After a week that saw several ACC teams lose some winnable games, everyone needs to take a step back and take a deep breath. Yes, there were some bad losses, some teams that we thought were on the upward swing took some lumps, but that was week 3 of a 12 week season. Most conferences are going to see weeks of joy and weeks of sorrow. Week 3 was definitely a week of sorrow when it came to ACC football.
Let’s start with Friday night. Wake Forest defeated North Carolina in a non-conference matchup that left a little bit of controversy after the game ended. Officials admitted that there should have been 1 second left on the clock for UNC after they said that the North Carolina receivers forward progress had been stopped. This would have given North Carolina one last shot at the end zone for a chance to win the game. While this was not a big upset, both teams entered the game undefeated and were exceeding expectations. While this does not go against the Tar Heels as a loss in the conference standings, it is still a blow to their morale. Meanwhile, the Wake Forest football team is clicking on all cylinders especially quarterback Jamie Newman and wide receiver Sage Surratt.
Also on Friday night came probably the most shocking result of the weekend. Kansas took a trip to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College and ended up winning the game 48-24. This was Kansas’ first power five road win in 48 games. The Jayhawks were also coming off a loss to a Coastal Carolina team the previous week, scoring only 7 points in a 12-7 loss. Boston College had knocked off Virginia Tech in their first game and beat up on Richmond in week 2. Power rankings had moved the Eagles close to the top after the first two weeks. Boston College was held scoreless in the second half after entering the game as a three touchdown favorite. The weekend was off to a rough start before Saturday morning even dawned, and it wouldn’t get a lot better.
The early kickoffs on Saturday provided more heartache for ACC football fans as North Carolina State was knocked off by a West Virginia team that looked like they were headed to a complete rebuild after they were routed by Mizzou in week 2. Georgia Tech was upset by FCS The Citadel and Virginia Tech needed a second half comeback to beat FCS Furman at home in Blacksburg. If you add in Pittsburgh’s blown chances at upsetting Penn State in Happy Valley, there were a lot of questions about the ACC and the state of the conference in football.
North Carolina State looked like they were also going to exceed expectations this season before they went to Morgantown and lost 44-27. The Mountaineers struggled to put away FCS James Madison in week one, and looked lost in a 38-7 week two loss at Missouri. The Wolfpack on the other hand looked impressive against lesser quality opponents, but still looked farther along than predicted.
We all knew that Georgia Tech would be in a rebuild this season. They took one on the chin in week one to Clemson, but that was not much of a surprise. Week two saw the Yellow Jackets knock off Charlie Strong’s South Florida Bulls where the Jackets showed a lot of fight. Then they took on The Citadel on Saturday. Georgia Tech lost in overtime to the FCS school by a score of 27-24. The Citadel runs a triple option, which is what the Paul Johnson Georgia Tech teams ran for years, but now that Geoff Collins has taken over the program, they have gone away from the triple option.
Georgia Tech was unable to solve The Citadel’s option attack, and also appearing to still be trying to figure out their new offense. Alternating quarterbacks, along with trying to find their identity mid-season is not ideal, but it is still early and hopefully the Yellow Jackets can get on track soon. A humbling loss like Saturday’s could go a long way in establishing that.
The last game we are going to talk about was not a loss, but it is still something that needs to be discussed. Furman took a 14-3 lead into halftime against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The Hokies were able to hold the Paladins to only 3 second half points on the way to a 24-17 win. The loss to Boston College in week one is now looking even worse, and Virginia Tech also struggled to put away Old Dominion in week 2 in a game that should have been won by a lot more than it was.
After a field goal by Furman cut the Hokie lead to 7 with under 2 minutes to go, the Paladins attempted an onside kick to try and get the ball back for a chance to tie or win the game. It initially appeared that Furman would get that shot when they came up with ball, but a penalty flag was called for a Furman player blocking a Virginia Tech player before they were eligible to do so. The ball had not traveled the necessary 10 yards it needed too when the block occurred. There was a lot of confusion, but Virginia Tech was able to get a first down on the ensuing drive to run out the clock.
Let’s not forget about the teams that were a bright spot for the conference in an otherwise bleak weekend. Duke, Louisville, Clemson, and Miami all looked good in wins. Louisville is off to a 2-1 start under Scott Satterfield and look to really turn some heads this weekend when they take on Florida State in Tallahassee.
Clemson is Clemson and still ranked number 1 in the nation, while Virginia is the other top 25 team from the ACC, moving up to 21 after a win over Florida State. Miami crushed Bethune Cookman and it was nice to see the Hurricanes start putting things together under first year head coach Manny Diaz. Duke has reeled off two straight wins in impressive fashion after losing to Alabama in week 1.
All of these games left a lot to be desired when it came to the ACC teams involved. There were some bad losses, and wins that felt like losses. The national media had a field day trashing the conference. It was mentioned earlier, but we all have to take a step back and realize that this was only week 3.
Most of these teams will end writing the wrongs from Saturday and go on to have decent seasons. There is the chance for one or more of these teams to struggle the rest of the way also. It is hard to tell, but that is the beauty of sports. We don’t know what is going to happen, but people are going to comment on what they think will happen anyway. Some positive, some negative, but for followers of the ACC we know that there is a lot of rebuilding going on around the league. This doesn’t mean that the negativity isn’t warranted, but it is also a small sample size. If things are still bleak headed into November, maybe we can dive in a little deeper, but for now let’s just see how things play out. Everyone take a deep breath, take a step back and enjoy ACC football.
