 6-6 teams being rewarded for mediocrity, and I usually fall in line with the "there are too many bowl games" crowd, but then a funny thing happens every year. The games start, and they feature a couple of 6-6 teams, and I love them.

Yeah, there are some duds, but there are plenty of duds every Saturday during the regular season. So I think my personal criticisms from the current bowl system come from the fact that I'd like to see some type of playoff. A plus-one being the minimum of what I'd like to see.  So while I get extremely annoyed when I see that 6-6 Florida is playing 6-6 Ohio State in the Gator Bowl, I'm sorry, the TAXSLAYER.COM (bangs head, SIGN OF THE BEAST!!!) Gator Bowl, I'll probably still watch the game. I'm just a college football junkie, there's no way around it.

Jerry Hinnen: There's an easier fix for getting the UCLA-like riffraff out of the postseason than scuttling existing bowls: re-institute the discarded NCAA mandate that bowls must take teams with winning records ahead of teams with .500 (or sub-.500, in the Bruins' case) marks. "Too many bowls" is going to be a hard sell for the folks at places like Temple -- who unfairly sat at home after going 8-4 in Al Golden's final season last year -- or Western Kentucky, who should have gotten their first-ever FBS bowl bid after 2011's second-place Sun Belt finish and 7-5 record.

Cases like Temple's and WKU's are why, personally speaking, I'm fine-n'-dandy with the Participation Trophy Bowl circuit; not every game is going to be riveting theater (and matchups like UCLA-Illinois or Louisville-N.C. State promise to be quite the opposite), but it's not like anyone's required to watch. Should the seniors on that UL-Lafayette team we saw celebrating like they'd collectively won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes Saturday night have been denied that once-in-not-even-most-people's-lifetimes experience just because a few college football diehards don't want to risk being bored?

Is the long-since-antiquated notion that bowl berths are for no one but mid-major champions and the top handful of major-conference programs worth brilliant Hilltoppers' running back Bobby Rainey ending his career without a bowl appearance? Not if you ask me--if the players want to play them, the the local organizers want to host them, it's not my place (or any fan's) to say they shouldn't. The number of bowls is fine; the way the teams are selected could just use a little pro-winning-record tweaking. Besides, give it another month and there won't be any college football at all. I'll take whatever I can get at this stage, Belk Bowl included.

(That said, it would be outstanding if the NCAA also prohibited the exorbitant ticket guarantees that have turned bowl trips into a financial sinkhole for so many smaller schools, but that's a separate issue from the scheduling/eligibility question.)

Chip Patterson: I too would like to see limping 6-6 BCS conference team taken out of the bowl equation, particularly when there are dangerous Non-BCS teams that have been left out of postseason play in recent years. One way could be to change the requirements to 7-5, but this season I thought of another wrinkle.

Instead of changing the bowl eligibility record/win total, add a stipulation that requires a team to finish .500 or better in league play. Many times, the 6-6 team that fails to show up for a bowl game has struggled down the stretch and enters the postseason with little-to-no momentum. If schools are going to benefit from conference tie-ins, make them perform in conference play to earn that right. A 6-6 team with a 3-5 conference record likely is not playing their best football at the end of the season, and might be a part of one of the dud bowl games we have seen recently.

I would also prefer to move the "gutter" bowl games back before the BCS and traditional New Years Day games. That stretch of bowls leading up to the National Championship Game is one of the places where we find unattractive matchups and lose college football excitement after the blitz of New Years Day. If those games were moved back before the New Year and the title game was pushed back to Jan 4-5, it would arguably be a better spot for college football to capitalize on the nation's interest. Not only does the average fan have to wait, but they have to be teased with games that would be better consumed in pieces during a Dec. 28 doubleheader.

Adam Jacobi: It's important to keep in mind that most of these lowest-tier bowls are media-owned entities, which were created and staged every year because from a media perspective, live televised FBS college football is more lucrative than anything else that could be aired in the middle of a December week. As such, if you want to get rid of these bowls, you had better come up with something that produces higher ratings for that network instead, otherwise, no amount of hand-wringing about the quality of the teams playing in bowls is going to result in any meaningful change. This is not a scandal or anything that should not be, mind you, because it does not negatively affect fairness of play or anything else of vital importance. It's merely the entity that stands to gain most from lowest-tier bowls being played, making sure that the lowest-tier bowls get played by owning and organizing them. That's just good business.

Moreover, if by some chance these lowest-tier bowls happen to disappear, as much as we're tired of seeing a 6-6 (3-5) BCS-conference team get into the postseason, let's not pretend that that team's going to be the first against the wall. It's going to be the also-rans of the MAC, WAC, C-USA, and every other non-AQ conference, because 90% of the time, those non-AQ schools draw lower ratings than their BCS-level counterparts. The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between UCLA and Illinois is going to suck, but if we're being honest about what bowl organizers really want out of a team that they invite, UCLA and Illinois are going to keep getting bowl invitations over even 8-win teams like Tulsa, Toledo, or Louisiana Tech.

