ACC action for Week 4 is complete.
It was another strong week for the teams at the top of the conference, with Miami, Clemson and Louisville all picking up notable wins. Numerous quarterbacks had strong performances on the day, including Miami’s Cam Ward.
Here are game balls for Week 4 for every ACC team:
Boston College: Treshaun Ward, RB
Boston College won a close game over Michigan State in the Red Bandana Game on Saturday night. Treshaun Ward rushed for 102 yards and a score in the win.
Cal: Fernando Mendoza, QB
Fernando Mendoza gave it his best shot, but the Golden Bears came up just short in Tallahassee. He still threw for over 300 yards.
Clemson: Clemson’s entire offensive line
What a performance by the Tigers up front in their 59-35 win over NC State. This game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score might lead you to believe, and most of that was due to Clemson’s dominant offensive line play. The Tigers rushed for a whopping 269 yards and 4 touchdowns in this game. They picked up 8.2 yards per attempt as well.
Duke: Nicky Dalmolin, TE
It’s not often a tight ends gets a game ball, but Nicky Dalmolin deserves it. He caught 4 passes for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win over Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
Florida State: Patrick Payton, DL
Florida State won on Saturday, which is all that really matters. No one on offense played particularly well again, but Payton was a standout on defense. He recorded 3.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks. Shoutout to Joshua Farmer who also amassed 3.5 tackles for loss.
Georgia Tech: Haynes King, QB
Haynes King was good again despite the loss on Saturday to Louisville. King threw for 312 yards and rushed for 58 more and a touchdown in the defeat. He gave Georgia Tech a chance to win this game, but Louisville was just too good in all 3 phases.
Louisville: Tyler Shough, QB
Tyler Shough continues to deliver on the hype — and then some. Shough threw for a hyper-efficient 269 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 19 pass attempts against the Yellow Jackets. It was a big-time performance, especially since the Cardinals couldn’t get much going in the run game. Louisville also played very well defensively and scored a special teams touchdown in this game.
Miami: Cam Ward, QB
Another game, another 400+ yards for Cam Ward. At this point, he’s the easy Heisman Trophy frontrunner. Miami had no issues in what many thought would be a trap game on the road at South Florida.
NC State: Kendrick Raphael, RB
Kendrich Raphael was one of the few NC State players who had a good day on Saturday. He rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown while averaging 9.4 yards per attempt.
North Carolina: Omarion Hampton, RB
The defense gave up 70 points and the offense turned the ball over 5 times, so options are limited here. But Omarion Hampton went for 139 yards and 3 touchdowns in what was otherwise a dark day for the UNC program.
Pitt: Eli Holstein, QB
Pittsburgh played Youngstown State on Saturday night and took care of business with ease. Eli Holstein threw for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns on 24 attempts.
SMU: Ahmaad Moses, DB
I challenge you to find a more perplexing box score than the SMU-TCU game on Saturday. The Mustangs put up 66 points despite only amassing 375 yards. Ahmaad Moses gets the game ball because he had a couple of interceptions, including a pick 6. But SMU also had another defensive score and returned a punt for a touchdown in this game.
Stanford: Elic Ayomanor, WR
Elic Ayomanor caught 7 passes and had one of the best catches of the weekend in Standford’s win over Syracuse. The Cardinal look like they may challenge for a bowl game this season.
Syracuse: Trebor Pena, WR
It was a disappointing result for Syracuse, but Trevor Pena had a nice night: 10 catches for 101 yards.
Virginia: Xavier Brown, RB
How about Xavier Brown today? He rushed for 171 yards on just 9 carries and somehow didn’t find the end zone. Still, he went for 19 yards per attempt and was a big reason for the Cavaliers’ 43-24 win over Coastal Carolina.
Virginia Tech: Bhayshul Tuten, RB
It was a strong day for Bhayshul Tuten, who rushed for 122 yards and 3 touchdowns on 15 carries. Another disappointing result overall for the Hokies, though, as they fell at home to Rutgers.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
