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College Football

10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 3 in the ACC

Brett Friedlander

By Brett Friedlander

Published:

It was a wild Saturday in the ACC.

Florida State’s meltdown on the field continued while Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi melted down over the officiating after his team’s game against West Virginia. There was another blowout loss to a ranked SEC opponent and quarterback changes at NC State and North Carolina.

While there were no penalties called because of players faking injuries, Cal’s student section got called for 2 of them for throwing props for a card stunt onto the field.

And that’s only some of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 3 in and around the ACC.

10. Enough with the fake injuries

Remember when the NCAA said it would crack down on teams attempting to disrupt an opponent’s tempo offense by having defensive players fake injuries to slow the pace?

Don’t worry.

The officials who worked Saturday’s Wake Forest-Ole Miss don’t, either. If fans at Allegacy Stadium had turned the announcement “Timeout for an injured defensive player” into a drinking game, they probably wouldn’t have made it to halftime before passing out.

That’s because a Rebels player remained down on the turf after virtually every offensive play of more than a handful of yards by Wake, only to have them jog off the field after a brief visit from trainers and return a few plays later. It got so bad that the Deacons’ fans started booing whenever it happened. Of course, those same fans cheered wildly once their team caught on to the practice and began returning the favor to Ole Miss.

The frequent stoppages didn’t have any impact on the outcome. The 5th-ranked Rebels were clearly the dominant team and would have won easily no matter what. But they were more than just an annoyance that slowed the game to a crawl. They’re a disservice to players who were actually injured.

And they need to be stopped.

It can be done by prohibiting players who require a visit from the trainer from returning for the remainder of the possession. And if a player goes down a 2nd time, he’d have to stay out for an even longer period. Better yet, enact a rule similar to the one in basketball that penalizes players for flopping. Then get officials to enforce it.

9. BC is out of the rankings. But the Eagles aren’t going anywhere

Like Georgia Tech last week, Boston College’s stay in the national polls was short. One week to be exact. But don’t let the result that knocked it out mislead you. The Eagles’ 27-21 loss at No. 6 Missouri was far more impressive than the nonconference wins earned by many of their ACC rivals. Their showing in Columbia was far more encouraging than those of Clemson, NC State and Wake Forest in their beatdowns at the hands of SEC opponents this season.

Bill O’Brien’s team showed that its opening week win at Florida State wasn’t just a product of the Seminoles’ struggles by taking their show on the road and going toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s best teams. Thomas Castellanos was intercepted twice, which was a problem. But he also gave BC a fighting chance all the way to the end by using his mobility to find open receivers and make plays while throwing for 249 yards and 3 touchdowns.

We’ll get a better read on the Eagles when they play 3-0 Michigan State at home next week. But the rest of the ACC should be on notice. While they probably won’t be a factor in the race for the conference championship, they’re going to make life difficult for all the remaining teams on their ACC schedule.

8. Undefeated, but unimpressive

North Carolina and Duke are 3-0 after winning Saturday. But that’s about the best thing that can be said about them. Both have benefited greatly from soft early-season schedules. So much so that an argument can be made that they’re the worst undefeated teams in college football.

Duke has been especially fortunate. After an unimpressive opening performance against Elon and rescuing a double-overtime victory from the jaws of defeat at Northwestern, the Blue Devils had to rally from another 4th quarter deficit to eke out a home win against perennial FBS lightweight UConn on Saturday.

A big part of the problem has been the inconsistency of young quarterback Maalik Murphy. The Texas transfer has shown elite arm talent. But he has yet to harness it. That, combined with a ground attack averaging fewer than 100 yards per game, is why Duke ranks 15th out of 17 ACC teams in scoring offense.

At least Manny Diaz knows who his QB1 is. UNC’s Mack Brown continues to try and determine his best option under center. Because of the uncertainty, the Tar Heels’ offense is almost totally dependent on Omarion Hampton, the ACC’s leading rusher. And don’t be fooled by the impressive 45-10 score in Saturday’s win. First, it was against an overmatched FCS opponent. Second, it’s an illusion. UNC led only 17-10 after 3 periods before finally pulling away with a 28-point 4th quarter.

Like the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels have gotten by on the strength of its defense to notch wins against Minnesota, Charlotte and NC Central. But as improved as that unit has been, there are still plenty of questions to be answered. They play each other in 2 weeks.

