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All eyes in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be on the Pacific coast Saturday.
Yes, I know. It’s an oxymoron that will take awhile to get used to. But here we are with both Cal and Stanford hosting their first home games against ACC opponents.
The Cardinal play Virginia Tech in a 3:30 p.m. EDT start before the Bears face No. 7 Miami in the debut of ACC After Dark, kicking off at 10:30 pm for those in the league’s traditional geographic footprint. The game in Berkeley promises to be an especially memorable event with College GameDay coming to town to add to the atmosphere.
But that’s not the only game taking place out West. On Friday, Syracuse got Week 6 off to a winning start with a wild overtime win against a UNLV team more noted for being at the center of an NIL controversy than being 4-0 and ranked No. 25. It’s a shame, as ESPN’s David Hale suggested, that the folks in Sin City didn’t see fit to light The Vegas Sphere up as Otto the Orange to celebrate the Syracuse win.
While we lament that missed opportunity, here are 5 questions to think about and consider before kickoff of this week’s action in ACC football.
5. How ugly could the Clemson-Florida State matchup get?
A broken finger has spared DJ Uiagalelei the indignity of being benched before a showdown with his former team. But that only promises to turn what was once anticipated as the game of the year in the ACC into an even bigger mismatch. DJU’s replacement, Brock Glenn, looked like a deer in headlights when pressed into starts against Louisville and Georgia at the end of last season. He didn’t look any better in a mop-up role at SMU last week. That doesn’t bode well against an aggressive, athletic Clemson defense that will keep him under pressure.
Combine that with a Tigers’ offense that has averaged 55 points in 3 wins since going without a touchdown in its opener against Georgia and all the elements are there for a rout of epic proportions. Maybe even as bad as the 59-10 hurting Clemson put on Willie Taggart’s Seminoles in Tallahassee in 2018. (DraftKings Sportsbook doesn’t quite see it that way; it favors the Tigers by 14.5 points.)
4. Duke and Pitt are unbeaten, but are they for real?
The Blue Devils are 5-0, off to their best start since 1994 in their debut season under Manny Diaz. The Panthers are 4-0 and have already surpassed their win total from their 2023 disaster. And yet the book is still out on how good either is.
We should get a better read on at least one Saturday when Duke plays at Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils’ strength is a defense that’s allowing only 16 ppg and has forced 9 turnovers with a resilience that has produced 3 4th-quarter rallies.
Pitt, by contrast, has gotten the job done with an offense rejuvenated by the arrival of transfer QB Eli Holstein, OC Cade Bell and the 3 playmakers he brought with him from Western Carolina. With this week’s opponent North Carolina struggling, it might take another game or 2 to accurately evaluate the Panthers.
3. Does the Louisville-SMU winner become the primary challenger to Miami and Clemson?
Both teams have a loss. But both their defeats are against ranked opponents in nonconference games. The Cardinals beat themselves almost as much as Notre Dame did in last week’s turnover-filled 34-27 setback while the Mustangs’ 3-point loss to BYU in Week 2 looks a lot better now than it did at the time. BYU is 5-0 and ranked No. 17 this week.
Louisville is a touchdown favorite in Saturday’s head-to-head matchup, according to ESPNBet sportsbook. The stat sheet, however, suggests a closer contest. The Cardinals are scoring at a 41.5 ppg clip while holding opponents to an average of 16.5 ppg. SMU’s numbers are nearly identical: 42.2 ppg for, 21.4 ppg against. This is a pivotal game for both teams, especially for Louisville, which still has to play Miami and Clemson. Whoever wins will be in the best position to sneak into ACC’s top 2 if either frontrunner slips.
2. What does Miami do with the mulligan it received last week?
It no longer matters if the ACC got the call right or wrong. The Hurricanes won. They’re still undefeated. They’re still ranked in the top 10 (No. 8). And they’re still on the inside track to the conference championship game. But to stay there, they’ll have to be better than they were Friday night. That shouldn’t be too difficult. They turned the ball over 3 times against Virginia Tech, had a touchdown nullified by penalty and gave up 206 rushing yards. On the plus side, they still found a way to win a game they almost certainly would have lost in previous seasons. At Cal on Saturday, Miami won’t just be facing another dangerous conference opponent. It will be playing a team and fan base inspired by the new lease on life given them by the ACC and energized by College GameDay coming to campus for the first time.
1. How does Virginia Tech bounce back from its heartbreak at Miami?
We’ve all heard the saying “Don’t let 1 loss beat you twice.” Saturday, the Hokies will attempt to put that philosophy into practice. They can believe they got hosed, but they’ll have to get over their disappointment quickly. Because not only will they have to travel cross-country to California, they’ll also be facing a Stanford defense that ranks No. 1 in the ACC against the run. The Cardinal also happen to be dead last against the pass, which means Brent Pry’s team will have to rely more heavily on quarterback Kyron Drones than Bhayshul Tuten and the ground attack. The good news for the Hokies is that they should finally have a little positive momentum coming off their most encouraging performance of the season. Despite the controversial outcome.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
