Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football 2026 - Week 4

Welcome back to Season 3 of Cal in the ACC. Let’s take a look at what our neighbors on the East Coast are doing.

Central Michigan - 6 Miami ( Miami wins 52-3)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier

Christopher Helling - You know, I actually saw this exact CMU game once before: it was when I watched CMU versus Wagner (2025), when CMU completely out-talented a clearly overmatched Wagner squad. These were two teams on two clearly different levels. CMU hung on for about a quarter, but once the game broken open, it was over. Also, what a ridiculous touchdown by WR Malachi Toney that was reversed on a nonexistent PI. That still goes into the highlight clips.

Wake Forest - 16 Louisville (Wake Forest wins 30-27)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - A number of situations can arise throughout a lifetime that may cause a person to feel that their life sucks. This may include a football teams identity completely disappearing, zero offensive touchdowns, a 75-yard touchdown run on a 3rd and 8, the student section being given projectiles, etc. In all of these situations it is normal to feel low. Yet it is also important to realize that it is possible to rebound from these situations in time through positive thinking, that is by thinking about problems in a more optimistic and productive way. In addition, there are a number of strategies you can consider to help return to happiness and to regain a positive view of life.

Nick Kranz - The difference in this game was basically field goal kicking, but that’s the impressive part for Wake and the concerning part for Louisville - Wake went on the road and played the Cardinals dead even for four quarters and won because they made their kicks and Louisville didn’t.

Christopher Helling - Tons of unnecessary penalties in this one on both teams, keeping drives alive for both teams, but probably more costly penalties by Louisville. Louisville gave up multiple busted coverages for huge WF TDs by WR Carlos Hernandez, who racked up 194 receiving yards. Louisville has a good pass rusher in DE Clev Lubin, but their defense overall is very suspect. QB Lincoln Kienholz had some nice throws and does a good job spreading the field out with his throws for nice drives (and had a nice rush TD), but Louisville made too many mistakes when playing from behind WF, missing a FG and having another blocked at the end of the game when down by 3. WF is performing well, better than the sum of their parts.

Missouri State - 22 SMU (SMU wins 34-24)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Keep a journal. One way to figure out a possible cause for your feelings is to identify when you feel them. Keeping a journal will also allow you to identify what elements of your situation you have control over, which will help you stay positive. In general, you should remember that you cannot control anything other than your own actions and responses.

Nick Kranz - SMU is really fond of self-immolation. Two turnovers, one missed 4th down, 12 penalties, and two missed field goals that turned a blowout into an oddly tight game. You can get away with this kind of crap against Missouri State and Florida State, but it’s going to cost the Mustangs against somebody later this year.

Christopher Helling - I've never seen a team so good at beating themselves and yet manage to win anyway. I can recall multiple SMU wins where they overcame a 5 turnover deficit, and this one felt similarly lopsided despite the score (at any point of the game). SMU outgained Missouri State 378 yards to 112 yards at halftime, but managed only a 14-10 lead (largely due to two costly turnovers). Missouri State kept finding success with high difficulty plays (e.g. an endzone fade into tight coverage), and was only down 21-18 late in the 4th quarter. I kind of feel like SMU may have been running a vanilla playbook, expecting to blowout Missouri St as 34.5-point favorites and have backups in during the 4th quarter, but when they found themselves in a dogfight, they had to crack it open a bit. SMU finally got home with pressure late in the game (and an injured QB after a sack pretty much doomed Missouri St), leading to a 4th down INT, short field, and immediate 23-yard TD the next play to make the score a little more respectable. Worth mentioning is that Missouri State coach Casey Woods was SMU coach Rhett Lashlee’s offensive coordinator from 2022-25 and they are long-time friends (and many SMU assistants are at Missouri St now), so this may also be a case of someone knowing your weaknesses a little too well.

Bucknell - Pittsburgh (Pitt wins 59-0)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Recognize when you are thinking negatively. It is important to realize your negative thinking so that you can begin to change negativity into positivity. Negative thinkers tend to always anticipate the worst in a situation. In addition, they are quick to blame themselves for anything bad that has happened. Moreover, negative thinkers tend to magnify the negative aspects of any given situation. They also tend to polarize a situation, only seeing things as good or bad.

Christopher Helling - Narrow wins over UCF and Syracuse, but blowouts over Miami-Ohio and now Bucknell. We'll see if they are for real next Friday against a good Virginia Tech team.

Virginia Tech - Boston College (Virginia Tech wins 21-14)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Recognize when you are thinking negatively. It is important to realize your negative thinking so that you can begin to change negativity into positivity. Negative thinkers tend to always anticipate the worst in a situation. In addition, they are quick to blame themselves for anything bad that has happened. Moreover, negative thinkers tend to magnify the negative aspects of any given situation. They also tend to polarize a situation, only seeing things as good or bad.

Nick Kranz - The final score was a little deceptive thanks to 4th down failures from Virginia Tech, but this still might be a warning sign that Tech is still a year away from full-blown ACC contender status.

