Bone and I are on the long, grueling road to Tampa and if we both make it through a 10 hour ride, we will be on the air from 11am to 3pm tomorrow from Radio Row.  If you need some entertainment during the day, check out the weigh in for the Mac Attack Biggest Loser competition.  It does come with a disclaimer though.  Be aware of excessive flab!!!

All of this talk of what conference is better got me to thinking, what if they scrapped the “ACC/Big Ten Challenge” this year and had the “ACC/Big East Challenge”  instead?   Taking all 12 teams from the ACC and the current 12 teams in the Big East, here is what the current match ups would be  with my projected winner to the right.  I realize some of the match ups towards the bottom are hard to figure I just did it based on watching all the teams so far this year and what their overall record is (mainly for UVA/Cinn and GT/SJU)

Duke vs Marquette                Winner:  Duke
Virginia Tech vs Louisville   Winner:  Louisville
Wake Forest vs Uconn         Winner  : Uconn
UNC vs Pittsburgh               Winner :  UNC
Clemson vs Providence     Winner:  Clemson
Florida State vs Syracuse    Winner:   Syracuse
Miami vs Villanova                Winner:   Villanova
Boston College vs West Virginia     Winner: West Virginia
Maryland vs Notre Dame   Winner:  Notre Dame
NC State vs Georgetown  Winner:  Georgetown
Virginia vs Cincinnati   Winner:  Cincinnati
Georgia Tech vs St  Johns Winner:   St Johns

Big East  9     ACC 3

Clearly the Big East had the huge advantage 5-12.

T-Bone.

Ok, so I’ve been down on this Duke team.  But, I have to admit that performance on Saturday was one of the best of the season.  Sure, Maryland’s big men are about as good as the Panthers’ Pass defense, but still that Duke defense is nasty.  I am willing to concede that this team is certainly better than last year.  But, I still want to see them the next 3 Wednesdays (at WF, vs NC and at Clemson). Is that so wrong??  Lets see how they handle the most athletic teams in the ACC.  Lets see how they handle the surplus of bigs that those three teams have before we go Denny Green and crown them.  I don’t blame the Dukies for gettin’ pumped and bombarding our phone lines on Monday, but I am not calling them the best or even 2nd best team in the State just yet.

Sure you have to deal with folks driving 6.2 mph and you can’t get bread for a week.  But, one of the perks of a centimeter or more of snow is a Gumpless Mac Attack!! Gump’s wife and mom have been known to tell him to screw off when he tries to get a ride in when it is snowing. Tune in to the Mac Attack at 11am to find out Gump’s status (there is a radio tease).  Bone and I are betting anyone that thinks the fool will actually make it in.

Sure I am bummed about the Squealers beating my Ravens and I surely hope Willis Mcgahee is ok after that nasty hit, but I need to take a moment to praise everyone involved in that game. That is the way football was intended to be played.  I think I seperated a shoulder just watching the game!!  I really wish the Cats had half of that damn nastiness on Defense!!! BTW, does the Cardinals Super Bowl appearance mean Gump is going to move out of his parents house and T-Bone is going to get laid?

My Panther flag is at half mast today. As I feared, Pep wants out.  His agent Carl Carey released a statement saying Pep wants out of Carolina. My first instinct is to rip the haters for chasing one of the best pash rushers out of town. But, Carey’s comments about Pep needing a new system to thrive makes me wonder if I should be ripping the coaching staff. Or, maybe Pep himself for blaming the Panthers for his underacheving.  Tune in Monday ready to talk about Pep, who in his mind is already “leaving Carolina.”

I know the whole QC is ready to help Pep move, but before you call U-Haul you might want to take a look at the list of Free Agent DEs available this offseason. Other than Betrand Berry, I can honestly say there isn’t one on the list that would help the Carolina line much at all. The DT and CB crop is a bit better with names like Hanyesworth, Tommie Harris, Jonathon Babineaux, Marcus Tubbs, Dunta Robinson, Bryant Mcfadden, Phillip Buchanon and Nnamdi Asomugha. If the Cats franchise and trade Pep, there is a pretty good chance an acquired first round pick will be his replacement and that could mean the pass rush will be even worse in 2009. Be careful what you ask for Panther Nation.