Some thoughts on 15 of 17 ACC teams in action this past weekend, with FSU playing BC on Monday night.
Three teams stand out to me, and likely you guys. Miami for its domination at Florida, Virginia Tech for its pathetic loss at Vandy, and Clemson for revealing the Dabo way in the portal-NIL era simply doesn’t work.
It’s just one game, and I don’t want to make too much of one game, but the Hurricanes looked CFP good in the 41-17 romp in the swamp. They actually looked a bit like the 80s and 90s version and have the QB to give them that iconic aura. Cam Ward is for real. Good grief he is smooth.
I am still not sold on Brent Pry and wasn’t before the game Saturday. Brent Key? Absolutely. He’s legitimately doing a good job at Georgia Tech, and I thought that before it beat FSU. Pry, however, hasn’t shown much.
The Hokies were overhyped in the preseason without having really proven anything, and the dismal performance at Vandy 34-27 in OT) (is going to take a while to recover from.
Dabo has a problem and it’s looking back at him in the mirror. The man has done an incredible job there, but the program has slipped a lot quickly. Clemson can bring in a haul from the portal if it wanted to, and you can do that while still being selective to snag some “Clemson guys.” But the last two highly touted QBs have been duds. They aren’t developing like they did, and may have missed on some evaluations, too.
Georgia owned the Tigers 34-3. Clemson finished with 189 total yards.
Now, for the other 12 teams (FSU plays BC on Monday night):
*I like the Yellow Jackets. Given the attention they got from beating FSU and taking on a decent program (Georgia State) from a couple miles down the road, this was a solid 35-12 win. Nothing major either way, but needed reps, and a win is a win. At Syracuse this coming weekend will be tough as will at Louisville in a few weeks. But GT can win those games, certainly in the dome Saturday.
*Syracuse had some really nice spots in the 38-22 win over Ohio. The offense is going to produce enough to win some games, but the defense gave up way too many chunk plays, yards, and points. I think the Cuse is an intriguing team, and it will be fun learning more about what kind of coach Fran Brown is.
*I didn’t watch one second of Louisville’s 62-0 romp over Austin Peay. Power conference teams should not play FCS clubs. So, not much to take from this one, though Tyler Shough, who was once committed to UNC, put on a show. (Get it?)
*Virginia gave its fans a new football presentation and experience, which should help the program. The Hoos were pretty good for a while against Richmond and pulled away 34-13. But the Spiders are an FCS team, so little was learned.
*NC State trailed an FCS team into the fourth quarter. Now, human nature was likely a factor with Western Carolina in town and a date versus Tennessee this coming weekend. But losing to the Catamounts in the fourth quarter? It may mean nothing, but it wasn’t an encouraging performance in the 38-21 victory.
*Duke’s defense was dominant against Elon in a 26-3 win. But it should be. Poor crowd for the Devils’ first game under Manny Diaz. Duke is another intriguing club with Maalik Murphy behind center.
*Wake Forest played NC A&T and struggled some for a while before pulling away for a 45-13 win. It looks like the Deacs may take time before settling on a QB. Again, an FCS opponent, so we didn’t learn much.
*Cal didn’t move the ball much against FCS UC-Davis. Not a good sign in the 31-13 win.
*Stanford battled TCU and gave itself chances to win, but the Cardinal relied too much on Ashton Daniels to run and throw. The Horned Frogs outplayed Stanford by more than the 34-27 final score in Palo Alto.
*Pitt’s new-look offense scored 55 points against Kent State, as QB Eli Holstein had himself a day. They gave up 24 points, but just 212 total yards.
*SMU hosted Houston Christian, which used to be called Houston Baptist. The Huskies home stadium seats 5,000 fans. They should never be on a power conference team’s schedule, and the Ponies’ 59-7 romp should surprise nobody.
*Now for UNC. As I wrote in my column, that was a really good win for the Tar Heels because of how the game played out and the adversity the team had to overcome. The Heels got fortunate with the two missed field goals, but that’s part of the game. And good teams position themselves to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes, and Carolina did that. I think this was the second best win in the ACC over the weekend.
