Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football Week 9

Presented by Saucy Asian

New Season, New Conference, New Table. Let’s take a look around the ACC.

Louisville at Boston College (Louisville wins 31-27)

Callie Wake - The 4th quarter was not the Eagle's. Boston College felt the burning pain Cal fans have experienced the last four weeks as they go scoreless in the 4th and blow a 10 point lead. Hard not to feel bad for BC to be honest.

TD_24 - Louisville all of a sudden woke up and saved their season. BC really on a concerning slide.

Christopher H - The Louisville defense hasn't been great, but they did a good job of containing BC QB Thomas Castellanos.

Rob Hwang - BC looked like a surprise team in the ACC… but starting with the game that Castellanos wasn’t available its been fairly downhill.

Florida State at 6 Miami (Miami wins 36-14)

Nick Kranz - One commentator I listened to said this game looked like a scrimmage of one team's starters vs. another team's 3rd stringers.

Piotr T Le - On one hand: same as Pitt, Miami winning well means our loss looks better... but man I want the funny that comes with them possibly losing to Manny Diaz's Duke. FSU... such is life in eastern Europe.

Callie Wake - Was there ever any doubt? This game was over well before half time. So, for the first time in weeks, we finally have a win for Miami that isn't mired in controversy.

TD_24 - Sigh every game that FSU plays it pains me all the more.

Christopher H - Did not watch, do not care.

Rob Hwang - It feels like a falter game is coming for Miami…

22 SMU at Duke (SMU wins in OT 28-27)

Nick Kranz - An incredible performance by SMU's defense and/or an incredible failure from Duke's offense to somehow translate six turnovers into just 21 regulation points. Should I feel more optimistic about SMU now that they almost lost to Duke, or more pessimistic because they can turn the ball over six times and somehow still win?

Piotr T Le - SMU keeps winning in spite of the mistakes they make. Hope they keep doing them until the end of the season. Though it'd be wild if Cal lost with a +6 TO margin.

Bk97 - No one wanted to win this one. SMU turned it over SIX TIMES. Duke seemed weirdly comfortable settling for a game-winning field goal even though the kicker had already missed a FG and an extra point (sure, he was perfect going into the game but Cal fans know all too well that past success means nothing with kickers).

Callie Wake - The surprise of the week. I expected this to be a blow out for SMU. Duke left their hearts out on that field though, and made SMU's dominance look a lot shakier than what was previously assumed.

TD_24 - I really love SMU's grit. 6 TO's should just about wreck everyone and your psyche. The Mustangs want that season for glory.

Christopher H - SMU tried to give this one away with 6 turnovers, including 3 in the 4th quarter with great field position, but Duke missed three straight kicks (PAT, FG, game-winning FG blocked) and couldn't convert on 2-point conversion in OT. Duke's struggles are very relatable. Winning with a -6 turnover margin like SMU? Not so much.

Rob Hwang - Easily the best game in the ACC this past week. Was so much fun to watch with alot of WTH moments. Give me chaos games as long as we’re not in them.

Syracuse at 19 Pitt (Pitt wins 41-13)

Nick Kranz - Syracuse with McCord is such an all-or-nothing prospect. Either hundreds of passing yards or a flurry of picks. I like Cal's chances, as Syracuse's strengths match up well with Cal's strengths, but I worry about making the Cal defense defend so many drop backs.

Piotr T Le - As long as Pitt keeps winning like this, our loss to them looks much better. Would've been better to have won, but alas.

Bk97 - Such a weird statline. 'Cuse outgained Pitt 327-217 and held the ball for a ridiculous 41:12. But 3.94 yards per play (which would be 133rd over the course of the season) and 5 turnovers (3 returned for TDs in the first half!) absolutely killed the Orange.

Callie Wake - Pitt looked great in this one, and Syracuse looked absolutely miserable. I expected this game to be a rock fight, but I suppose when you throw 5 interceptions (with 3 of them being pick sixes) there's really no way the results could be better. The Pitt Panther's undefeated season remains alive, and another could wins will seem them in the CFP for sure.

TD_24 - Kyle McCord was in HELL. I love this for Pitt, I wish their game vs SMU had a better TV network assignment.

Christopher H - Syracuse's one-dimensional offense was bound to be shut down and turned into a zero-dimensional offense eventually. No defense, no run game, and... there went the passing game.

Rob Hwang - Transitive property means we should probably win by 30.

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (Virginia Tech wins 21-6)

Piotr T Le - GT's overall season started hot only to peter-off with key injuries. On the flipside VTech is showing some signs of life!

TD_24 - Until Haynes King comes back and is healthy, GT is stuck in neutral.

Christopher H - VT QB Kyron Drones does it all (passing, rushing, receiving TD).

Rob Hwang - The Tech(no?mo?) Bowl. You would think someone would’ve used that name for a rivalry by now.

North Carolina at Virginia (North Carolina wins 41-14)

TD_24 - Now this is the Virginia I'm used to seeing.

Christopher H - UNC finally shows some signs of life. No idea where this team was all season.

Rob Hwang - One blowout win for Mack Brown before he retires since he doesn’t want to come to Berkeley next year.

Wake Forest at Stanford (Wake Forest wins 27-24)

Nick Kranz - I watched the highlights and glanced at the stats and what I saw was 6 bad turnovers, lots of bad tackling, 16 penalties, blown coverages, inaccurate throws, and basically just a ton of bad football. Maybe the worst match-up of power conference teams that will occur all season long, since Purdue and UCLA don't have to play each other.

Piotr T Le - Both teams looked... unconvincing? As in two bad teams trying to out-bad each other. Let's see if Cal can capitalize or will we play down to these two teams.

Bk97 - A weirdly streaky game: WF scores 14, LSJU scores 14, WF scores 10, LSJU scores 10. Fortunately LSJU had no response for Wake's late field goal.

Callie Wake - Wake Forest should have won by a lot more. Hopefully that means they're much more beatable than expected. Despite their stadium being near empty, LSJU had sparks of life on the field from time to time. The only down side is such a near loss at home probably didn't endear the team or Troy Taylor all that much to the farm after a string of much bigger losses. Good. Keep it that way.

TD_24 - I don't know whether to see this as more of a barometer of Wake or Furd but I'll choose to expect that Cal can and should have double digit wins if they are who they say they are.

Christopher H - Stanford ends their streak of blowout losses to good teams with a narrow loss to a bad team, and hasn't defeated an FBS opponent at home since 2022. The Stanford offense is anemic, and had their best passing game of the season against FBS competition with 214 passing yards and 2 INTs. WF's offense, on the other hand, couldn't get anything done without star RB Demond Claiborne.

Rob Hwang - Both of these teams are real bad man…

Any other thoughts?

Piotr T Le -ACC overall feels like a discount Pac-12 where there are a handful of Tier-1 teams, even fewer Tier-2 ones, and a top of 3 and below. While as the Pac-12 had more Tier-2 teams. Just a feeling I have about the conference halfway into conference games I have gotten.

Bk97 - Other ACC games are so much more fun when we win. That SMU-Duke game was a riot.

Callie Wake - Whomever said that the ACC is just a conference full of Arizonas was so right. Just looking at the scores this week makes it seem really apparent. A mid Wake Forest team struggling to win by 3 against furd, Virginia getting clobbered by UNC, the same Vtech that nearly beat Miami losing to Gtech by 15, and SMU having to take Duke to OT just to seal the game by 1? It really does feel like every game in this conference is a toss up.