Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football 2025 - Week 8

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.

Louisville at 2 Miami (Louisville wins 24-21)

Ben - watched half of this and then LaRussell started his concert so I don’t have a whole lot to offer than *deep breath*

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Miami.

I cannot wait to see how this all plays out now that Miami is not in control of...anything ACC related at this point.

Christopher H - Louisville’s defensive line is very good, holding their own against a very good Miami offensive line to shut down the run game. I just don’t think Carson Beck is a very good quarterback, especially given the talent he has at wide receiver (and I don’t just mean because of this 4.5 INT game). Beck just kept forcing weak-armed throws into heavy coverage. Louisville also had a good game plan, capitalizing on a the quick passing game to avoid Miami’s defensive line (i.e. Rueben Bain Jr).

12 Georgia Tech at Duke (Georgia Tech wins 27-18)

Ben - HAYNESSSSSSSSSS KANNNNGGGGGGG

Is Tech going to do it?

Christopher H - Georgia Tech’s offense just wears teams down. A couple of fumbles and special teams miscues cost Duke big time, in a game without much room for error. Duke WR Cooper Barkate showed out again though.

Rob - At this point, I’m rooting for GT to go all the way.

Washington State at 18 Virginia (Virginia wins 22-20)

Ben - This was a quality watch (sorry Wazzu). Virginia squeaking by, at home, with a very luck safety makes me feel a lot better about the matchup on November 1. College football!

Christopher H - UVA only had 4 first downs in the first half, as Wazzu sent a message with chippy play and violent hits. Wazzu had 22 carries for 113 yards rushing in the first half, winning the line of scrimmage, but a great comeback by Virginia in the 4th quarter when down 20-10: a UVA 97 yard drive in the 4th to make it 20-17 Wazzu, an INT to set up a short field and FG to tie it, and then a safety to win it 22-20 UVA after Wazzu inadvertently pinned themselves to their own 2 yard line with an accidental fair catch signal. Ultimately, this was a game that the Virginia defense won... it was reminiscent of vintage Wilcox football.

UConn at Boston College (UConn wins 38-23)

Ben - Oh Boston College...oh no.

Christopher H - Just an abysmal performance by the BC secondary, who repeatedly blew coverages to give up big plays. BC was actually a 1.5-point favorite in this one before they decided to make the UConn QB look like a superstar.

Rob - This was Jim Mora’s job interview for the BC job right?

SMU at Clemson (SMU wins 35-24)

Ben - Just absolutely fascinating. I had written SMU off entirely, but they appear to be trying to backdoor their way in. They have yet to lose a regular season ACC Game. Incredible. Just incredible.

And oh man Clemson. On track for the second worst season under Dabo since he started in 2010. Games against Duke, Florida State, @ Louisville, Furman, and @ South Carolina to end the season? Does Clemson get bowl eligible this year? Oh man oh man.

Christopher H - QB Kevin Jennings played well despite a bum ankle which affected throws and limited his scrambling ability. Clemson has really good receivers, but QB Christopher Vizzina is probably not the answer at QB, although he had a few drops from receivers and Clemson overall played very uninspired football. There were a lot of offensive mistakes by both teams, as neither team looked particularly effective. SMU pulled out the victory against an apathetic Clemson who now falls to 3-4 overall after starting the season an AP Top 5 team.

Pitt at Syracuse (Pitt wins 30-13)

Ben - I mean okay. Syracuse feels like a free square so...

Christopher H - Pitt QB Mason Heintschel really struggled with the pressure that Syracuse brought, but ultimately it’s hard to overcome having your backup quarterback throw 3 interceptions while also giving up a punt return touchdown.

Florida State at Stanford (Florida State loses 13-20)

Ben - A true haters watch that I would have been happy with either way. Stayed up far too late on Saturday to watch, and for the briefest of seconds as @RexVolcano pointed out, there was a timeline where Stanford coughs up this game by committing an Offensive PI penalty that was created because of Justin Wilcox. Alas, they won.

Christopher H - Ok, yes, that was a hilarious ending to the game, but it’s crazy to me that FSU was even in that position in the first place. Blame coaching or the QB or whatever, but FSU is the perfect representation of a team that is worse than the sum of its parts, showing that you can’t always just buy a new roster year after year from the transfer portal, and I think the yearly free agency is hurting the sport. I think Stanford is showing that they will put up a fight in this year’s Big Game, and I’m a little bit worried about it now.

Any other thoughts?

Ben - 5-2 and plenty of opportunity to get better. Let’s beat the Hokies.

Christopher H - Credit to Ben for first pointing this out, but my favorite fact of the week was that the three ACC schools that voted against Cal, Stanford, and SMU joining the conference all lost to those 3 schools on Saturday.