7. Vanderbilt, the gift that keeps on giving

Suffice it to say, things haven’t gone well for the ACC in its head-to-head matchups against the SEC so far this season.

Sure Miami beat Florida, which is about to send coach Billy Napier packing, and newcomer Cal surprised Auburn. But it’s been all downhill from there. Georgia pounded Clemson by 31 in Week 1. Tennessee humiliated NC State by 41 in Week 2 and Ole Miss steamrolled Wake Forest by 34 this week.

But as bad as those beatdowns were, the most embarrassing loss by an ACC team to an SEC opponent came in the most competitive game of the bunch.

Virginia Tech’s overtime setback at Vanderbilt.

And it only got worse on Saturday, 3 weeks after the fact. At the time, the Hokies’ loss could at least have been chalked up by the Commodores’ improvement under coach Clark Lea and the dual-threat talents of transfer quarterback Diego Pavia. Even those excuses no longer hold water.

Even as Tech finally figured out a way to beat in-state rival Old Dominion in Norfolk, Brent Pry’s team lost even more of its preseason shine when Vandy and Pavia went down to defeat against Georgia State. It’s just a matter of time before the rest of it comes off, probably in 2 weeks when the Hokies begin conference play at No. 10 Miami.

6. It was always going to be Jacolby Criswell

UNC’s Brown insisted throughout the spring and summer, and into preseason camp that he had confidence in Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson and incumbent backup Conner Harrell, who were battling it out for the starting quarterback job. And yet he still felt it necessary to bring in another transfer just in case.

He sold the arrival of Criswell, who returned to Chapel Hill after spending a season in Arkansas, as an insurance policy. But you don’t recruit a quarterback in his final season of eligibility to be No. 3 on the depth chart holding a clipboard on the sideline.

It was inevitable that he would eventually be handed the keys to the offense. The timetable was probably sped up because of Johnson’s season-ending injury in the opener at Minnesota. But after Harrell completed only 2 of his first 6 passes while producing only 20 yards on 2 possessions Saturday against NC Central, Brown decided it was time to cash in his insurance policy.

Criswell completed 14-of-23 passes for 161 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. As a team, the Tar Heels rolled up 513 yards of total offense on the way to a 45-10 victory. It’s a performance that all but assured he’ll become UNC’s 3rd starter in its first 4 games when the Tar Heels play their final nonconference tuneup Saturday against James Madison.

5. CJ Bailey is set up to become MJ Morris 2.0

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

NC State brings in a highly-touted graduate transfer quarterback who doesn’t live up to expectations. He’s replaced by an untested freshman gunslinger who helps turn around the Wolfpack’s season by leading the team to an emotional win against Clemson.

It happened last season when MJ Morris relieved ineffective starter Brennan Armstrong and went 11-of-20 for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns to help beat the Tigers. Now fast-forward to the present. State is about to play Clemson again. And the circumstances are eerily familiar.

Only this time, the quarterback change might be necessitated by an injury. Grayson McCall’s status is uncertain after he was forced to the sideline in the 1st half of Saturday’s win against Louisiana Tech. His availability probably won’t be made public until just before game time this week.

Because of the experience factor, coach Dave Doeren figures to stick with the veteran transfer if he’s healthy enough to play. It’s a big ask for a freshman to make his first career start at Death Valley. And we all know that the sequel is never as good as the original.

But Bailey looked up to the task by coming off the bench Saturday to complete 12-of-20 passes for 156 yards in leading the Wolfpack to 3 2nd-half touchdowns to turn a 17-6 halftime deficit into a 30-20 win.
Considering the spark he provided to an offense that has stumbled out of the gate with McCall under center, the youngster gives the Wolfpack their best shot at upsetting the nation’s 21st-ranked team.

4. Wake Forest is smart to stay in its own ‘Lane’

Even after beating Wake Forest soundly on the field, Ole Miss’ Kiffin couldn’t help but take a few more verbal parting shots at the Deacons in his postgame press conference. The combative coach was put off because the Deacons had the audacity to buy their way out of next year’s return game in Oxford at the previously agreed-upon price of $1 million.

“They called over this week and (Wake athletic director) John Currie said we’re not playing next year and bought out the game,” Kiffin said. “I thought that was a good message for our players that somebody wanted to pay money not to play them.”