What do you guys think about the weekend's games?
Three teams stand out to me, and likely you guys. Miami for its domination at Florida, Virginia Tech for its pathetic loss at Vandy, and Clemson for revealing the Dabo way in the portal-NIL era simply doesn’t work.
It’s just one game, and I don’t want to make too much of one game, but the Hurricanes looked CFP good in the 41-17 romp in the swamp. They actually looked a bit like the 80s and 90s version and have the QB to give them that iconic aura. Cam Ward is for real. Good grief he is smooth.
I am still not sold on Brent Pry and wasn’t before the game Saturday. Brent Key? Absolutely. He’s legitimately doing a good job at Georgia Tech, and I thought that before it beat FSU. Pry, however, hasn’t shown much.
The Hokies were overhyped in the preseason without having really proven anything, and the dismal performance at Vandy 34-27 in OT) (is going to take a while to recover from.
Dabo has a problem and it’s looking back at him in the mirror. The man has done an incredible job there, but the program has slipped a lot quickly. Clemson can bring in a haul from the portal if it wanted to, and you can do that while still being selective to snag some “Clemson guys.” But the last two highly touted QBs have been duds. They aren’t developing like they did, and may have missed on some evaluations, too.
Georgia owned the Tigers 34-3. Clemson finished with 189 total yards.
Now, for the other 12 teams (FSU plays BC on Monday night):
*I like the Yellow Jackets. Given the attention they got from beating FSU and taking on a decent program (Georgia State) from a couple miles down the road, this was a solid 35-12 win. Nothing major either way, but needed reps, and a win is a win. At Syracuse this coming weekend will be tough as will at Louisville in a few weeks. But GT can win those games, certainly in the dome Saturday.
*Syracuse had some really nice spots in the 38-22 win over Ohio. The offense is going to produce enough to win some games, but the defense gave up way too many chunk plays, yards, and points. I think the Cuse is an intriguing team, and it will be fun learning more about what kind of coach Fran Brown is.
*I didn’t watch one second of Louisville’s 62-0 romp over Austin Peay. Power conference teams should not play FCS clubs. So, not much to take from this one, though Tyler Shough, who was once committed to UNC, put on a show. (Get it?)
*Virginia gave its fans a new football presentation and experience, which should help the program. The Hoos were pretty good for a while against Richmond and pulled away 34-13. But the Spiders are an FCS team, so little was learned.
*NC State trailed an FCS team into the fourth quarter. Now, human nature was likely a factor with Western Carolina in town and a date versus Tennessee this coming weekend. But losing to the Catamounts in the fourth quarter? It may mean nothing, but it wasn’t an encouraging performance in the 38-21 victory.
*Duke’s defense was dominant against Elon in a 26-3 win. But it should be. Poor crowd for the Devils’ first game under Manny Diaz. Duke is another intriguing club with Maalik Murphy behind center.
*Wake Forest played NC A&T and struggled some for a while before pulling away for a 45-13 win. It looks like the Deacs may take time before settling on a QB. Again, an FCS opponent, so we didn’t learn much.
*Cal didn’t move the ball much against FCS UC-Davis. Not a good sign in the 31-13 win.
*Stanford battled TCU and gave itself chances to win, but the Cardinal relied too much on Ashton Daniels to run and throw. The Horned Frogs outplayed Stanford by more than the 34-27 final score in Palo Alto.
*Pitt’s new-look offense scored 55 points against Kent State, as QB Eli Holstein had himself a day. They gave up 24 points, but just 212 total yards.
*SMU hosted Houston Christian, which used to be called Houston Baptist. The Huskies home stadium seats 5,000 fans. They should never be on a power conference team’s schedule, and the Ponies’ 59-7 romp should surprise nobody.
*Now for UNC. As I wrote in my column, that was a really good win for the Tar Heels because of how the game played out and the adversity the team had to overcome. The Heels got fortunate with the two missed field goals, but that’s part of the game. And good teams position themselves to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes, and Carolina did that. I think this was the second best win in the ACC over the weekend.
What do you guys think about the weekend's games?
