ACC Week 5 Takeaways: Craziness continues in Atlantic Coast Conference (Syracuse included)

During the first weekend of October, the ACC finally started to make a move away from the non-conference part of the schedule and take a deep dive into the conference slate. There were six intra-conference games this weekend, as we start to learn more about each team. If you missed any of the craziness from Week 5, here are the things you need to know in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

What’s the opposite of a silver lining?

Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi must have thought he was living right. The Panthers eked out a road win over Virginia Tech on Friday night, with the Hokies just barely missing a field goal on the final play of the game. Backup quarterback Holden Geriner ended up playing down the stretch after Mason Heintschel went down with an injury.

Unfortunately, Heintschel tore his ACL, ending his season. The Panthers are 5-0 and one of three teams unbeaten in conference play, but they’ll be without their starting quarterback moving forward, which could derail Pitt’s hopes of competing for an ACC title.

Next!

A road game at Clemson was supposed to be a big test for Miami, but the Hurricanes didn’t have a problem with the Tigers, winning 41-13. Miami is starting to look unstoppable, and other than Notre Dame, nobody on its remaining schedule looks like they can match up with the Hurricanes. As for Dabo Swinney’s Tigers, the loss was a big step backward, although they’ll have a bye next week and then a game with Charleston Southern to get things sorted out.

Wake up

Maybe we weren’t overreacting when we put Wake Forest No. 2 in our October ACC power rankings. The Demon Deacons destroyed Stanford 57-3 on Saturday. Granted, it was only Stanford, but Wake’s win over the Cardinal was more lopsided than Stanford’s losses to Miami and Duke. The Demon Deacons might actually be one of the ACC’s best teams.

What happened?

A month ago, both Louisville and Virginia looked like potential contenders. But we can forget about any of that after this weekend. Louisville lost as a road favorite to NC State, dropping the Cardinals to 2-3 on the season. Meanwhile, Virginia was not even competitive in a 38-7 road loss to Florida State. The Cavs haven’t done much since opening the season with a win over NC State, 34-8. Neither Louisville nor Virginia seems to be the caliber of team we thought they were early in the season.

Seminole rally

On the other hand, is Florida State actually good? It’s been easy to scoff at lackluster wins over New Mexico State and Central Arkansas, but the Seminoles dominated every aspect of their game against Virginia on Saturday. Ashton Daniels was decent as a passer, but he scored five rushing touchdowns. Florida State’s next two games are road contests with Louisville and Miami, so the rubber is about to meet the road for Mike Norvell and the Seminoles.

No horsepower

Despite being 4-1, SMU continues to be underwhelming and arguably the biggest disappointment in the ACC. The Mustangs gained just 218 total yards at home in an unimpressive 25-16 win over Boston College. To their credit, the Eagles have hung tough with Virginia Tech and SMU in back-to-back weeks.

But they also barely beat Maine, so the Eagles aren’t a strong team. Yet, the Mustangs couldn’t put them away one week after failing to do the same against Missouri State. Plus, SMU’s loss to Louisville looks worse every week, as the Mustangs still don’t look the part of an ACC contender they were hyped to be.

Non-conference embarrassment

Three ACC teams played non-conference games on Saturday, and all three lost. Well, technically, Syracuse won, but blowing a 20-point lead against UConn and barely winning in overtime didn’t feel like a victory. Meanwhile, California lost a wild 39-31 game to UNLV. The Bears had to play most of the game without Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who suffered a head injury.

Nevertheless, losing to a team that got crushed 44-6 by North Texas a few weeks ago isn’t a good look for the Bears or the ACC. Oddly enough, North Carolina was the ACC’s saving grace this week, even in defeat. The Tar Heels showed plenty of fight in a 37-26 loss to Notre Dame, looking more competitive against the Irish than the three Big Ten teams Marcus Freeman’s team has beaten. Of course, Bill Belichick is still looking for his first conference win of the season.

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