Christopher Helling - The Nor'easter weather conditions (heavy rain, high wind) made it very difficult to throw the ball, which probably helped BC and their dual-threat QB out a lot more than VT. I started to think that BC might pull the upset in this one, but a 76-yard rushing TD by VT broke the game open at 21-14 VT in the 4th quarter, and then they just needed to play keep-away at that point. BC really need to find a better offense game plan than QB power run, because I don't think McKenzie will stay healthy all season if they don't.

Central Arkansas - Florida State (Florida State wins 34-7)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Change negative thinking into positive thinking. Try to check in on your thoughts regularly during the day. Identify what you normally think about in a negative way and put a positive spin on your thoughts. It also helps to surround yourself with positive people, as negative people can increase stress and increase your own negativity.

Christopher Helling - Only caught this one waiting for other games, but FSU Could make you forget that Central Arkansas is an FCS squad. FSU really needs a serious QB if they want to start competing in the ACC again. I don't know how QB Ashton Daniels can neglect WR Duce Robinson at receiver as much as he does. Although shout-out to the broadcast team for the picture of Central Arkansas WR Mike Norvell with cornrows.

WIlliam & Mary - Duke (Duke wins 42-3)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Try not to define yourself by your football team. It can feel like where you are in the top 25 (or on any of the dreaded Monday graphs) in life defines who you are. If you're in an environment that sucks, it can be hard to remain positive. Focus on your innate qualities, rather than the situation around you. Remember: the situation is always temporary.

Christopher Helling - Nate Sheppard's 116 rushing yards (on 9 carries) was actually a season-low for him.

Delaware - Virginia (Virginia wins 42-3)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Get out and be social again. Oftentimes people who feel that their life sucks will remove themselves from social contact. Ironically, this can be a further cause of depression. Take small steps to get yourself back into social circles again.

Christopher Helling - Delaware gave Vanderbilt a tough time so I was expecting more from Delaware here, but they lost their starting QB to injury early on in this one, and Delaware was simply out-talented after that. Virginia is just the textbook example of how fundamental a good offensive and defensive line are for a team's success, and how you don't necessarily need future NFL stars on the roster to find success. I was also impressed with WR Kam Courtney though, he wasn't on my radar before this, but he showed up here.

App State - NC State (NC State wins 41-31)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. Exercising three times a week has been shown to relieve mild to moderate depression. It will help you feel better about yourself, help you sleep better and can even improve mood. Eating a healthy diet is another way to help with depression. Limit your alcohol intake to one drink per day and eat a wide variety of healthy foods. You should also avoid drugs, smoking, and other habits that are detrimental to your health.

Christopher Helling - NC State is bipolar. One week they're beating an SEC team (just kidding), the next week they're threatening a loss to the Sun Belt. NC State was dominating this one early (28-7 in the first half), only to fall apart in the second half as App State found their rhythm to tie this one up 31-31 in the 4th quarter. I'm still relatively unimpressed with QB CJ Bailey, but it seems RB Jayden (Duke) Scott was integral to their success, as they tried to give him a rest in the 3rd quarter and their offense stalled without him. NCSU brought Scott back for another scoring drive, and narrowly avoided another embarrassing face plant.

Nick Kranz - I guess when you're coming off of the worst kind of loss, the manner and style of your next W is entirely immaterial. Congrats on surviving, Wolfpack.

Georgia Tech - Stanford (Stanford wins 34-27)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Try meditation and repeat a meaningful mantra. Repetitive messages, whether positive or negative, can have a big effect on the psyche. Replace all the noise with positivity by filling your mind with meaningful thoughts. Pick a mantra that helps you get through the day. Repeat it when you feel overwhelmed, and each time you do, think about what it really means.

Nick Kranz - Davis Warren would be a fun and inspiring story if he was doing this for literally any other university.

Christopher Helling - GT is so Cal-coded. GT has (I think) 3 starters out due to injury, and their offensive line could not hold up against pressure, forcing QB Alberto Mendoza to try and do too much himself (which culminated in Mendoza going 32 yards the wrong way on a 3rd down in the redzone on their potential game-tying drive to set up an impossible 4th and 45 with the game on the line, not to mention the QB/WR miscommunication the previous drive that resulted in an INT). GT had success when they leaned on their run game, but they had to start passing it more when they fell behind and their offense couldn't find that same success. Conversely, GT did a good job of stopping Stanford's run game, but I was (unfortunately) really impressed with Stanford's offensive gameplan to scheme receivers open, because QB Davis Warren needs receivers wide open if he's going to have any success through the air.

Any other thoughts on the teams?

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Figure out what life means to you. People who feel that life has a purpose tend to be happier than those who think it's meaningless. Have you ever taken time to think about the meaning of life? No one can truly know the answer to this universal question. However, you can decide what life means to you. Finding the meaning in your life will help you keep getting out of bed every day, even when things are at their worst.

Nick Kranz - Thank goodness we’re mostly done with non-conference play, which was largely full of deeply uninteresting competition.

Christopher Helling - It took a lot of motivation to watch ACC games all weekend after what Cal did on Friday. If Cal could get a few more back in the win column soon, that would be nice, thanks.