New Season, New Conference, New Table. Let’s take a look around the ACC.
24 Boston College at 6 Mizzou (Boston College loses 21-27)
Piotr T Le - Boston College despite the loss looked good and should remain a force to be reckoned with this season.
TD_24 - Bill O'Brien has this program on the right track through these first few weeks of the season. Despite the loss and the manner of the loss in some cases, there's a lot to like about this BC team.
Nick Kranz - Missouri does what Florida State could not: stop the BC rushing attack and force them to try to throw it. BC couldn't do that quite well enough, and the upset attempt falls short.
Christopher H - Tough loss, but BC is for real.
Rob Hwang - This was always gonna be tough, since Mizzou looks to be the real deal, but man. BC might’ve just shown they can compete with anyone.
Ball state at 10 Miami (Miami wins 62-0)
Piotr T Le - Miami was playing the equivalent of 7 on 7s. No information can be gathered here.
TD_24 - The team that continues to look like the best in the ACC to this point.
Nick Kranz - Boy, with Florida playing so badly, when does Miami finally play a good team? *checks schedule* oh well hmm how about that well then.
Christopher H - Ball State looked worse than some of the FCS cupcake games I watched. It's not going to be reflected in the scoreboard, but I was less than impressed with the way Miami played, and more shocked at how badly Ball State was.
Rob Hwang - Still haven’t seen the Cristobal error… its coming and hopefully in two weeks.
Memphis at Florida State (Florida state loses 12-20)
Piotr T Le - lmao I think we will win barely, but in my soul I feel that FSU will use this chance as a way to pivot their season back towards a positive.
TD_24 - Ahem.......HAHAHAHAHAHA
I do seriously question whether Mike Norvell is actually on the hot seat and what bandwidth is left for DJU at QB.
Nick Kranz - The real question is why Memphis only won by 7 when they had 99 more yards and a +2 turnover advantage on the Seminoles, who have now been comprehensively beaten three times.
Christopher H - Memphis is okay, but this is another game FSU went out of their way to lose. I've never seen a team with so much talent squander it so quickly, and I watched USC every year in the Pac-12.
Rob Hwang - FSU band gets warning for playing while Memphis offense gets set. That says it all.
5 Ole Miss at Wake Forest (Wake Forest loses 6-40)
Piotr T Le - Someone wake Wake and let them know they had to play football this weekend.
TD_24 - Wake is a lot further away than I thought. I really want to see how Ole Miss looks against stiffer competition.
Nick Kranz - Look I don't expect Wake to compete with a top 10 team but allowing 650 yards is obscene, this game wasn't as close as the score would tell you.
Christopher H - Wake Forest was beaten so badly that they cancelled their return trip to Mississippi.
Rob Hwang - Ole Miss is the real deal.
Louisiana Tech at NC State (NC State wins 30-20)
TD_24 - Grayson McCall going down may weirdly be a blessing in disguise? There was something really off with NC State through these first few weeks even in their wins
Nick Kranz - This was a really even game that turned on a 3rd quarter pick six for NC State, and also by an enforced QB change after Grayson McCall left with an injury . . . but backup QB CJ Bailey played better than McCall did. Something to monitor with Clemson up next for the Wolfpack.
Christopher H - An ugly win, with the true freshman backup QB CJ Bailey taking over for Grayson McCall (who hasn't looked very good himself anyway). A strong defensive effort and pick-6 helped make up the difference. Not so sure that NC State was deserving of their preseason poll ranking.
Rob Hwang - Back on track but they have QB questions now…
VMI at Georgia Tech (Georgia Tech wins 59-7)
TD_24 - Good rebound for my ramblin wreck.
Christopher H - I watched about a quarter of this and it was the same ACC-FCS story as usual, just badly out-talented.
West Virginia at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh wins 38-34)
Piotr T Le - Pitt looks like a east-coast pierogi fueled version of Cal. I am so ready for that madlad of the game.
TD_24 - Pitt has had some real character wins this year. Storming back to beat Cincy and winning the backyard brawl in exciting fashion is no slouch no matter what the perception of the team is coming into the year.
Nick Kranz - The comebackiest team in FBS is one mild road upset over North Carolina away from entering Cal week with an undefeated record
Christopher H - Freshman QB Eli Holstein leads Pitt in another comeback victory. Not sure why but Pitt seems to play better from behind, which makes me feel really nauseated thinking about the upcoming Cal matchup.
Rob Hwang - One of the more fun rivalries that I really learned about this year.
UConn at Duke (Duke wins 26-21)
TD_24 - Duke has scored 26 points in all 3 games
Christopher H - Wait a minute, this isn't basketball. UConn is not good, and so if I were Duke, I probably would not be happy just squeaking out a victory in the 4th quarter here.
Rob Hwang - Manny Diaz is a decent coach??
North Carolina Central at North Carolina (North Carolina wins 45-10)
Christopher H - UNC ran all over them.
Virginia Tech at Old Dominion (Virginia Tech wins 37-17)
Christopher H - ODU is actually pretty competitive, and this was their biggest loss yet (ODU narrowly lost to South Carolina in their season-opener).
Maryland at Virginia (Virginia loses 13-27)
TD_24 - Virginia continues their race as a program that may be one of the first to fire their coach.
Christopher H - Virginia looked okay in the first half, but it's hard to win any game with a turnover margin of -4.
Any other thoughts?
Piotr T Le - ACC is weaker than any version of the Pac-12 since 2021. Cal can look the same as we have in 2023 and come out with a better record. If we're better then it's going to be a fun season. But it is on us to do so.
TD_24 - Florida State retains sole possession of 17th place in the AC
Nick Kranz - What do you think the over/under is on UCLA wins in Big10 play this year? One? Who are they beating? Maybe Minnesota at home?
Christopher H - Looking forward to ACC conference play really getting started so that I only have to pay attention to a mere 8 games a week soon.
Thanks guys...still trying to get my ACC bearings, so these really help!
> Christopher H - Looking forward to ACC conference play really getting started so that I only have to pay attention to a mere 8 games a week soon.
100% this. I meant to fill out this week's Around the Conference, saw that 11 games had been played (of which I paid attention to one), and promptly closed the tab.