What a great season for the ACC. Is there a national title contender? No. Is there a Heisman candidate? No. But has there been a great week of football, followed by another great week, followed by another, since September? Absolutely.

The ACC's Best

MVP Maryland's offense has scored enough points to win 10 games, but its defense made those points stand up. Linebacker E.J. Henderson is the biggest reason why. Henderson had the kind of breakout season enjoyed last year by N.C. State's Levar Fisher, leading the ACC in tackles (147) and tackles for losses (27). The Terps allowed more than 21 points just once. Coach of the Year There's a plethora of worthy candidates, but a clear winner. Maryland's Ralph Friedgen has taken ex-Terps coach Ron Vanderlinden's players and turned them into one of the best teams in the country. Friedgen's awesome debut at his alma mater cost Amato, North Carolina's John Bunting and Wake Forest's Jim Grobe their shot at this award. Biggest Surprise Even as the victories mounted, Maryland had to be a mirage, right? Well, no. The Terps were predicted to finish seventh in the preseason, and only because Duke and Wake Forest are annually selected to finish eighth and ninth. On an individual note, tailback Bruce Perry (ACC-best 1,242 rushing yards) was almost as surprising as his Maryland team. Biggest Disappointment Georgia Tech entered this season with seemingly legitimate national title aspirations, but the Jackets could find themselves on the bowl bubble if they lose Saturday at Florida State to fall to 6-5. The offense has been fine, and the defense generally has been good enough to win. But the Jackets lost close game after close game.

The fall of Florida State and the rise of Maryland have merely punctuated what has been a fascinating season for the ACC -- and a successful one, too. Seven of its nine teams are likely to qualify for the postseason.

Every week, another story developed. North Carolina, at 0-3, blowing out No. 5 Florida State. Clemson losing to Virginia at Death Valley, but one week later beating Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Maryland beating everybody. Duke beating nobody. N.C. State becoming the first ACC team to win at Tallahassee.

"This season," says Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato. "Holy smokes."

Clemson
Preseason injuries hurt the Tigers early, and defensive lapses crippled them late. In the middle, quarterback Woodrow Dantzler went from looking like a Heisman candidate to a guy who needed to be sitting on the bench. All of which is why one of the most talented teams in the ACC has to beat Duke Saturday just to finish 6-5.

MVP: Dantzler has been maddening to watch -- awesome one week, closer to awful the next -- but still he is within range of becoming the first Division I-A player to throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in the same season.

Biggest Disappointment: Who knows how the season turns out if cornerback Brian Mance doesn't get abused in the end zone by Virginia's Billy McMullen? On the last play of their game Sept. 22, McMullen freed himself from Mance for the game-winning touchdown. That dropped Clemson to 2-1. More losses followed.

Did You Know: Tommy Bowden has never had a losing season. He's 38-18 in two seasons at Tulane and three at Clemson. But he's 0-2 in bowl games.

Duke
The Blue Devils were bad last season, they're bad this season, and they'll probably be bad next season. That about covers it.

MVP: Tailback Chris Douglas is fifth in the ACC in rushing at 79.7 yards per game, and leads in all-purpose yardage (170.2 per game).

Biggest Disappointment: Quarterback D. Bryant seemed primed for a big year after throwing for 1,448 yards as a part-time starter last season, but his protection has been sporadic, his receivers have dropped passes, and his accuracy hasn't always been good, either. Result: 2,171 passing yards but only a 50-percent completion rate, nine touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

Did You Know: Duke's last victory came on Nov. 13 -- 1999.

Florida State
The Seminoles were destined for a down year, but this down? Florida State lost the Heisman winner, the Lombardi winner and almost a dozen other first- or second-team All-ACC players from last season's team. Then they lost at North Carolina and at home to N.C. State. Those were the unexpected drags on a season that saw predictable losses to powerful Miami and Florida.

MVP: Quarterback Chris Rix has taken his abuse, and unfairly. Look what he has done: Asked to replace Heisman winner Chris Weinke and start at quarterback for a defending national finalist -- as a freshman -- Rix is third in the nation in passing efficiency.

Biggest Disappointment: North Carolina thumped the Seminoles in the nose on Sept. 22, and like so many schoolyard bullies, the Seminoles folded. A close game became a 41-9 rout as Florida State quit in the second half.

Did You Know: With a game remaining against Georgia Tech, the Seminoles have lost as many ACC games this season (two) as they did in their first nine years in the league.

Georgia Tech
The Jackets have led the league in total offense and total defense much of the season, so it's hard to understand their four losses entering Saturday's game at Florida State.

