There was one 7-1 team in the ACC, Virginia. We did not play them.
There were five 6-2 teams in the ACC... and Collins started against all five of them.
Filardi got the starts against UNC (2-6) and BC (1-7). So... we can trust Collins against the good ACC teams, but not UNC and BC????
If we had started Collins and won those two games, we would have finished 5-7, ahead of FSU and Va Tech. That would have made this a halfway decent season under the circumstances and given us a lot more momentum. If we had one one of them, that would have been an improvement. If we had just kept those games CLOSE, we could have given the kids another chance to get experience in a tight game down the stretch. Instead, we started Filardi... passed for 104 yards over those two games... and were blown out by UNC/BC... two not very good teams.
Meanwhile, even Angeli did not play a top 6 team in the ACC. Angeli got Clemson (4-4). SMU and Miami had better defenses than Clemson. Tennessee ended up 8-4. Yes, they lost to good teams and were good enough to end up at or in the top 25. They also had the 3rd worst defense in the SEC. UConn's record was based on good offense more than good defense. And Colgate was a stat-padding game.
Long story short... Fran should have started Collins all 8 games... and given meaningful PT to Carney and Filardi if/when appropriate in each game from #9 to #12. Starting Filardi over Collins was inexcusable and I will never get it.