ACC Football Week 6: How We Did

ACC football Week 6 was all about conference games, which for the most part went the ways we expected them to go.

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Oh sure, maybe Miami could have pulled it off and maybe NC State could have bothered to show up, but they didn’t, and the end results mostly look about right to us.

However, that does not necessarily mean it was boring.

ACC Football Week 6:
Things Can Be Worse, Apparently

Syracuse fell flat on their faces again on Friday night at home, losing to the visiting Louisville Cardinals by just north of three touchdowns.

What’s worse is that Terrel Hunt got hurt during the contest, leaving even more questions for an Orange offense that had its only good game so far against Central Michigan.

Things turned bizarre in the postgame presser, when Syracuse coach Scott Shafer essentially said that it’s bad they lost the football game, but throwing around dead pigs is a better fate than, say, having your head forcibly removed from your body.

ACC Football Week 6:
Good Day for the Old Dominion

Things went well for the Commonwealth of Virginia’s most prominent football teams, at the expense of teams within the Tar Heel State.

The team that bears that name is especially having a hard time, as North Carolina lost at home to Virginia Tech, 34-17. For the Hokies, it was an important win to get back on track within the ACC Coastal, but for Carolina (2-3, 0-2 ACC), they have far bigger problems.

UNC’s offense had been the only redeeming quality they had, but Bud Foster’s defense shut them down — well, in the 19 minutes they were on the field. The Hokies had an astounding 41 minutes of ball control, while the Heels turned it over three times.

The Hokies aren’t the only 4-2 team in the commonwealth. Virginia, their hated in-state rivals, have done a great job bouncing back this season, and got a crucial win over Pittsburgh to move to 2-0 in the conference.

Kevin Parks saved the day for the Hoos, rushing for 169 yards in the victory, which is over 75 more yards than Matt Johns had passing. Meanwhile, Pitt’s James Conner was held to just 83 rushing yards by the Virginia defense.

The Panthers tried to make a game of it late, but it seems clear that Pitt is in collapse, having lost three straight and looking bad doing it.

ACC Football Week 6:
Bad Day for North Carolina

The Tar Heels didn’t just lose, but so did the other teams from that state who play ACC football. Their neighbors in Raleigh fared even worse at Clemson, losing 41-0.

What looked like a somewhat viable offense behind Jacoby Brissett was nowhere to be found against Clemson’s defense, putting up just 156 yards of total offense in a game that felt as lopsided as its score. Had the Tigers not accumulated over 100 yards in penalties, this would have seemed like a complete effort.

Brissett had a terrible game, going 4-for-18 with just 35 passing yards; his counterpart, Deshaun Watson, was 17-for-29 with 267 yards and two touchdowns.

Clemson looks like they’re on the way back, while NC State is regressing towards the mean.

These look more like the Seminoles we’ve expected to see, dumptrucking Wake Forest in a 40-point win in Tallahassee.

To the surprise of many, Wake Forest actually led 3-0 after the first quarter, but that was about as exciting as this game got, with Florida State scoring the next 43 unanswered points.

As Wake came up with another 126 yards of offense, following 100 versus Louisville last week, there is little doubt left that the Deacs have one of the worst offenses in FBS.

Florida State will be back to number one on just about everybody’s ballot on Sunday, with assists from about four or five other teams.

ACC Football Week 6:
Georgia Tech, Legit Division Contender

That’s right: Georgia Tech are legitimate contenders in the ACC Coastal.

They’re 5-0, 2-0 in the conference, and already have important victories over Virginia Tech and now Miami that could come in handy later. Not that they’ve been playing outstanding, dominant football, but they are effective and they are grinding out wins week after week.

Miami was very much in this game as the fourth quarter began, but the Jackets’ 318 rushing yards helped them get into the end zone four times and keep the ball away from Miami for over 40 minutes of game time. The best defense here for Georgia Tech was definitely a good offense.

On the other hand, Miami is now looking thoroughly mediocre at 3-3 (1-2), but in this division, it’s still anyone’s to take.