By Curran Campbell
Well, this week in ACC football was a complete derpfest as nobody played well and that led to a lot of upsets, as well as for everybody in the ACC Coastal to have a transitive property win over everybody else in the division. Essentially, everybody is bad.
Pitt
Congratulations Pitt, you are the latest team to take advantage of Syracuse’s sheer incompetence offensively. The Pitt secondary showed some struggles with some of the Orange’s big time receivers, but their pass rush going up against the worst offensive line in college football was ultimately enough for a 27-20 Panthers victory.
Clemson
Travis Etienne is the best running back in college football. His 192 yards on 14 carries pretty much sums up the day that the Tigers had offensively. Going in to Louisville is never easy, but Clemson certainly made it look so in their 45-10 drubbing of the Cardinals.
Boston College
It’s not an NC State-Boston College game if the Eagles don’t suddenly play their best game of the season. AJ Dillon was a beast as usual, and the BC defense took advantage of NC State’s QBs going a combined 19/43 through the air. The Eagles won 45-24 and NC State just continues to look bad.
Georgia Tech
Folks, Georgia Tech actually won a football game. 28-21 in OT over Miami. Somehow managing to actually score 28 points against what I thought was a decent Miami defense. Jordan Mason had a great game on the ground and punter Pressly Harvin threw for a 41 yard touchdown on a fake kick. Gimmick plays like that are how bad teams win football games, and that’s exactly what the Yellow Jackets did.
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech did just enough to not screw up against North Carolina in the 6OT game at Lane Stadium. With Hendon Hooker injured, and Ryan Willis bad, the Hokies went to 3rd stringer Quincy Patterson at QB in the 3rd quarter. Patterson didn’t show much as a passer, but what he could do was run the ball right down North Carolina’s throat. That and some help from some missed field goals by the Tar Heels leads to VT winning 43-41, and leaves me thinking that VT might actually be good as they improve to 5-2.
Virginia
Bryce Perkins seemed to have a similar approach at QB on Saturday as Virginia Tech’s Quincy Patterson. Perkins couldn’t do anything through the air, so he decided he would just run for 3 touchdowns instead, leading the way in the Hoos 48-14 domination of Duke. It was a nice bounceback for UVa after a bad loss at Miami, and the Cavaliers still have just as much a chance at winning the coastal as anyone not named Miami or Georgia Tech.
Wake Forest
The Deacs did just enough to beat Florida State in Winston-Salem, as has been the story for Dave Clawson’s bunch all season. A 22-20 victory over the Seminoles should look better than it does, but Wake scoring 15 of those on field goals makes me worry about the rest of their season. Nonetheless, Wake regains their spot is the clear number 2 team in the conference behind Clemson.
Syracuse
Syracuse really only has one problem. However, that problem is having the worst offensive line in the country. The Orange have allowed 35 sacks so far this season and allowed 9 in the 27-20 loss to Pitt. Unless that reverses in the coming weeks for Syracuse, it’s not going to get any better for them.
Louisville
I’m sorry that you guys were stuck playing Clemson this week, you lost 45-10 and that’s okay. Just reset and move on to the next one and you’ll be alright Louisville.
NC State
“Hey, coach Doeren, when are you going to start Devin Leary.” I’m sure this has been said by every State fan on the planet, but Leary only went 15-33 passing. I realize that he threw for 3 touchdowns, but that kind of completion percentage, if sustained, is not going to lead to many good results. Having 2 quarterbacks really means that you have no quarterbacks, and when your defense surrenders 45 points to a team almost exclusively running the ball, it really doesn’t matter who plays QB. The Pack lost 45-24, and should really just start prepping for North Carolina now. We all know it’s the only game they care about at this point in what has been a complete failure of a season for the Wolfpack thus far.
Miami
Congratulations Miami! You are now the worst team in the ACC after a 28-21 loss to Georgia Tech! How does it feel? You don’t have a QB, your defense isn’t what it was, and I hope you’re enjoying Manny Diaz. This is what happens when you get rid of Mark Richt. Richt was the best coach at Miami since Butch Davis and Miami is paying the price for getting rid of him.
North Carolina
When Carolina beat VT in Frank Beamer’s last game at Lane, they must have made a deal to never win there again. The Heels did enough to win but some bad breaks and questionable play calling near the end by OC Phil Longo led to VT escaping with a 43-41 win in overtime. Tar Heel fans really have no reason to worry about the rest of the season, as their toughest games are now all behind them, but this one stings. I fully expect the Heels to play their best football down the stretch in these last 5 games.
Duke
Quentin Harris, get better. That’s 2 weeks in a row that Harris has been the reason for a Duke loss. I have said multiple times that Duke will go as far as Harris can take them, and to this point, that seems like it won’t be very far. Virginia is good, but not beat Duke 48-14 good.
Florida State
Willie Taggart can go ahead and start packing his bags. Cam Akers is the only player on this team worth watching and the rest of the offense is just incompetent. They really lost 22-20 to Wake Forest when their defense forced 5 field goals instead of touchdowns and the offense never took advantage. The talent is there, the coaching is not for the Seminoles.
Power Rankings
- Clemson, duh.
- Wake Forest
- Pitt
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- Virginia Tech
- Florida State
- Louisville
- Duke
- Boston College
- NC State
- Syracuse
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
Predictions
Miami at Pitt: Pitt, 30-17
Syracuse at Florida State: Florida State, 24-13
Virginia at Louisville: Louisville, 35-24
Duke at North Carolina: North Carolina, 31-28
Boston College at Clemson: Clemson, 45-20
Last week’s predictions: 4-3
Season total: 9-8