Round and round she goes, where the ball stops, nobody knows ...

This week's bet: Maryland. They're not actually good at anything except net punting. Nevertheless, the Terps have won three straight, upset Cal, came from ten points down to sink preseason favorite Clemson on the road and momentarily restored Ralph Friedgen from 'fired' to 'fabulous.'

Let 'em ride: Okay, two more things the Terps are good at: a) Balance. They pass for 184 yards per game, and run for a little over 182; and b) Playing up to the competition. Going back to last year's wins over Rutgers and Boston College, Maryland's won four straight over teams that started the day in the polls, all of them with afro'd gamer Chris Turner at quarterback. Because Turner was so good in those games, and positively brilliant efficiency-wise in wins over Georgia Tech and N.C. State, Friedgen raised a lot of eyebrows when he picked Jordan Steffy to start over Turner and Josh Portis in August, and was virtually left for dead when Turner and the rest of the team fell on his/its face at Middle Tennessee. Turner responded with a quietly deadly effort (15-of-19, two touchdowns, 182 efficiency rating) to beat Cal, and somehow managed to get UMD past Clemson with a meh day, minimal help from the running game and zero catches by the one actually fearsome member of the offense, Darrius Heyward-Bey. As I say, kid's a gamer.

And despite their difficulty getting the ball in his hands, Heyward-Bey is as dangerous an athlete as there is in the conference -- even when he's shut down in the passing game, he finds a way to get his yards:

That was the Terps' only offensive play of consequence Saturday, and it was enough because they didn't give the game away on turnovers. It was reminiscent of Heyward-Bey's day against Miami in 2006, when Maryland inconceivably gained a mere six first downs for the entire game but got its deep threat behind the secondary not once but twice and won, 14-13. They find a way.

Bet the field: Of course, they also find a way to lose to Middle Tennessee State, because, in fact, Maryland is not actually good at anything in particular. Turner's big games are a shock because he's thoroughly mediocre on every other occasion. Even the defense, which seems like it's alright, currently ranks 87th nationally and next-to-last in the ACC in yards allowed. No one will be -- that is, no one should be -- the least bit surprised if things go horribly wrong this weekend at Virginia.

Payout: 18-to-1. Maryland is better than you think, and arguably the best team in the conference over the last three weeks; it might have the ACC's best wins both inside (Clemson) and outside the league (Cal). But another Middle Tennessee is lurking somewhere in there, in the same place that inspired last year's similar lame duck loss at North Carolina. As stunning as three wins in a row would have sounded three weeks ago, an eminent losing skid seems about as likely.

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Previously on ACC Championship Roulette: North Carolina and Virginia Tech.