Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football 2025 - Week 5

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.

8 Florida State at Virginia (Final/2OT Virginia wins 46-38)

Ben - Crazy game. Glad to see the ACC Death Circle getting started early.

@RexVolcano - Everyone will talk about the field storm, which was great, but I would also like to talk about Florida State losing, which is nice. Is the #DeionToGainesville dream back on?

Nick Kranz - I was already nervous from what I had seen of Virginia’s offense, but watching them run the ball down FSU’s throat when everybody knew exactly what they were going to do . . . . that’s legit scary. Opponents are going to have to come into a game against the Cavs with a plan to outscore them because I don’t think you can count on your defense to hold them down.

Christopher H - FSU was definitely the more talented team, but they just made too many mistakes. Chandler Morris had a great game, and it’s worth keeping an eye out on his thumb injury. UVA’s ability to get pressure on FSU QB Thomas Castellanos late forced him into mistakes, even though his receiver (USC transfer) Duce Robinson was practically uncoverable.

TD_24 - The most insane field storm I’ve ever seen in my life.

Good for Virginia, they needed a signature win under Tony Elliott and the fanbase seems a lot more bullish on his tenure than I ever was.

16 Georgia Tech at Wake Forest (Final/OT Georgia Tech wins 30-29)

Ben - Haynes King finds another way to win. Georgia Tech’s season will go as far as he can drag them.

@RexVolcano - Much more enjoyable to observe the “excruciating, character-building defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory game” in the wild when it isn’t happening your team.

Nick Kranz - The great thing about Georgia Tech’s play style is that it keeps games close against more talented opponents. The bad thing about Georgia Tech’s playstyle is that it keeps games close against less talented opponents. They just barely survived this one, but I’d be surprised if the Jackets don’t take a loss or two in ACC play even knowing their schedule is pretty soft.

Christopher H - Demond Claiborne was back into form, but another really slow start for GT, as this game probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was. GT will eventually pay for putting themselves in huge holes to start games. Claiborne’s injury in OT is also something that should concern WF fans, as he’s the engine of that offense.

TD_24 - There was some ref tomfoolery that led to Wake Forest having some gripe about this game, but Georgia Tech should be glad they got out of there unscathed.

Duke at Syracuse (Duke wins 38-3)

Ben - Initially this had me worried until I remembered Syracuse is down their starting QB who is out for the season. Such a shame.

@RexVolcano - Syracuse, are you ok?? I had high hopes for Fran Brown’s team after he made them run sprints postgame. They are gonna do a LOT of running, if this keeps up. ALSO: I would be concerned about this result for Duke’s next opponent, but fortunately causation doesn’t exist anymore. So, not a big deal.

Nick Kranz - A solid Duke win turned into a blowout Duke win due to three Syracuse turnovers plus two turnovers on downs. Duke is now +12 in turnovers/turnovers on downs in their last two games, and -6 against Illinois, and I’m very curious which version is going to show up in Berkeley this weekend.

Christopher H - I think Syracuse got a bit too much credit for beating Clemson, who is now 1-3. A much cleaner game for Duke than weeks prior.

TD_24 - Despite Syracuse rolling out a backup QB with the Angeli injury, this was an uber impressive performance from the Blue Devils. Probably the second best ACC performance of the weekend

Louisville Pittsburgh (Louisville wins 34-27)

Ben - Didn’t watch a second of this game. Louisville pulled a tough one on the road. Louisville remains my most concerning game left on the schedule. Really interested to see that matchup.

@RexVolcano - Very Pac-12-y result here. We still have no idea what ACC teams are good outside of maybe one or two, which makes me feel very nostalgic.

Nick Kranz - A weird game, where Pitt took an early lead and maybe should’ve won because they were completing deep passes pretty easily, but blew the game because of two bad interceptions and two bad special teams turnovers. Louisville got very little from their running game and had to rely on Miller Moss, and he made just enough downfield throws to punish Pitt for their errors.

Christopher H - Desmond Reid was a big loss for Pitt, who couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Still not at all impressed with Louisville, but the defense played well in this one.

TD_24 - This was the first time we actually got to see what Louisville is about after a complete cupcake schedule. The defense turned over Pitt what felt like a million times while overcoming a game where Isaac Brown wasn’t at his best. A good win in a vacuum but I want to see more.

Virginia Tech at NC State (Virginia Tech wins 23-21)

Ben - Interesting.

@RexVolcano - Another result completely unaffected by any games that took place before it. I am still a CJ Bailey truther, but he needs more help.

Nick Kranz - The concern for Cal is that V. Tech RB Terion Stewart is healthy, and he tore NC State up to the tune of 174 yards in this one . . . though I hope that Cal’s LBs and DBs don’t look nearly as hopeless in space as NC State’s did.

Christopher H - VT can really run the ball, huh?

TD_24 - Oh no NC State just pulled the Cal vs Colorado 2022

You just can’t lose to the Hokies in this state off the rip, just a brutal setback for the Wolfpack.

San Jose State at Stanford (Stanford wins 30-29)

Ben - Congrats to Stanford for knocking off the South Bay’s Team San Jose State in a close game.

@RexVolcano - I do not care about “strength of schedule” and I am absolutely FURIOUS at San Jose State for ruining the Oski birthday sweep (Cal wins, UCLA loses, USC loses, Stanford loses, Sonny Dykes loses). It was RIGHT THERE.

Nick Kranz - By the measuring stick of everything but field goal kicking, San Jose State was the better team on the day. Shame those kicks matter so much. Also worth noting that after a disastrous first two games, Ben Gulbranson has thrown 5 TDs and no interceptions and is just short of 10 yards/pass attempt in his last three games. A little concerning!

Christopher H - Big day for Stanford WR Caden High. I just love the surprise everyone has when Stanford comes from behind to win it, where it’s not at all apparent which team is the P4 one and which team is the actual underdog, because without the jerseys you’d probably get it backwards.

TD_24 - I’m officially diagnosing SJSU with 2024 Cal kicking disease.

That kicking game has been a total travesty and mix that with a style that doesn’t lend itself to ball control close out drives and you get this comeback from out of nowhere for Stanford.

Any other thoughts?

@RexVolcano - I need to use this space to acknowledge the UCLA fan renting out a 3-sided truck covered in video boards, and using it to display twitter-style sentences about how they need to fire their AD all over Pasadena. We live in a dark timeline, but it is sometimes *incredibly* funny.

Nick Kranz - Our Calimony buds flew to Chicago to narrowly to Northwestern in what is probably the game that will decide the basement of the B1G, and it puts 0-12 distinctly on the table. Richly deserved from the Quislings of the UC system.

Christopher H - I’m back to reasonable expectations for Cal’s ACC conference play. They have the talent to beat anyone in the conference, and the conference slate is a far cry from what Cal was used to during Pac-12 play, but despite all that I’d honestly be surprised at this point if Cal ended up with a winning record in the conference.

TD_24 - Duke looks explosive, could be a high scoring barnburner in Berkeley this weekend.