MVP: Quarterback George Godsey has given the Jackets a chance to win every game, although his mistakes doomed them in some, most recently Saturday's loss against Georgia. Still, he carried on admirably after suffering a terrible knee injury late last season and then losing offensive coordinator Friedgen to the Terps.

Biggest Disappointment: The Jackets would have been in the national title picture had they won overtime games at home against Clemson and Maryland. Alas, they lost them both, then dropped a one-point decision to Virginia.

Did You Know: If he throws for 251 yards against FSU, Godsey will have the No. 1 and No. 3 single-season yardage totals in school history.

Maryland
Maryland was supposed to be bad, and instead it was great. Bruce Perry was supposed to be a question mark at tailback, and instead he led the ACC in rushing. The defense was supposed to be suspect against the pass, and instead it led the ACC in interceptions.

MVP: E.J. Henderson gets his props higher up in this story, so here let's give some credit to quarterback Shaun Hill. He's the one who had to digest Friedgen's complicated offensive schemes in the spring and implement them in the fall -- and did so to the tune of a 10-1 season.

Biggest Disappointment: The Terps had the talent to win at Florida State, but after hanging with the Seminoles for most of three quarters lost 52-31. Imagine Maryland vying for a spot in the national championship game.

Did You Know: Maryland has won 10 games in a season four times since 1953.

North Carolina
A tough year to figure. Given its brutal non-conference schedule, UNC wasn't supposed to be in position to go to a bowl as sweet as the Peach (perhaps, if it can beat SMU on Saturday). Then again, given its five-game winning streak against the likes of Florida State, N.C. State, East Carolina and Clemson, UNC shouldn't need to win Saturday simply to qualify for the postseason.

MVP: Backup quarterback Darian Durant rescued starter Ronald Curry -- and the rest of the team -- from Ronald Curry. Playing with Durant took the pressure off Curry, who was abysmal for three games but settled down in a platoon with Durant to help lead the team to its five-game winning streak. Durant also helped, and has had a Freshman All-America-caliber season (though FSU's Rix will deservedly get much consideration, too).

Biggest Disappointment: Blowing a huge second-half lead against Wake Forest cost the Tar Heels a shot at the Gator Bowl.

Did You Know: Durant was considered a potential third-teamer in the preseason before winning the backup quarterback job, then shining in mop-up duty in the opener against Oklahoma.

N.C. State
The Wolfpack wasn't expected to repeat last season's eight-win success, not with offensive coordinator Norm Chow gone to Southern Cal and All-American receiver Koren Robinson to the NFL. But if N.C. State wins its bowl game, it again will be 8-4. That's a surprise.

MVP: We're breaking up the quarterback monotony by going with a safety, Terrence Holt, who blocked four field goals this season and altered many more. He also has averaged almost 10 tackles per game and brought stability to the team's weakest area, its secondary.

Biggest Disappointment: The Wolfpack could have posted back-to-back wins against top-10 teams for the first time in program history had they stopped Maryland's offense in the final minute of a loss in Raleigh. But the Terps won, doing something FSU couldn't against N.C. State this season.

Did You Know: Quarterback Philip Rivers has thrown for more yards (5,640) and touchdowns (41) than any sophomore in ACC history.

Virginia
Leading rusher Antwoine Womack was hurt in the first game and has been out or ineffective since, gutting an offensive attack that needed a solid ground game with two new quarterbacks. In that sense, the offense's struggles haven't been surprising. The defense's struggles (442.5 yards allowed per game) have been stunning.

MVP: Receiver Billy McMullen has had one of the best seasons ever for an ACC receiver, with 80 catches for 1,019 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Biggest Disappointment: The Cavaliers' bowl hopes remained alive until their deplorable offensive play in a 24-0 loss Oct. 27 at N.C. State. The following week the team lost to Wake Forest to run its losing streak to five games.

Did You Know: Virginia followed its last losing season, in 1986, with 13 consecutive seasons with at least seven wins.

Wake Forest
New coach Jim Grobe prodded this group to six victories. Toughness, intelligence and grit produced the Deacons' six wins -- not overwhelming or even adequate talent on either side of the ball.

MVP: The tailback. Tarence Williams was the star most of the season, and finished with 1,018 rushing yards. But he missed considerable action late in the season and was replaced smoothly by Fred Staton (583 yards), who -- like Williams -- allowed the Wake Forest offense to keep the ball away from the opponent.

Biggest Disappointment: How good would the Wake Forest offense have been if leading returning receiver Ira Williams wasn't slowed all season by injury? Maybe even good enough to beat Maryland, which barely won 27-20 in Winston-Salem in September?

Did You Know: Wake Forest won four games on the road this season.

Gregg Doyel covers the ACC for The Charlotte Observer and is a regular contributor for ESPN.com. He can be reached at gdoyel@charlotteobserver.com.