ACC Week 7 Takeaways: College football chaos is just another week for the ACC

There’s no denying that it was a crazy weekend in college football. Five of the top seven teams in the country lost, with one of those teams only winning because they played another top-seven team. Yet, the ACC had one of its more predictable weeks, which somehow feels odd. Let’s look back at what happened and what we learned from week 7 of the ACC season.

Florida fiasco

The rivalry game between Florida State and Miami didn’t disappoint. Of course, the Hurricanes were a little disappointing, needing double overtime in a game they were favored to win by more than 20 points. There was also no shortage of controversy at the end. To their credit, the Hurricanes found a way to survive and advance, although it was a somewhat underwhelming win for the team carrying the banner for the ACC this season.

No doubt about it

Every week, we look smarter and smarter for putting Wake Forest No. 2 in our early October power rankings. The Demon Deacons took what could be a tricky road game at Cal and turned it into a 41-7 blowout. Since their shocking road win over Louisville last month, the Deacons have thumped three straight ACC teams. The only caveat is that after next week’s bye, Wake’s schedule down the stretch does get a little tougher with games against Virginia and SMU.

Same old story

Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt Panthers continue to go downhill, losing to Boston College 27-21. In defense of Pitt, the Panthers lost quarterback Mason Heintschel a few weeks ago. But the leash on Holden Geriner was short, with Narduzzi going to true freshman Corey Dailey, who completed fewer than 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions in the loss to BC. Narduzzi was whining about Pitt not being ranked a few weeks ago, and now it’s fair to wonder if the Panthers can win another game this season, especially with a road trip to Miami lined up for next week.

Still riding

There’s no question that SMU has been a little underwhelming this season. However, the Mustangs have to get credit for being 5-1 at the midway point of the season. Despite not winning by big margins, the Mustangs did pass a test this week, knocking off a solid Virginia team 23-13. A mid-November game between SMU and Wake Forest could end up deciding Miami’s opponent in the ACC Championship Game, although the Mustangs still have a few more hurdles to jump over to get there, and they still haven’t played anywhere close to their best.

Winning the race to the bottom

With Boston College’s win, it looks like Syracuse is winning the race to the bottom in the ACC. The Orange have played far better than a team that’s 0-4 in league play, losing three of those games by one score. However, Fran Brown’s team is the only team without a conference win, and it’s not as if the schedule gets much easier moving forward.

Bill knows ball

It’s not often in his career that Bill Belichick has needed a redemption tour, but he seems to be putting one together this year. After giving Notre Dame a tough game a few weeks ago, Belichick’s UNC team has knocked off Pitt and Duke in back-to-back games. The Tar Heels are 4-2 on the season and appear to be on pace for at least a bowl game. Meanwhile, Manny Diaz and Duke have suffered two close losses in a row, making a repeat of last year’s ACC Championship increasingly unlikely.

Have some fun

Last but not least, there were two ACC teams that enjoyed blowouts of FCS teams this week. Clemson, which scored just three points after halftime, beat Charleston Southern 37-0, while Stanford took care of business in a 34-7 win over Elon. Neither team was overly impressive in a rather unusual mid-October game against a lower-division team.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow