Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football Week 6

Presented by Saucy Asian

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

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15 Clemson at Florida State (Clemson wins 29-13)

TD_24 - This FSU game is going to make me bang my head into a wall isn't it.

Callie - As expected.

Piotr T Le - lmao... we should've beaten FSU man.

Christopher H - Well, so much for FSU's hope that their defensive line was back: they got pushed around by Clemson for a big game by RB Phil Mafah.

Rob Hwang - Feeling like ACC Championship game is leaning into Clemson-Miami as of right now.

SMU at 22 Louisville (SMU wins 34-27)

TD_24 - What a hell of a response by SMU to sustain momentum despite beating a bad FSU team prior. To go on the road and beat a ranked Louisville team the week after is a big mental development.

Callie - Only caught a few drives of this game. I expected SMU to be a lot more dominant than they were.

Piotr T Le - SMU looks to have figured out their groove.

Christopher H - Well, after a rough start, it's clear that SMU is the dark horse contender for the ACC instead of Cal. Very sad.

Rob Hwang - That final game of the season looked scary, then didn’t and now its back to scary.

Boston College at Virginia (Virginia wins 24-14)

TD_24 - Woof what a game where BC puked on themselves, that was ugly.

Christopher H - Big game for the Virginia defense, which kept Castellanos in check and game up with some big turnovers late in the game in their comeback victory.

Rob Hwang - So happy we don’t play either of these teams this year

Syracuse at 25 UNLV (Syracuse wins OT 44-41)

TD_24 - UNLV narrowly had an undefeated record in their grasp, Syracuse seems like one of those teams that plays up and down to their competition.

Callie - Good win for Syracuse to keep their season from crumbling altogether. Syracuse got outplayed most of the game tbh, and the blocked Punt TD went insane. I think UNLV may have been able to handily beat the Orange had they had the squad that started this season.

Piotr T Le - Cuse did what it needed to do. But they also showed flaws that Cal should pay attention to as the game creeps closer.

Christopher H - Special teams were a problem for Syracuse, with two punts effectively blocked. McCord forced plenty of throws he shouldn't have, and was lucky the UNLV secondary wasn't good enough to capitalize on it. This was the first game I saw where I thought Syracuse's offense wasn't completely one-dimensional, thanks to a big game by RB LeQuint Allen. Defense is still a big problem for Syracuse, though.

Rob Hwang - Cuse has a pretty scary passing offense when they are in rhythm. As a Football fan, I’m excited to see how they matchup against our secondary in a month.

Pittsburgh at North Carolina (Pittsburgh wins 34-24)

TD_24 - Pitt continues to find ways to win and has earned their ranking despite middling competition. Eli Holstein is for real and Cal has a tough ask to consistently keep him down.

Piotr T Le - Pitt goes into Cal game week undefeated but... have they played anyone yet? WVU is the best team they faced and even then it was a game taken to the wire.

Christopher H - UNC has a good running back, Omarion Hampton, and... that's about it. Once again, Pitt RB Desmond Reid was all over the field making an impact everywhere he went.

Rob Hwang - So long Mack Brown.

Wake Forest at NC State (Wake Forest wins 34-30)

TD_24 - things just go from bad to worse for NC State man this was the 2nd worst performance by an ACC team this week, in front of BC.

Piotr T Le - NC State and Wake... someone had to win this game but I would've picked the Wolfpack to do it. Both teams are deeply flawed in a way that can't be fixed in media res of a season.

Christopher H - NC State QB Grayson McCall was carted off the field with an injury, and WF RB Demond Claiborne had another big game, with the NC State defense unable to slow the WF run game.

Rob Hwang - Been saying it. WF on that Friday night is a trap game.

Virginia Tech at Stanford (Virginia Tech wins 31-7)

TD_24 - Man the attendance there looked brutal. Stanford needs a QB if they want success in the future

Callie - Virginia tech very clearly had some pent up anger from the loss against Miami that they took out on the Cardinal. Good for them. Stanford had absolutely no answers for how to protect their quarterback, and it seems like their starting QB may not be playing at 100% next week (or at all).

Piotr T Le - lmao Furd.

Christopher H - Stanford dominated time of possession early on but was unable to do anything with it, while VT methodically drove down the field and scored on their limited possessions. It's exactly the sort of game plan that makes sense when you're at Sacramento State facing an FBS school, and so I feel like Stanford is waving the metaphorical white flag in saying that they don't have the horses to compete. It's Virginia Tech, not Clemson or 2023 FSU or whatever.

Rob Hwang - Sandstorm, actually more like a firestorm, in Palo Alto. Heard it felt like a 105 on the field during the game. Thats gross.

Duke at Georgia Tech (Georgia Tech wins 24-14)

TD_24 - Duke now has their first adversity of the season, I want to see how they respond.

Christopher H - They may have gotten rid of the triple option but man does GT like to run the ball. Duke's undefeated record was always fool's gold. (Hint hint, Pitt).

Rob Hwang - And…. Manny Diaz loses his first ACC game (with Duke)

Any other thoughts?

TD_24 - Roll on....

Christopher H - Miami is going to get obliterated in the playoffs after losing the ACC Championship.