According to ESPN's ACC expert, Tech won't win this time. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

Say this for Heather Dinich of ESPN.com: She’s consistent. She didn’t pick Georgia Tech to win the Coastal Division, and she’s not picking the Coastal champ to win the ACC title.

Ms. Dinich call her choice of Clemson over Tech in Tampa on Dec. 5 a “wacky prediction.” I wouldn’t call it wacky. I’d just call it misguided. You can make a case for Clemson. You can make a much better one for Tech.

Winning the ACC would put Clemson in the Orange Bowl. So where, according to Ms. Dinich, would Tech land? The Chick-fil-A? Nope. She has Georgia Tech falling behind Virginia Tech in the pecking order and landing in the Gator Bowl against a Big East opponent or Notre Dame. (I understand the Chick-fil-A might not want to have Georgia Tech for a second consecutive year, but I also understand that there would be local pressure from Jacket fans to keep Tech out of Jacksonvile.)

But … Notre Dame? Is it …

Two stadiums: We're in the old one on the left. The new opens in 2010. (Photo by M. Bradley)

East Rutherford, N.J. – I’d never say I’m smart or anything. For one thing, you folks know better. For another, I thought there was no way my alma mater would win in Athens last night. (When last my alma mater won in Athens, I was just out of school. And that was a long time ago.)

But I digress. This isn’t about Willie Martinez or Mark Richt. (I suspect we’ll get around to both these next few days.) This is about the Falcons, who are about to play the New York Giants, and the one thing I can say for sure is that they’re almost exactly where I expected them to be on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

I had them 5-4 at this point, and the only part I got wrong was I had the results of the Carolina games flipped. I also had them losing today. But I also had them winning the NFC South, which won’t happen, and finishing 10-6, which is still within reach even if they’re 5-5 when night falls …

Channeling his inner Carnac, Dan Radakovich asks, "What else can I do to make PJ happy?"

One more year tacked onto a contract that already had six years to run won’t keep Paul Johnson from going to Notre Dame — or to Oklahoma, should Bob Stoops wind up in South Bend — should PJ want to leave. Georgia Tech will never be able to outspend the big boys. (Example: Even with Johnson’s deal having been redone twice in 11 months, Mark Richt still makes more.)

But that wasn’t the intent of the one-more-year tack. This was designed as a love note, a reminder that nobody anywhere is going to love PJ more than the folks at GT. As Dan Radakovich noted in the official release: “We remain committed to Paul in every way, and we foresee a long-term relationship with much continued success.”

We knew already that Tech has a splendid football coach. What was evident with Friday’s announcement is that the Institute’s athletics director is every bit as good. Homer Rice was a great AD. Vince Dooley …

OK, I'm asking: Does this look like a fun bunch or what? (AJC photo by Elissa Eubanks)

I’m not Clark Howard. I’m no consumer advocate. When I go to games, I get in free. But I feel, in light of current events, I need to say something:

Were I a paying sports fan, I could think of worse ways to dispose of my disposable income than buying a ticket to watch the Hawks play.

They’re not just good. (And they’re very good.) They’re fun to watch. They play hard. They guard people. They pass the ball. Sometimes Joe Johnson still dribbles overmuch and Josh Smith reverts to the excess of youth, but this happens less and less. If your impression of these Hawks was formed a few years ago, you need to look again.

I don’t know that they’ll win the NBA title, but I’m reasonably certain they’ll win at least 50 games. And I know we Atlantans tend to come fashionably late to such soirees. I’m not telling you what to do, but I am making a gentle suggestion: If you go now, I’m guessing you’ll come …

Iman Shumpert, who made four turnovers. handles the ball against Dayton. (AP photo)

About now, you’re expecting me to rip Paul Hewitt for losing to Dayton in Puerto Rico. But here’s where I throw the ol’ changeup and say: Losing to Dayton is not a bad loss.

Dayton is good. (Indeed, the Flyers were ranked higher and were favored by a point.) Dayton is expertly coached by Brian Gregory, whom I’d have preferred Georgia had hired over Mark Fox, who managed to lose to Wofford on Tuesday, which was a bad loss. And Tech, as talented as it is, is going to need some time to coalesce.

