By the time Virginia Tech and Virginia tipped off Sunday at Charlottesville's John Paul Jones Arena, the ACC had to know that something was in the air.

Two hours later, the Hokies had knocked off 15th-ranked Virginia 47-45, registering the fourth victory by the road team in five of six conference games last weekend.

What's more, none of the four visiting winners was supposed to win. The weekend started with Wake Forest, a one-point underdog, hammering host Boston College 71-56. Later, visiting North Carolina State, a 21/2-point underdog, held on for a 78-73 victory over Miami.

The biggie occurred at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Florida State ended Duke's 45-game home winning streak 76-73. The Blue Devils were 10-point favorites.

"If you look at the history of the league over the years, it's been dominated by home teams," said Boston College coach Steve Donahue, whose Eagles play at Virginia today.

"The only thing I would say is, there's a lot of teams in transition right now in this league. The consistency of play, including us, isn't there yet.

"You're going to find teams on the road that are just feeling good and playing well at that point, and the team that's at home isn't as consistent as it [normally] would be. We all go through ups and downs, but this is really a different year for the league."

Before losing at home to Virginia Tech, Virginia went on the road and routed Georgia Tech 70-38 - the Cavaliers' most lopsided road win since 1983, when three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson was a senior.

Recruiting

Nick Saban, less than three weeks removed from leading his University of Alabama football team to the BCS championship, was at Brookville High School outside Lynchburg on Wednesday to meet with All-America defensive lineman Korren Kirven.

Kirven is headed to Virginia Tech on a recruiting trip this weekend and is one of three top uncommitted state prospects expected to announce a decision next Wednesday on National Signing Day.

The others are "athlete" Joel Caleb from Clover Hill in Chesterfield County and outside linebacker Ken Ekanem from Centreville in Fairfax County.

Caleb and Ekanem, both of whom have visited Tech, were rated the Nos. 2 and 4 prospects in Virginia by The Roanoke Times. Kirven was seventh.

nThere is also a possibility that Tech's guests this weekend will include Skyler Mornhinweg, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia. Mornhinweg, the son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, committed to Penn State while Joe Paterno was still coaching and is still looking at the Nittany Lions, along with Tech and Florida.

Oops

In last week's College Notebook, I reported that three transfers from Division I programs have started at least one game in the ACC this year - Matt Humphrey (Oregon) at Boston College, Trey McKinney Jones (Missouri-Kansas City) at Miami and Brandon Reed (Arkansas State) at Georgia Tech.

But, that's not all. Maybe the best of the bunch is 6-9 Miami forward Kenny Kadji, a transfer from Florida who is averaging 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds. Florida State's Jeff Peterson, who has played at both Arkansas and Iowa, has not started for the Seminoles but has played in 18 of 19 games and averaged more than 17 minutes.

On the rebound

Georgia Tech's basketball team has added Stacey Poole, a 6-4 wing who was rated the No. 33 prospect in the country as a senior coming out of Jacksonville, Fla., in 2010.

Poole, who played a total of 45 minutes over 16 games last year, did not play for the Wildcats this year before leaving at the end of the fall semester. He will have 21/2 years at Georgia Tech starting next December.

Georgia Tech's two fall signees are from Georgia, as are seven of the Yellow Jackets' nine scholarship underclassmen. The others are Poole and Nate Hicks, a post player from Panama City Beach, Fla.

The early line

Virginia Tech was listed as No. 18 in Sports Illustrated's first attempt at a 2012 college football top 25.

LSU heads up the list, which includes Clemson at No. 14, Florida State at No. 17 and Georgia Tech at No. 25. West Virginia is 13th.

West Virginia, preparing for a move to the Big 12, is trying to get out of a home-and-home series with Florida State, which will allow both of those teams to schedule a less-formidable opponent.