FanHouse Virginia

After losing to FCS opponent William & Mary in their home opener, Virginia could have used a pep talk from Maury Ballstein. "What do we do when we fall off the horse? ... We get back on!"

One week later, the same advice quite literally applies to CavMan, the Wahoos' horseback-riding sword-waver.

At the University of Maryland, where I started teaching a course last semester, the university president just before last Christmas announced that the campus would have to implement a furlough plan -- unpaid leave -- this year because of budget cutbacks from the state due to the economic downturn. Maryland wasn't alone.

Arizona State implemented furloughs. Utah State did the same for all of its 2,995 employees the second week of last month. That followed layoffs at Clemson. Small schools like John Carroll University in Cleveland aren't immune as it, too, forced unpaid vacations on employees.

Before March was mad, the ACC was already basketball crazy.

Since 1955, the granddaddy of all conference tournaments has put one heck of an exclamation point on the end of the season, the twist ending to an Oscar-worthy film. Even in an era when six bids out of the league are as routine as Billy Packer ripping apart mid-majors or Mike Krzyewski having a colorful conversation with the referees, the ACC tournament still matters.

And in 2009, the ACC tournament has a to-do list the size of Barack Obama's.

Florida State's defense finally looked like the dominating crew most thought they would be this year in a 33-0 smackdown of Virginia. Even with all of the injuries to key players, the defense only gave up 190 total yards to the Cavs.

Xavier Lee didn't look quite as good as he did last week against Maryland, but he did enough to get the job done. He had a 37-yard TD toss to Chris Davis in the 3rd quarter and accounted for a team-leading 48 yards on the ground. Drew Weatherford saw a little time at the end of the game as well.

But this game was all about the defense for the Noles. On the first drive of the game, Tony Carter stepped in front of a Jameel Sewell pass and took it 35 yards for a score. Carter was on top of his game all day long. He is really stepping up as one of the elite shutdown corners in the country. LBs Buster Davis and Lawrence Timmons were making their presence felt all afternoon as well. Buster had 9 tackles and a sack for a safety. LT also finished with 9 stops and a sack of his own. Freshmen DE Kevin McNeil and S Myron Rolle had big days. McNeil had his breakout game with 2 sacks. Rolle joined Buster and the Law with 9 tackles, including 2 in the backfield. 2nd year CB Michael Ray Garvin played tough with 9 tackles and a sack.

Walk-on DE Eli Charles was a nice surprise, getting 2 tackles and blocking a punt in the 1st quarter which gave FSU the ball on the 1-yard line. Lorenzo Booker made it a 1-play drive as he jumped over the line for a TD. Antone Smith finished the game's scoring with a 3-yard run in the 4th.

I was very happy to see the cut back on the amount of penalties we commited. Only 4 flags for 35 against us on the day. I almost mistaked us for a disciplined team.

FSU plays a very tough Wake Forest team next week in Tallahassee. If the defense shows up like they did today, there's a good chance we can put a dent in Wake's dream season.

After my harsh review of Maryland's performance against Georgia Tech, I've decided to give Terp fans a brighter side to their loss in Atlanta. Since every cloud supposedly has a silver lining, I stood outside in the storm and stared for a few hours until I found it. Here are a few hopeful things you can take away from Maryland's play at Georgia Tech:

Special Teams: Against West Virginia, Maryland's special teams decided to make some dumb plays, such as a botched end around that lead to a fumble, and Josh Wilson deciding to take a kick off return from deep in the end-zone, which also led to a fumble. This time, against a legit team, Josh Wilson took the first kick off to the house, tying Georgia Tech at 7. That was much better than when special teams gave West Virginia a 14-0 lead very early in the game. Gerogia Tech never had any returns that made me cringe and shout "Make a tackle!" because Maryland tackled well on Tech returns. Plus, Dan Ennis was 3 for 3 for field goals, including a 46 yarder.

Receivers: It's a shame that Hollenbach couldn't complete a long pass because the Maryland receiving core could be lethal with the right quarterback. They're young, but they're good. They didn't drop passes and they made some catches that Hollenbach didn't make easy. This receiving core, lead by speedy Darrius Heyward-Bey, is going to be great for years to come.

Mental Toughness: They may not have played well, and they may have been winning because of Georgia Tech's sloppy play, but they were still winning. They didn't buy into the fact that they "should lose." In fact, they played until the very end. Even after a crucial Lance Ball fumble lead to the go ahead score for the Yellow Jackets, they still played, and an incredible catch and run by Darrius Heyward-Bey put the Terps on the Georgia Tech eight yard line with less than two minutes to play. The fact the Terps lead for most of the game shows that they recovered from the mental breakdown in Morgantown.

There's your silver lining. With Virginia on the horizon, the Terps need to take these strengths and use them to help them improve their weaknesses. Virginia is not a good team this year, much like the Terps, so the Terps can take that game. If they do, they can get back on track. Well, as on track as they can get.

This isn't meant to be pessimistic, but this football season is going to be tough for the Terrapins. There's no doubt the ACC is stacked and there's no doubt that Maryland will need at least six games to get a bowl birth. Here's Maryland's schedule from ESPN.com.

OK, we need to assume they will beat Middle Tennessee State and Florida International -- if they don't, they don't deserve a bowl. Along with the win they already have over William & Mary that would make three wins. So where are they getting their other three?