Yes, this assumes it will coalesce, and after some dud seasons with loaded teams — 2002-2003 with Chris Bosh remains the not-so-shining example, with 2006-2007, when a team with four players who would work in the NBA managed to lose 12 games, not far behind — there’s cause to wonder if this will be any different for Hewitt. I’m willing to extend the benefit of the doubt. But I’m not willing to extend it …

I ask you: Was this not the most handsome of creatures? (AJC photo by Pouya Dianat)

When Uga VI went to that great puppy playground in the sky two summers ago, some folks wondered why such a fuss was made over his passing. “It is,” they sniffed, “just a dog.” And I thought to myself: Er, no.

I’m not a Georgia fan — and here we pause for all Tech backers to say, “Oh, really? — but I’ve been a fan of the Ugas since first I laid eyes on one. It was a rainy October night in Lexington, Ky. The year was 1976. Georgia was playing the Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I were sitting in the UK student section. We wound up watching less of the game — Georgia won 31-7, Ray Goff throwing a long touchdown pass to Gene Washington — and more of Uga III, who was patrolling the sideline.

We loved his sweater. We loved his proud little walk. We loved him. Indeed, on my first trip to Athens — it was the summer of ‘77, and at age 21 I’d been dispatched on the old …

This isn't what the doctor ordered. (Charlotte Observer)

To borrow from those old Overstock.com commercials, it’s all about the O now. If they’re going to make the most of what remains of this season, the Falcons have to score more points.

They’re 12th in the league in scoring this season, averaging 24.6 points. They were 10th last season, averaging 24.4 points. That’s not enough of an upgrade for an offense that kept everyone and added Tony Gonzalez. Judging on total yards, it has been no upgrade at all. The Falcons ranked sixth in the league in yardage last season, averaging 361 yards; they’re 14th now, averaging 343.

The Falcons have scored 30 or more points twice in nine games. They scored 30-plus points five times in 16 games last season, and that was with a rookie quarterback and a new feature back and no Tony Gonzalez.

Sixty percent of the Falcons’ payroll is devoted to offense, which makes sense. Michael Turner, Roddy White and Gonzalez are Pro Bowlers, and Matt Ryan …

That Spiller guy does one of those nifty Spiller things. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

The ACC is above rooting for anything except a Carolina-Duke final in its basketball tournament (heh, heh), but the conference can be excused for breaking out the orange tiger paws this weekend. Because the ACC needs Clemson to oppose Georgia Tech in its championship game.

Through four installments, the ACC title game has been a raging dud. It has already moved from Jacksonville to Tampa, and the relocation hasn’t helped. Some 53,000 tickets (of 65,000 available) were sold for last season’s game between Virginia Tech and Boston College, and roughly half went unused. Next year the game is moving again: To Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, where the potential lurks for some chilly weather the first Saturday in December.

Already the ACC championship has given us The Worst Game Ever Played — Wake Forest beating Georgia Tech 9-6 in 2006 on a rainy day with no touchdowns scored and a …

Here's another Smoove move. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)

The Hawks won their 10th game of the nascent season Wednesday night. In 2004-05, this franchise managed 13 victories over 82 games. A team once so far down it had to improve to get lousy is now, with the same coach and same power forward, tied with Phoenix for the NBA’s best record.

Said Mike Woodson, the coach in question: “I’ll never forget those 13 wins. I’ll never forget walking into the locker room and seeing those faces, knowing we couldn’t win many games.”

We knew the Hawks would improve. When you’re 13-69, you can get no worse. But did anyone expect the Hawks to get better in quite this way?

Jamal Crawford didn’t. A pro since 2000, he saw those Hawks firsthand. Did he foresee that woebegone bunch becoming the team that has become the league-wide talking point of the 2009-10 season? “I’d be lying if I said I did. You knew they’d get better. You just didn’t know it would be that fast.”

Five years sounds like a …

Get off to a 9-2 start and you'll have a lot of friends. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)

We’ve had some fun with our Facebook friend John Hollinger of ESPN.com. We’ve noted more than once that he picked the Hawks to win 31 games in 2008-2009 — they won 47 — and declared their bench “a FEMA disaster zone.” (It was actually pretty good.) More recently we’ve noted he predicted the Hawks will slide from those 47 victories to 44.

Well, fair’s only fair. And if we we tweak Big John for his less-than-glowing appraisals, we must also recognize him when he says something nice. And here it is: In his first power rankings for ESPN’s Insiders (link requires registration), Mr. Hollinger has the Hawks No. 1.

If you’re counting, that makes the third set of ratings that puts these Hawks at the top.  Hollinger’s ESPN colleague Marc Stein and John Schuhmann of NBA.com made the same call earlier in the week. (Chris Mannix of SI.com is the contrarian: He has the Hawks No. 2 behind Phoenix.)

With …