ACC Football Week 1: How We Did

Aug 30, 2014; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies running back

(4) scores a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the William & Mary Tribe at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

ACC Football Week 1: The Ho-Hum News

Duke 52, Elon 13. About the only thing of note here is that Duke went for it six times on fourth down. In case you were wondering, they converted five times.

Virginia Tech 34, William & Mary 9. The Hokie defense did what it was supposed to as they smothered the Tribe, holding them to under 200 yards.

Pittsburgh 62, Delaware 0. See you on Friday.

Georgia Tech 38, Wofford 19. A lot closer than their typical season-opening cupcake blowout but it counts in the standings.

ACC Football Week 1: Intra-Conference Violence

Louisville 31, Miami 13. Louisville came into the ACC and made Miami look pretty bad. Only 244 yards of total offense for the perpetually underachieving ‘Canes, but the real killer was going 1-for-13 on third down.

This might be construed as good news for Miami’s foes in the ACC Coastal, and bad news for the writers who (again) picked Miami to win said division, as well as Louisville’s opponents in the ACC Atlantic.

ACC Football Week 1: A-for-Effort

UCLA 28, Virginia 20. Give it to the Wahoos: they were huge underdogs in their own stadium to a top-ten team and they showed up — well, at least the defense did. The offense gave UCLA more points than themselves.

In the second quarter, the Bruins scored 21 points off of turnovers with two pick-sixes and a fumble return for six more.

ACC Football Week 1: Hollow Victories

Syracuse 27, Villanova 26 (2OT). This game came down to Villanova’s kicker missing a 25-yard gimme at the end of the fourth quarter, and then the Wildcats not converting a two-point conversion in double overtime. Not many chests will be beaten in Syracuse after this one, but a win is a win, indeed.

NC State 24, Georgia Southern 23. The Wolfpack were down ten to Georgia Southern, at home, with about seven minutes to go. The late comeback was fun and all that, but there are few Week 1 games that seem telling about a particular team, and for NC State, this is one of them.

ACC Football Week 1: Finally, The Bad News

Georgia 45, Clemson 21. This turned out to be a laugher for the Bulldogs, but the ACC and Dabo Swinney were not laughing. Clemson has been regarded to be the ACC’s second-best team by many, and while that is still possibly true, final scores like this are not going to help boost the conference’s reputation anywhere or with anyone.

Louisiana-Monroe 17, Wake Forest 10. At least Syracuse and NC State staved off ignominious defeat. Wake Forest embraced it, so as to say “please, for the love of God, beat us.” The Deacs’ offensive performance on Thursday neared and perhaps surpassed Gary Tranquill levels of hilarious incompetence, managing 94 total yards against a Sun Belt team.

Wake looked like about a three-win team before the season began, but now, three wins might be more of an aspirational goal than a likelihood.