Tech's Game 1 woes mirror a feckless ACC

After one game, Virginia Tech believes it has seen enough to undo its long-range strategy.

By removing the redshirt from Tyrod Taylor, Frank Beamer is telling everyone that the future begins now, while conceding that Sean Glennon's major contributions may be in the past.

Is this a panic move? In what resembles a rebuilding season, Beamer is burning a year of Taylor's eligibility. Is it worth it?

But whether you agree with the audible or not, now that it's done isn't it time to hand Taylor the reins, to give him every opportunity to put an end to the quarterback soap opera?

Regardless of the porousness of the offensive line or the suspect nature of the offense overall, Glennon is blamed for nearly every failing. Anyone who knows how savagely he's treated by the message board cowards feels some sympathy.

It's often true, though, that nobody's more popular than the second-string quarterback, a position Glennon may have earned. Tech is dithering when what it should do is remove Glennon from the whipping post, give the job to Taylor and live with the consequences.

Within their conference this week, the Hokies aren't the only team doing some soul searching. ACC football is being recognized nationally - for its futility.

Tuesday, FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel, who works from Los Angeles, wrote, "Based on college football's first weekend, the ACC might want to think about scheduling some Ivy League schools for homecoming."

So the word is out; after one week the ACC is a punch line. Not what the powers that be had in mind when league expansion became an idea too powerful to resist.

A few days ago, when I wrote that ACC football was "mediocre," I may have been too kind. But that was before Clemson, the ACC's highest-touted team, was humbled by Alabama, North Carolina State lost by 34 to South Carolina, Virginia Tech tripped over East Carolina and Virginia was decimated by Southern California.

In a score that is nearly as dubious as those results, Maryland managed to squeak past I-AA Delaware 14-7.

Last week's outcomes make you wonder what a conference has to do to lose its BCS accreditation.

What did we learn from the first week of college football? That the ACC isn't very strong? No, we knew that. Or should have.

The first week taught us that some of the country's largest programs are incapable of embarrassment.

Penn State must have been proud of itself after dominating Coastal Carolina 66-10. Coastal is a small program from the Big South, another of those I-AA strivers, beginning only its sixth season of football. Joe Paterno has liver spots older than that.

Here's a question for Penn State's schedule maker: was Slippery Rock otherwise engaged?

Old Dominion, which built the foundation of its football program on advice from Coastal, begins play next fall. In 2014, will the Monarchs serve themselves up to a Big Ten heavyweight for a hefty paycheck?

Sounds farfetched. But with Penn State's encouragement, that's what Coastal chose to do.

In other examples of riveting sports entertainment, Ohio State thrashed Youngstown State 43-0, while Oklahoma stomped Chattanooga 57-2. It takes a special kind of fan to extol the greatness of the college game in the wake of debacles such as these.

U.Va., 52-7 footwipes to USC, wasn't expected to keep it close, but nobody should find it acceptable that the Cavaliers - playing in Charlottesville - were as out of their depth as Youngstown State, Chattanooga, and, heaven forbid, Coastal Carolina.

U.Va. is expected to stop the bleeding on Saturday - not that Richmond isn't capable of throwing a scare into the Cavaliers - while in Blacksburg, the Furman game - a gimme - takes on an air of excitement for Tech fans.

It's obvious what the Hokies should do, isn't it? They should Taylor their offense to the future.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com