Another week of ACC action is in the books.
Here’s a game ball for every ACC program who played in Week 8:
Boston College: Thomas Castellanos, QB
Thomas Castellanos had a good game, throwing for 205 yards while rushing for 58. He was relatively-efficient as well and threw for a couple touchdowns. Boston College couldn’t get any stops, though, and suffered a big loss in Blacksburg.
Cal: Jaivian Thomas, RB
Jaivian Thomas had a strong day for Cal on Saturday, rushing for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 9 carries. That equates to about 8.7 yards per rush. Thomas also caught a couple of passes out of the backfield in a narrow loss to NC State.
Clemson: Cade Klubnik, QB
Cade Klubnik threw for 308 yards and 3 touchdowns on Saturday in a win over Virginia. He also threw a pick, but it was still an impressive showing for Klubnik in what has been a breakout year for the QB.
Duke: Star Thomas, RB
Star Thomas accounted for Duke’s only offensive touchdown and nearly half of its yards in a big win over Florida State. The Blue Devils were previously 0-20 vs. the Noles and now have clinched bowl eligibility in Manny Diaz’s first season.
Florida State: Justin Cryer, LB
Florida State had an abysmal performance offensively vs. Duke, but its defense was quite good. The Blue Devils managed just 180 yards on the night. Justin Cryer was a big part of that as he led the team in total tackles and was credited with 2 tackles for loss.
Georgia Tech: Zach Pyron, QB
It’s not often that you give a game ball to a quarterback who threw 2 picks in a 31-13 loss. But Pyron stepped up in place of an injured Haynes King and had an admirable effort despite the turnovers. He threw for 269 yards and also led the team in rushing.
Louisville: Tyler Shough, QB
Tyler Shough continues to live up to preseason hype — and then some. He nearly went blow-for-blow with Miami’s Cam Ward on Saturday, but came up just short. He threw for 342 yards and 4 touchdowns in a hard-fought loss.
Miami: Cam Ward, QB
Cam Ward continues to establish himself as a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy. He threw 4 more touchdown passes on Saturday in a win over Louisville.
NC State: CJ Bailey, QB
CJ Bailey seems to get better every week. On Saturday, he threw for over 300 yards in a win against a Justin Wilcox defense on the road. I’m seemingly growing more optimistic about the Wolfpack each week.
SMU: Kevin Jennings, QB
What a day for Kevin Jennings. He threw for 322 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 27 attempts in a blowout win over Stanford. Jennings is now averaging an impressive 9.1 yards per attempt on the season.
Stanford: Aidan Flintoft, P
Stanford got out-gained by almost 300 yards at home so there’s not many options here. Aidan Flintoft gets the nod for his day of heavy lifting as the Stanford punter. He booted it 8 times in total and pinned SMU inside the 20-yard line twice.
Virginia Tech: Bhayshul Tuten, RB
Could it be anyone else? Bhayshul Tuten averaged almost 15 yards per carry and scored 4 total touchdowns. He went for almost 300 scrimmage yards in 1 evening. One of the best individual offensive performances for any ACC player in 2024.
Wake Forest: Branson Combs, LB
Wake Forest picked up a big road win on Saturday over UConn mostly thanks to its defense. Branson Combs led the team with 8 tackles and also contributed 1 tackle for loss and 1 pass breakup.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
