Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football Week 8

Presented by Saucy Asian

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

Florida State at Duke (Duke wins 23-16)

TD_24 - Good for Duke, bowl eligible under Manny Diaz in 7 games. That offense is putrid however. FSU continues to haunt me

Piotr T Le - Mood knowing the 1 on FSU's record is us:

Callie Wake - God how the hell did we lose to them?!! Congrats Duke, you did it!

Justin Buechler - Every FSU loss had made their win against Cal so much harder. I want to point and laugh at the FSU coprophagy curse. I want to make fun of them. I can't.

Christopher H - You know your "blue chip" status is in trouble when a team that is 0-20 against you historically doesn't bother to rush the field after the win. It cannot be understated just how bad the FSU offense is. By FSU beating Cal, they may have cursed themselves to a 1-11 season (come on, Charleston Southern!).

Rob Hwang - Really need FSU to get it together and win a few please.

6 Miami at Louisville (Miami wins 52-45)

TD_24 - Xavier Restrepo is a cheat code, he can do it all.

Piotr T Le - Louisville valiantly fought but fell to Miami and their refs.

Callie Wake - Although officiating controversies seem to still plague Miami victories, I can’t help but admit that this was a quality win for the hurricanes. Cam Ward played another great game, with 7 consecutive 300+ yard performances this year. 4 TD passes and 0 picks made it a great outing for Ward. This game was defined by high flying offenses, and honestly felt more like a question of who would run out of stamina first. Which Louisville did by the middle of the 4th. That aside, However, with another game won by 1 score or less against an unranked ACC opponent, I’m seriously questioning their results if they make the CFP. Not putting them on fraud alert (yet), but if I’m Cristobal, I’d be concerned what happens when the U faces powerhouse teams like Clemson, Ohio State, Texas, Tennessee, or Georgia.

Justin Buechler - Cam Ward owes the O-line dinner and a movie. The amount of time they generate for their quarterback is absolutely amazing and they deserve so much credit for how well Miami has done on offense this season.

Christopher H - I didn't watch this one, but I heard it ended with another controversial ACC ref call.

Rob Hwang - It feels like a falter game is coming for Miami.

Virginia at 10 Clemson (Clemson wins 48-31)

TD_24 - If you were a Clemson bettor, that was a sickening back door cover by UVA and I feel for you. Clemson's offense has take some big leaps this year and Cade Klubnik feels in the groove.

Justin Buechler - 5th game this season Clemson has finished with 500+ yards. While not SEC ready or attractive, Clemson is easing their way to the expanded CFP.

Christopher H - Not as close as the final score may seem; Clemson dominated, but they really need to figure out what's going on with their backups as pretty much every team has a 4th quarter offensive explosion against Clemson after Clemson takes their foot off the gas.

Rob Hwang - No one in the ACC feels dominant this season.

Boston College at Virginia Tech (VT wins 42-21)

TD_24 - I'm fairly concerned if I'm a BC fan with their consistent drop off over these last few weeks. Then again the FSU game is skewing my expectations off the rails.

Callie Wake - Surprising to watch Boston College take a beating like that. However, BC’s offense reminded me a little of Cal’s, sparks of greatness, good plays and good players, but stifled by self inflicted issues. Like Cal, BC had an assortment of poor play calls. But unlike Cal, BC was hampered by turnovers instead of penalties. VT has showings of true chaos dark horse energy in the ACC, and I’m glad we don’t have to play them this year.

Justin Buechler - BC was able to cut VT's lead down to 21-28 in a very interesting third quarter, but the first quarter BC back-to-back fumbles was the direction the game was going from the beginning.

Christopher H - VT looking like a sneaky dark horse for the ACC if they can upset Clemson in a couple weeks.

Rob Hwang - The Sandman did enter

Wake Forest at UConn (Wake Forest wins 23-20)

TD_24 - You know Wake may only be 3-4 but they aren't far off from a winning record themselves. They are no pushover in Winston-Salem

Callie Wake - Having a reliable kicker sure does make a difference huh? From the stat line, they were quite even. Bachmeier went 21/36 for 274 yards and 1 int, while Evers was 26/43 for 264 yards, 2 TD’s, and 1 int. WF picked up 2 TD’s on the ground, and then the rest were field goals. WF’s Dennis was good from 32, 31, and 36, while UConn’s Freeman was good from 35 & 53. 15 points from field goals.
I know Wake Forest isn’t exactly at the top of the ACC, but I didn’t expect the results to be so close.

Justin Buechler - Who watched this?

Christopher H - The UConn defense did a pretty good job of limiting WF star RB Demond Claiborne, but ultimately it was the WF defense that came up big to hang on for the win. Must be nice.

Rob Hwang - Congratulations Wake Forest! You beat a national champion!

12 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech (Notre Dame wins 31-13)

TD_24 - Not sure who agreed to the schedule change from GT to the Falcons stadium but way to take out your home field advantage before you even take the field.

Justin Buechler - Georgia Tech's clever minds kept the Irish fans directly in the Mercedes Benz Stadium sunlight, but could not stop the power of touchdown Jesus and the Notre Dame.

Christopher H - GT was always going to struggle on offense without their starting QB.

Rob Hwang - Glad to see half member Notre Dame is back on track.

21 SMU at Stanford (SMU wins 40-10)

TD_24 - I am really not looking forward to the season finale in Dallas.

Piotr T Le - Stanford looks gettable and SMU does not. But considering Cal football they are both gettable and not.

Callie Wake - The Furding continues. Haha (mom come get me, SMU looks really good and I’m scared)

Justin Buechler - Big Oil beats Big Tech

Christopher H - With the run game completely shut down, Stanford played a freshman QB Elijah Brown in the second half to get some semblance of a passing game going.

Rob Hwang - So Stanford can’t beat Sonny Dykes current team and now previous team? Now we can’t lose the Big Game this year.

Any other thoughts?

TD_24 - A SMU vs Pitt ACC title game would feed families.

Christopher H - Even the most pessimistic version of myself would have never predicted that Cal would be last in the ACC at this point of the season. Cal football, why must you hurt me so?