Duke 19, Virginia 16
Christopher: A rematch of the 2025 ACC Championship game. Neither of these offenses looked very good. Duke QB Walker Eget missed part of the game with a hand injury, and UVA did not respect the pass game at all with QB Dan Mahan and loaded the box to shut down the Duke run game (Duke had a bit more success when Eget returned to the game).
UVA kept RB Nate Sheppard bottled up and didn’t give up any big runs, but it backfired when they crashed in on RB Nate Sheppard on what was a double-pass play for the game-winning touchdown. UVA has a couple of their receivers injured, but QB Beau Pribula just does not look very good at quarterback, spending too long in the pocket, not making good reads, and often throwing desperation throws into traffic. UVA RB Jekail Middlebrook looks like the only positive of the offense so far, but he’s not explosive enough to be the entire offense.
Ben: Duke only beat Virginia with a late touchdown? Man Virginia was one of my dark horse “ooo they’re gonna be spooky” but I guess less so now.
Piotr: UVa’s inexplicable downfall from last season continues.
Stanford 31, NC State 28
Christopher Helling: Stanford is now 4-0 in ACC conference games on 10:30pm ET kickoffs. NCSU’s defense looked terrible, as QB Davis Warren kept hitting wide open receivers for big plays, and his first half numbers were already better than his full game numbers in most games. QB Davis Warren played well and had a lot of accurate throws, at least when momentum was on their side. Stanford similarly found a lot of success running the ball, although they established the pass first before establishing the run (when usually it’s the other way around).
RB Micah Ford and WR Caden High had big games, and won with a lot of individual effort plays. NCSU again played to the level of their opponent, couldn’t establish much of a run game, and Bailey didn’t get a ton of help from his receivers aside from a couple big plays from WR Keenan Jackson. Stanford played a complete game while NCSU forgot to show up, perhaps another victim of cross-country travel for a late-night game.
Ben: The only other game I really watched this weekend and man, NC State looked like a team that should fire their head coach and what do you know! Defining moment for me was CJ Bailey running into his own guard and sacking himself on a down where Stanford only rushed 4. What a team. Please stay bad.
Callie Wake: No one is safe in Stanford Stadium. NC State had every opportunity to win this, but shot themselves in the foot constantly. Questionable play calls, untimely penalties, uninspiring coaching decisions, and a paper thin run defense really was their downfall. But even so, NC State had constant chances to score late to win, and didn’t take advantage.
Piotr Le: Dave Doeren got Justin Wilcoxed. Is Stanford a better team than Cal? People are asking.
Miami 52, Pitt 23
Christopher: Although Pitt’s defensive line performed well and found their way into the backfield, the Pitt defense was unable to stop WR Malachi Toney. Pitt tried defending the middle of the field and bracketing Toney, but Miami kept hitting Toney on out routes as he racked up almost 200 yards. Miami also had a lot of success with screen passes, and Toney turned a lot of short screen passes into big plays.
Pitt had 159 yards of offense in the first half, WR Malachi Toney had 159 receiving yards (2 TDs) in the first half. QB Holden Geriner had 53 yards on a Hail Mary before halftime, but only 215 passing yards otherwise, and Miami shut down the Pitt run game and most of the pass game aside from some big plays from WR Cataurus Hicks (and a QB Corey Dailey garbage time TD at the end to WR Cam Sapp). Pitt’s defensive line is a strength, but the loss of QB Mason Heintschel has caused the entire offense to fall apart, even despite pretty good receivers.
Ben: RIP Pitt Superweapon. This is on us for perceiving you.
Boston College 49, Georgia Tech 27
Christopher Helling: GT is thin at the defensive line due to injuries to the starters, and BC continually gashed GT up the middle in run game (inside zone, duo). QB Mason McKenzie only threw 9/17 for 101 yards, but ran 16 times for 170 rushing yards. BC ran for 399 yards total (and 500 yards of total offense). GT just couldn’t stop BC from running the ball, and also kept getting fooled on the zone read with QB Mason McKenzie pulling it and running for big gains each time.
QB Alberto Mendoza looked okay at times but also made some mistakes, and was eventually pulled after an interception for QB Grady Adamson, who then led GT to a TD, but GT had already lost the offensive shootout at that point. BC is a tough matchup for any team with poor run defense.
Ben: EXCUSE ME??????????????????????? What is going on in Georgia Tech? Boston College nearly hung 50 on you?
Callie Wake: Georgia Tech, oh no… what happened to you…?
Piotr Le: Woooofff Georgia Tech, it looks like they are missing Buster Faulkner, and Haynes King might be the highest “Wins over replacement” QB in the ACC
Virginia Tech 20, Clemson 16
Christopher Helling: Clemson’s defense looked dominant, with the Clemson front-7 winning at the line of scrimmage to rack up 6 sacks and 10 TFLs, and with CB Ashton Hampton locking down TE Luke Reynolds, but this also looked like a matchup of bad offenses where points came at a premium. Clemson QB Tait Reynolds can’t seem to do much down the field, and a lot of successful plays were just short throws that his receivers turned into a lot of yards after the catch.
Clemson took away explosive plays from the VT offense and the VT offense struggled to move down the field, but they also managed to do just enough to score a TD late in the game and stop Clemson for a turnover on downs with good defensive pressure for sacks on QB Tait Reynolds, so the VT pass rush and defense also performed well.
Callie Wake: So by transitive property, we’re better than Clemson right? Right??
Piotr Le: Quality win for Cal!
Ben: it should have been us . gif
Syracuse 31, North Carolina 30
Christopher Helling: What an absolute statement game from true freshman WR Calvin Russell III for Syracuse. Syracuse leaned a lot more on the run game to take pressure off QB Steve Angeli, but Russell was there to keep making big plays late in the game and with the game on the line--including the game-winning TD in overtime. Syracuse mounted a 4th quarter comeback down 20-10 UNC in the 4th quarter, and nearly blew it by missing the PAT which would have put them up 24-23, and instead took the game to overtime.
I am also still not convinced that UNC is a very good team, and I think if anyone other than Belichick were the coach, the narratives around UNC improving would be different. They beat a bad TCU team, an FCS team, a Pitt team that is no longer very good without their star QB and now on a 3-game losing streak, and a Duke squad whose star RB was playing through an injury. Credit to their defense, but I think UNC has been lucky so far this season more so than UNC improving at all. My hot take: I think if they don’t beat UConn in 2 weeks (in what will likely be another close game), they miss bowl eligibility.
Callie Wake: Stoppable force vs moveable object. Overall absolute snooze fest until the 4th quarter when Syracuse came alive and stormed back to tie the game up. Angeli came in clutch at QB right when he needed to, playing his best game of football so far this season. In overtime, Syracuse was rewarded for their gutsy play call with a walk off 2 point conversion.
Piotr Le: Quality win for Cal! Part 2! Billy B. Is not having a good time.
Ben: Incredible. I love my ACC Crab Bucket.