Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football 2025 - Week 13
Presented by Headlands On Campus
Welcome back to Season 2 of Cal in the ACC. Let’s take a look at what our neighbors on the East Coast are doing.
Florida State at NC State (NC State wins 21-11)
Ben - This was some great Friday night viewing and features what I’d argue is the funniest punt you’ve ever seen. Worth rewatching.
Piotr T Le - lmao FSU. Just wow, what a special teams performance the day after your admin told them their coach is staying.
@RexVolcano - It is *insanely* funny that when all the other Florida States of the world were paying $50 million+ buyouts to fire their coach, Florida State discovered they had already spent that money on lawyers exploring how to leave the ACC. Congrats to the true 2025-26 ACC champion: billable hours.
TD_24 - Surely retaining a coach like Mike Norvell won’t end badly for FSU.....
Jesse Miller-Gordon - I am so curious how the average NC State fan feels about 2026 Dave Doeren right now.
Syracuse at 9 Notre Dame (Notre Dame wins 70-7)
Ben - While missing the Big Game, I wanted to watch this one while taking care of my kid, but saw the scoreline was 21-0 before the offense had even taken the field. Just an absolute thrashing in every phase by the Notre Dame team celebrating Senior Day. Hopefully they keep that energy on the Farm this week.
Piotr T Le - Love for Heisman.
@RexVolcano - Very few teams have ever pressed the *sim to end of season* button as hard as Syracuse did a few weeks ago.
TD_24 - Well when you’re down 21-0 before the offense touches the ball, I don’t recommend that! Just a rough season all around for Fran Brown but I believe in him to get the shop righted.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - A classic “wait what happened?” The Irish could have put up 100 in this game, and I was a little surprised to see starters on the field in the third quarter. Injuries can push a team past it’s breaking point, and Syracuse have simply been obliterated this season. I am looking forward to seeing Fran Brown recover and reload in the offseason.
13 Miami at Virginia Tech (Miami wins 34-17)
Ben - This years Miami team is going to be just a ginormous meme. Can they break into the playoff?
Piotr T Le - Miami is fighting tooth and nail for the at-large spot or even the ACC title game slot. And shockingly they know how to stop the zone read!
@RexVolcano - Look, given the circumstances, we can’t judge James Franklin too harshly for losing to a ranked team in his first game at VT. But it’s still a tiny bit funny.
TD_24 - VT never meaningfully threatened in this game, maybe this time Miami won’t screw up going to the ACC title game.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - A bunch of stuff has to happen for Miami to make the playoffs, but they’re doing the job they can do at this point. Unsure how they got the ranking they did without covering, but I guess the CFP Selection and Gambling are two separate practices of witchcraft, at least ostensibly.
Pittsburgh at 16 Georgia Tech (Pitt wins 42-28)
Ben - Haynes King runs out of steam and Pitt WAIT PITT DID THIS IN ATLANTA? WHAT THE HELL GEORGIA TECH?
Piotr T Le - The Narduzzi gambit paid off handsomely. And GTech... wyd????
@RexVolcano - Elated for my degenerates in Pittsburgh. Go eat a big disgusting sandwich with french fries in it for me :,)
TD_24 - Pitt is really like the Cal Pac 12 equivalent. Causing immense chaos and stress to those in the immediate aftermath.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - Pat Narduzzi made some sort of deal with the devil at the crossroads (again?). Terrifying team right now, excited to see what they do with Miami on Saturday.
Louisville at SMU (SMU wins 38-6)
Ben - oh Miller Moss...
Piotr T Le - SMU is on a warpath and Cal is the next head it plans to put on it’s mantle. Also Louisville had a terrible month, Brohm from a prospective Penn State hire into this. Woof.
@RexVolcano - 6 weeks ago it looked like Louisville would be this year’s SMU, and then it turned out that this year’s SMU was actually still just…SMU.
TD_24 - So about that Louisville win......
SMU with something to play for, oh dear.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - I’m trying not to hold this game up to the light next to what happened at the Farm last Saturday. This decisive win would let in some intrusive thoughts had things fared differently for the Golden Bears.
Delaware at Wake Forest (Wake Forest wins 52-14)
Ben - no thoughts head empty
Piotr T Le - Wake has won 8 games in year 1 of Dickert.
@RexVolcano - I’m a little unclear about why Wake Forest and Clemson got to schedule like SEC teams this week?
TD_24 - Wake Forest being one solid win away from 9 wins deserves immense credit.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - You could tell me almost anything about this game and I would believe you.
Furman at Clemson (Clemson wins 45-10)
Ben - no thoughts head empty
@RexVolcano - Like, what is this. Furman? In Week 13?? Who do you think you are, Auburn?? Have a little self-respectTD_24Didn’t know Clemson was in the SEC this week.
Jesse Miller-Gordon - The fun part of games being scheduled years in advance is how it looks when a top end ACC program does their own version of Socon Saturday in turns out to be a down year.
Any other thoughts?
Piotr T Le - Nothing of note happened this week. Nope. Nothing.
@RexVolcano - Deeply sickened by the cold, lifeless “rivalry” games being played between West Coast teams in the Big Ten over these last two weeks. A grim reminder that you can’t just buy history and culture…you have to build it through years of torment.