So if you're asking me what I would change about the bowl system, I wouldn't possibly know where or how to begin. The bowl system is a product of media desires and inequality in FBS football, so if you want the bowl system to be any different, you'd better figure out a way to fix either the media landscape or the college football landscape first, and well... good luck with that.

Tom Fornelli: What if we replace the mid-week December games with gladiator like competitions? In which players from each school battle each other to the death. The loser, obviously, dies and frees up a scholarship for the school. The winner gets extra credit in any class of his choosing!

WHO WOULDN'T WATCH?

Adam Jacobi: Well, that would certainly be heartbreaking for everyone involved.

I wouldn't mind it if the sponsors (or bowl organizers or the stadium) had a little bit of leeway in ground rules for these games. These are silly games anyway (unless I'm supposed to take something called the Beef O'Brady's Bowl completely seriously all of a sudden), so why shouldn't the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl be played with literally a giant potato for a football? Field goals in the Holiday Bowl worth 4 points if they're from more than 45 yards out? Fine by me! Special uniforms in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl designed to look like boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese? OF COURSE we should be doing that.

So yeah, as long as we're going to have ultimately trivial exhibitions end the seasons of so many teams, we might as well make said trivial exhibitions unique in ways that go beyond mere branding.

Tom Fornelli: These ideas have my full support.  Can you imagine how much better the Orange Bowl would be if they were using an orange instead of a football?

Chip Patterson: Did they change tires on car at half time of the Meineke Car Care Bowl? If not they should.  Same goes for the Belk Bowl. I think instead of a coin toss there should be a Dockers shopping spree to determine who gets the ball first.

Adam Jacobi: And if Hooters got involved, there would be... lots of wings available for attending fans to eat. And that is all.

To chime in on the bowl schedule debate, or offer your own changes; "Like" us on Facebook and let us know what you think.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

It must be the holiday season, because Adam Aizer and I are in the giving sprit and delivering two conference wrap-up podcasts for the price of one. In this edition of the CBSSports.com College Football Podcast, Adam and I put a bow on the regular season in the ACC and the Big East and break down the best and worst of both conferences.

Pleasant surprises, biggest disappointments, conference awards and the best games of the season. What worked well for Mike London in his second year at Virginia? What didn't work well for Todd Graham at Pittsburgh and Randy Edsall at Maryland? We run down each team in the ACC and Big East and tell you what worked and what didn't in 2011.


Your emails could be read on the next edition of the CBSSports.com College Football Podcast, so send them in to podcast[at]cbsinteractive [dot] com.

Remember, all of the CBSSports.com College Football Podcasts can be downloaded for FREE from the iTunes Store.

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Posted by Chip Patterson

UPDATE: In an unforeseen development, it appears as though Virginia Tech will get a bid to play in the Sugar Bowl - the first time the ACC has sent two teams to the BCS.  The Hokies' jump to the BCS changes the following bowl scenarios. 

Clemson - Orange
Virginia Tech - Sugar
Virginia - Chick Fil-A
Florida State - Champs
Georgia Tech - Sun
NC State - Belk
Wake Forest - Music City
North Carolina - Independence

---

With Clemson's 38-10 victory over Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game, the Tigers not only won their first conference title in 20 years, but they earned their first trip back to the Orange Bowl since winning the National Championship in 1981. With Dabo Swinney taking his Clemson talents to South Beach, sources tell CBSSports.com the rest of the conference's postseason bids have been set.

The Tigers' opponent in the Orange Bowl will likely be West Virginia, expected to win the three-team Big East tiebreaker with the highest BCS ranking. Sources tell CBSSports.com that Virginia Tech will accept an offer to play in the Chick-Fil-A (likely against Auburn) as a result of their second-place finish in the ACC Championship. The Champs Sports Bowl will then select Florida State to play against Notre Dame.

The Sun Bowl, as they've made clear publicly, will choose Georgia Tech with the fourth selection. Then, sources say, the Belk Bowl will select NC State with the fifth-overall choice. Barring an unexpected BCS standings shakeup, sources tell CBSSports.com that the Wolfpack will play Louisville in the Charlotte.

The Music City Bowl will then select the Virginia to play in Nashville and the Independence Bowl will select Wake Forest, sources tell CBSSports.com. The Military Bowl will take North Carolina with the conference's final selection of bowl-eligible teams.

These reports match Jerry Palm's updated bowl projections, as well as the recent updates from CBSSports.com's Rapid Reporters.

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