The cancellation is an example of the danger involved with scheduling games a decade in advance. Wake was actually the dominant team when it won both earlier meetings in 2006 and ‘08. And both programs were in a state of transition when the contracts for this home-and-home series were signed in 2014.

Kiffin may not have liked the fact that he now has to find another power conference opponent to fill out his 2025 schedule, but you can’t blame Currie and the Deacons for not wanting to see the Rebels again.

The final score of Saturday’s game was 40-6. And it would have been much worse had Ole Miss had played a clean game. With the programs in vastly different stages of their development and similar prospects expected for a potential rematch, there’s no point in traveling into hostile territory knowing that you’re going to get your brains beat out again. It’s worth $1 million for Wake to stay in its own ‘Lane’ and play someone a little more its own speed.

3. Hello Pat, take the win and shut up

Kiffin wasn’t the only coach who decided the immediate aftermath of a victory would be a good time to air his grievances on Saturday. At least his shot at Wake Forest won’t cost him any money. The same can’t be said for Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi. It wasn’t enough that his team rallied for a dramatic win against neighboring rival West Virginia. Or that the Panthers have already matched their win total for all of last season.

Nope.

Instead of basking in the glory of the hard-earned win, Narduzzi thought it would be a great time to lash out at the officials who called the game.

“Some of the calls we got: Late hit out of bounds, they catch a ball with a hands to the face,” he told ESPN sideline reporter Dawn Davenport on the field after the game. “I ain’t never seen anything like it. We beat West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl. And we beat the officials, too.”

Get out your credit card, Pat. I hope it was worth it. Next time just take the win and shut up.

Maybe Narduzzi thought that complaining about the refs after a win rather than a loss would make him look less like a crybaby. It didn’t. It just made him look and sound like a jerk. At least this time he threw someone other than his own players under the bus, as he did after getting spanked by Notre Dame last year.

2. Florida State’s empty bowl

The Seminoles got shut out of the College Football Playoff last year despite going undefeated and winning the ACC championship. This season, they’re well on the way to missing out on the entire postseason.

At 0-3 with a multitude of problems to solve and the hardest part of their schedule still to come, it’s hard to look ahead and find the 6 wins they’re going to need just to earn bowl eligibility. There’s always a chance they’ll get their act together and make a miraculous recovery. Mike Norvell turned things around from an 0-4 start to finish 5-7 in 2021. But even that wouldn’t be good enough to qualify for the postseason.

With upcoming dates against ACC frontrunners Clemson and Miami, along with Notre Dame, FSU’s best hope will be running the table against everybody else on its schedule – Cal, North Carolina, Charleston Southern and Florida at home, SMU and Duke on the road.

Good luck.

1. Wait ’till next year, Noles

Norvell’s postgame press conference after Saturday’s loss to Memphis was cut short when a fire alarm went off. It was an appropriate ending considering that the Seminoles’ season has gone completely up in flames. Before exiting, the FSU coach defiantly declared that he’s not ready to give up on his team.

“(We’ve) played 3 games and haven’t won any of them. Everything is under evaluation,” he said. “Everything is going to be continued to look at whether it’s scheme, whether it’s personnel, all of it.”

The problem for Norvell is that he’s already had a full week to make those evaluations. But even with an open date to prepare for Memphis, FSU continued to make the same mistakes and exhibit the same shortcomings as in its previous losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College.

It’s become painfully clear that this team has fatal flaws. And it’s going nowhere fast. That’s why Novell’s next evaluation process should focus on young players who can potentially help the Seminoles bounce back quickly in 2025 rather than continuing to try and salvage what’s left of already a lost season by sticking with veterans.

The youth movement that should start at quarterback, where Brock Glenn and/or top recruit Luke Kromenhoek need to get as many game reps as possible. Neither can be any worse than transfer portal disaster DJ Uiagalelei. But it shouldn’t stop there. There are any number of players on both sides of the ball whose development can be accelerated with expanded roles.

Not every coach has the luxury of taking that kind of approach. Just ask Napier, whose tenure is all but over in Gainesville. But with a newly signed contract extension that will pay him somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 million through 2031, Norvell has the job security to do it.

Brett Friedlander

Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.

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