Wake's schedule relative to the rest of the ACC

Today ESPN.com's Heather Dinnich ranked the 12 ACC football schedules for 2008, and had this to say about Wake Forest:

10. Wake Forest -- If these guys can get through the first half of their schedule, look out. Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Georgia Tech are off the schedule. A road trip to Baylor, followed by a home game against Ole Miss and a trip to FSU make for a tough start to the season.

At first glance I thought this was way too low, but the more I think about it I realize it's probably only a little bit too low.

I've put a fair amount of stock into the fact that Wake is the only ACC team without any FCS schools on the schedule, which led me to believe Wake has one of the tougher scheuldes in the ACC. Further analysis proves that's not quite the case.

Georgia Tech has Georgia on the schedule, as well as trips to Clemson and Virginia Tech. Virginia has Southern Cal and UConn. Miami has Florida and Texas A&M. I don't envy any of those schedules.

Still, the fact remains that Wake doesn't have a single FCS opponent. Sure, Clemson has to come to Winston-Salem on a Thursday night, but Florida State on the road is no picnic, and neither are back-to-back road games with Maryland and Miami.

Based on HD's rundown, I'd say Wake definitely has a more difficult scheudule than Clemson and Duke (the two schools immedietly above Wake in the list). But, when compared to the rest of the ACC I realize Wake is probably in better shape schedule-wise than I first thought. Now it's up to the Deacs to take advantage.