Doug Doughty

Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.

Find his College Notebook from The Roanoke Times in Thursday's college sports section

TimesCast Sports

See Doug and Randy talk sports every week with the Sports edition of the TimesCast

• Hokies hit the Diamond, and it's Scott Robertson time

Top 100 recruits for 2008

• Top 25
• Top 26 - 100

Recent columns

• Pulaski's Peak worth recruiters' look
• Ex-Rockbridge coach turns Dinwiddie into recruiting destination
• Of Pete Rose and reader feedback
• GW's Wilson a lock for Tech? Not at this point

• Column archive
• Top 50 Virginia high school football prospects

Nobody has ever said it for the record, but it appears that there was one overriding consideration in the formation of ACC’s Atlantic and Coastal Divisions.

While rivals like Virginia and Virginia Tech were placed in the same division, the same philosophy did not apply to Miami and Florida State.

Presumably, by placing Florida State in the Atlantic Division and Miami in the Coastal Division, the stage was set for the Seminoles and Hurricanes to meet regularly in an ACC championship game that would have networks and advertisers salivating.

Well, it didn’t happen last year, when there were tens of thousands of empty seats at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., where Wake Forest defeated Georgia Tech 9-6 in a constant drizzle.

And, it almost certainly won’t happen this year, not after Miami and Florida State ventured into North Carolina over a six-day span and were upset by North Carolina and Wake Forest, respectively.

It looks like Boston College (6-0 overall, 3-0 ACC) will get its stiffest challenge from Wake Forest (4-2, 3-1) in the Atlantic Division and neither of those teams is likely to thrill the locals, much less bring a huge following of its own.

Virginia (5-1, 3-0) is leading the Coastal Division right now and while the Cavalier faithful have their moments, the only sure draw among the Coastal Division contenders is Virginia Tech (5-1, 2-0). At that, the Hokies haven’t exactly played an exciting brand of football of late.

The main purpose of ACC expansion was to increase the profile of ACC football. Virginia Tech and Boston College have done their part. Basketball programs at those two schools have been more than competitive, but there’s little buzz about the football championship game and that was at the heart of the issue.

Presumably, Miami and/or Florida State could rise again, but will it happen at the same time? The ACC was looking at two perennial top 10 teams in the Sunshine State, but until this week, five weeks had gone by without either team listed in the Top 25.

Florida State re-entered the Top 25 this week for the first time since the preseason, but its visit will be short-lived after a 27-24 loss Thursday night at Wake Forest. Miami (4-2) could climb into consideration with a victory over visiting Georgia Tech, but probably would come up short. The Hurricanes didn’t get a single vote this week.

YOU’VE GOT TO believe that the loser of the Georgia Tech-Miami game is finished and a Yellow Jackets’ loss could focus some undesired attention on Tech coach Chan Gailey, a frequent object of “hot seat” rumors in the best of times. The Yellow Jackets (3-3, 1-3) still have games at Miami and Duke and play host to Virginia Tech and North Carolina.

Speaking of rumors, the talk at the SEC Roundtable on Friday is that Houston Nutt will be out as Arkansas coach after this season and that the Razorbacks are certain to come after North Carolina coach Butch Davis. Maybe I’m just not an SEC guy, but I’ve got to believe UNC is a better job than Arkansas.

Not so, I was told. Arkansas will throw so much money at Davis that he can’t refuse. I still disagree. Davis has a vagabond reputation with some people but I think he fits the North Carolina profile rather neatly. He’s at a program that has underachieved since Mack Brown’s departure and has a chance to create a nice legacy.

SO MUCH FOR last week’s item about 6-foot-10 Frank Ben-Eze from Bishop O’Connell in Arlington and his likely choice between Virginia Tech and Marquette. Ben-Eze committed this week to Harvard, where former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker is entering his first season.

Virginia reportedly made an offer to Ben-Eze, according to rivals.com, but the Cavaliers later turned their sights to 6-11 Senegal native Assane Sene from South Kent (Conn.) School.

Numerous analysts see Virginia as the leader for Sene, but he will be attending Midnight Madness this weekend at the University of Connecticut, which has made him an offer. A proposed visit by Sene to Syracuse is said to be iffy.