By David Glenn, ACCSports.com

Only four ACC football teams had offensive lines in August that justified a high level of confidence from their coaches and fans.

Entering November, the Boston College Eagles (7-1 overall, 3-1 ACC) and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-2, 4-1) are the frontrunners for invitations to the ACC championship game on Dec. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Clemson Tigers (7-2, 4-2) and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-1, 3-1) also remain in contention for the league title.

Barry Richardson is the only junior on Clemson's offensive line; the other four are seniors. (Photo Courtesy of Clemson Athletics)

Meanwhile, traditional powers such as Florida State (4-4, 2-4) and Miami (5-3, 2-2) are struggling, largely due to poor performances from their offensive lines. League doormats Duke (0-8, 0-5) and North Carolina (1-7, 0-5) have many problems, and poor blocking is at or near the top of their lists.

"Maybe the names (of the contenders) are a surprise, in some cases, but nobody should be surprised about what those teams are doing well," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said.

"If you're winning the battles in the trenches, you're going to give yourself a chance to win a lot of games. Lots of things have changed in the game of football over the years, but that's one thing I don't think you'll ever see go away."

Wake Forest, which has a chance to post the best season in school history, serves as a microcosm of the ACC in that regard.

On a league-wide basis, 2006 has continued a theme for the league, one in which there are far more strong units and individual standouts on defense than on offense.

At Wake Forest, Grobe has the best defense of his six-year tenure. On offense, however, the Demon Deacons have not had an easy road.

Starting quarterback Benjamin Mauk was lost for the season in the opener against Syracuse, leaving Wake Forest with only redshirt freshman Riley Skinner at the most important position on the field. Starting tailback Micah Andrews went down with a serious injury in Game 3, leaving a tailback-by-committee approach in his absence.

Senior Steve Vallos, who has rotated between left tackle and right tackle this fall, has started all of his 42 games at Wake Forest. (Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics)

That left an offensive line that brought back four starters from last season as the only potential anchor for a Wake Forest offense that, during the Grobe era, has always used the ground game as its foundation. The top two players up front for the Deacons are junior center Steve Justice and senior Steve Vallos, who has rotated between left tackle and right tackle this fall. Vallos has started all of his 42 games at Wake Forest and is closing in on his 3,000th career snap.

"I haven't been here for 100 years, but (Vallos) has to be one of the best offensive linemen we've ever had at Wake Forest," Grobe said. "Some of our other guys are going to get more attention -- that's life on the offensive line -- but there's no doubt he's one of our MVPs."

Earlier this season, against Mississippi, Wake Forest threw just five passes but rushed for 240 yards and won 27-3. More recently, in a 24-17 win over UNC, the Deacons threw eight passes and rushed for 200 yards. One of Wake's scoring possessions consisted of 14 consecutive rushing plays.

"When you can get to the point where you can run it even when they know you're going to run it, that means you're doing some good things on the offensive line," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said.

Clemson (239.4 rushing yards per game) is one of only three ACC teams averaging more than 150 rushing yards per game. The others are Georgia Tech (159.3) and Wake Forest (151.3). In all three cases, the teams entered 2006 with multiple returning starters on the offensive line, with mostly juniors and seniors on the first unit.

Clemson is the only ACC team with all five offensive line starters back from last year. The group, which is dominant on the left side and competent on the right, consists of left tackle Barry Richardson, left guard Roman Fry, center Dustin Fry, right guard Nathan Bennett and right tackle Marion Dukes. Richardson is the only junior, while the other four are seniors.

When Roman Fry (an Outland Trophy candidate) suffered a serious knee injury on Oct. 21 during Clemson's game against Georgia Tech, the Tigers plugged in junior backup Chris McDuffie and hardly missed a beat. Clemson rushed for 321 yards in a dominating 31-7 victory.

Most of the pre-game story lines revolved around Georgia Tech's blitzing defense against Clemson quarterback Will Proctor and the challenge of inconsistent Tech quarterback Reggie Ball against the Tigers' hard-hitting defense. But those subplots hardly mattered, because of what happened in the trenches.

"You have to give credit to (Clemson's) offensive line," said Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey. "Their guys up front are really good."

Issue 1.28: November 2, 2006