Week 3 ACC Football Roundup

All the semi-good vibes the ACC had after Week 2 went directly down the toilet with a lackluster Week 3 thanks to more subpar outings in the out of conference arena.

Louisville Cardinals 42 - UCF 35

The lone bright spot on the weekend came from Louisville. The Cardinals literally stole the game from UCF thanks to a 66 yard pick six with 13 seconds left. Just being in the game was a sign of life for the Cardinals who lost a lot of confidence after Week 1’s loss to Ole Miss.

Michigan State Spartans 38 - Miami Hurricanes 17

Things are decidedly not going well for Manny Diaz and the Canes. A blowout loss to Bama, a 2 point home escape over Appalachian State, and now a blowout loss to Sparty. To make matters worse D’Eriq King left Saturday’s game and is having his shoulder evaluated this week.

Western Michigan Broncos 44 - Pittsburgh Panthers 41

Western Michigan had lost by 34 just two weeks ago to Michigan. No, Pitt is not on the same team as Michigan, but they are talented enough to handle Western Michigan after looking so good last week against Tennessee. Chalk that up as Exhibit A to the “let down” spot.

Syracuse Orange 62 - Albany 24

Dino Babers and Co. get some credit for bouncing back after a rough loss to Rutgers last week, but Albany is still an FCS squad. The Orange host Liberty this upcoming week and is likely a must win if the Orange have bowl aspirations this season.

Boston College Eagles 28 - Temple Owls 3

BC keeps winning the games on their schedule, which is about all you can take away from their three games against Colgate, UMass, and Temple who are a combined 0-9 on the season. We might learn something this week about BC as they play host to Mizzou before opening ACC play next week at Clemson.

West Virginia Mountaineers 27 - Virginia Tech Hokies 21

The Hokies were likely considerably overrated than what their No. 15 ranking reflected, but they had a chance to win this game late with 1st and Goal from the 3 yard line. Two stuffed runs and two incompletions later and the Hokies came out on the wrong side. They’ll play Richmond next week, so 3-1 for their first 4 games was likely more than acceptable.

Clemson Tigers 14 - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 8

Nobody is sure if we are supposed to give Georgia Tech credit or start to seriously think differently about the Tigers. It was an odd game with a two hour lightening delay just before halftime, but that’s no excuse for the Tigers being outgained 309 to 284 to a team that lost to Northern Illinois two weeks ago.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons 35 - Florida State Seminoles 14

FSU hasn’t been 0-3 since Bobby Bowden’s first season in Tallahassee in 1976. Mike Norvell is also going to have to go 6-3 the rest of the way TO MATCH Willie Taggart’s 21 game record, which got him fired. Wake meanwhile is 3-0, has the 4th best passing attack in the ACC in terms of yard per game, and travels to Charlottesville on Friday. They could could score 50+.

Duke Blue Devils 30 - Northwestern Wildcats 23

Northwestern isn’t great, but with the low expectations the Blue Devils had coming into the season, any win is worth celebrating. After being up 30-7 at halftime though, Duke almost let the game slip away allowing Northwestern to score 16 unanswered points and get back in the game. Duke has Kansas next week and 3-1 entering ACC play isn’t too shabby.

North Carolina Tar Heels 59 - Virginia Cavaliers 39

The lack of defense from both teams was embarrassing. After being up 28-24 at halftime, UVA allowed UNC to have five possessions and score five touchdowns. UNC didn’t score on only two* possessions thanks to an interception (in the end zone) and a missed 54 yard field goal. Defensive Coordinators have lost their jobs for less than that.

*UNC had the ball to end the first half with :06 left and ran the clock out. That doesn’t count in the embarrassing possessions for the UVA defense category.

NC State Wolfpack 45 - Furman 7

State was up 38-0 at halftime. They’ll host Clemson next week in hopes of shaking off the bad feeling leftover from last week’s loss to Mississippi State.