The ACC went 2-2 against the SEC on rivalry week, but the real story is SMU’s loss opened the door for a doomsday scenario for the conference where the champion misses the playoff.
Definitive Worst in the ACC
17. Syracuse (3-9 [1-7] Prev 17): When you’re getting blown out at home to Boston College, you’re in a bad spot. Fran Brown has now seen the highs and the lows, so we’ll see where the normal is next year. The Orange lost eight straight after beating Clemson. From Clemson’s perspective, that loss was probably the worst of the Dabo Swinney era and worst since they lost to 2-9 Duke in 2004 under Tommy Bowden.
No Bowl for You!
16. Boston College (2-10 [1-7] Prev 16): The Eagles had a horrible season, but ended with an encouraging win, their first of the conference slate. Next season, they’ll need to show major progress to justify keeping Coach O’Brien. The Eagles are quite bad in… everything except hockey right now. They’re likely the worst athletic department in the conference.
15. Virginia Tech (3-9 [2-6] Prev 15): Virginia Tech wasn’t very competitive with Virginia, but again, who cares? They landed their coach and are flipping several major Penn State commits. The future is bright and the difference between 3, 4, or 5 wins late in a failed season is not super important.
14. North Carolina (4-8 [2-6] Prev 13): I just said an extra win below bowl eligibility doesn’t really matter, but it felt like Coach Belichick could have used some momentum after their awful start. They started to get it with back-to-back wins over Syracuse and Stanford but lost three straight games to in-state foes to end the season including this week’s 42-19 loss to NC State. Belichick enters next season on the hot seat.
13. Stanford (4-8 [3-5] Prev 14): Notre Dame smashed the Cardinal 49-20 in the middle of the night. Stanford can now look forward to their new era with Tavita Prichard, a former Stanford QB (2008) and Stanford Offensive Coordinator (2022). He had been the QB coach with the Washington Commanders the past three seasons. He was the QB that preceded Andrew Luck who is now the GM who hired him.
12. Florida State (5-7 [1-7] Prev 12): The Seminoles defense couldn’t stop the run, allowing Jadan Baugh of Florida to gash them for 266 yards on the ground despite not having a run longer than 22 yards. Now they go into an offseason that lacks the excitement of a new coach.
Bowl Teams
11. Wake Forest (8-4 [4-4] Prev 6): Wake Forest’s defense got absolutely torched for 49 points in a 49-32 loss to Duke in Durham. I was wrong here as I thought Wake Forest would beat their in-state private school rival and reach nine wins. Instead, they allowed a 7-win team to appear in the ACC Championship.
10. NC State (7-5 [4-4] Prev 10): Coach Doeren’s crew pummeled North Carolina to the tune of 42-19 to close their season on a high-note. They finished their year winning three of four including Georgia Tech, Florida State, and North Carolina. A 7-5 finish isn’t going to excite the fan base, but it isn’t too far off expectations and should keep Dave Doeren in Raleigh unless he wants to call it quits on his own terms.
9. Duke (7-5 [6-2] Prev 9): I thought Duke’s fortunate path to an ACCCG berth would come to a proper end against Wake Forest. Instead, their offense guided by big-money transfer-QB Darian Mensah and offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer couldn’t be stopped. Their defense isn’t good by any means – they allowed QB Robbie Ashford to throw for 342 yards – but the offense put up 49 points. With SMU’s loss, they clinched a berth in the championship game which re-introduces the ACC’s doomsday scenario. A Duke win would almost certainly mean the ACC Champion is not one of the five highest-ranked conference champions and the AAC Champion and Sun Belt Champion (if James Madison) get in over the ACC.
8. Louisville (8-4 [4-4] Prev 8): After five years of Kentucky dominating the rivalry, Louisville scored 41 points for their second consecutive win in the rivalry. They outgained the Wildcats 440 to 140. Louisville had two 100-yard rushers and neither was star RB Isaac Brown who did not play.
7. California (7-5 [4-4] Prev 11): JKS and Jacob De Jesus shredded the SMU defense for 38 points in a win that knocked the Mustangs out of the conference title game. JKS threw for 330 yards and 4 TDs to 0 INTs. De Jesus had 12 receptions and 97 yards with a TD. SMU trailed by 17 and roared back to take a 4-point lead, but Cal responded with a game-winning TD drive. SMU still had a chance to win with a TD or tie with a field goal, but their 50+ yard attempt in the waning seconds went wide.
This seventh win comes on the heels of their ugly loss to Stanford and firing of Coach Wilcox. 7-win seasons seem like appropriate expectations for this Cal program in the ACC, so we’ll see how realistic their standards are as they make a new hire and try to raise the program’s ceiling. This victory came in front of a mostly empty home stadium, perhaps new blood will awaken the fan base. If JKS and Jacob De Jesus enter the portal, perhaps Coach Swinney would be open to bringing two devout Christian elite athletes to God’s country?
6. Clemson (7-5 [4-4] Prev 7): Clemson finished the regular season with 3-4 wins fewer than almost anybody expected, but winning the Palmetto Bowl makes it a whole lot less awful.
The defense was spectacular except for two plays that were according to Coach Swinney among the worst defensive plays he’s ever seen. The first was a 53-yard TD pass where Brandon Strozier was beat and Ricardo Jones was out of position to help. The next came on throw 20 yards downfield to the outside. Both Corian Gipson and Jaedyn Lukus were in great position to make a play, but Gipson blew past the receiver without touching him or the ball while Lukus froze. Vandevius Jacobs gathered his footing, seemingly shocked that nobody touched him, and then took off running and turned what at worst should have been a 20-yard catch into a 74-yard touchdown.
After those two gaffes, Clemson’s defense dominated. The Gamecocks couldn’t run the ball, totaling only 41 yards on the ground, while QB LaNorris Sellers did little to help the ground attack, and Clemson won 28-14.
Cade Klubnik finished with 268 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT. It was far from his best game. On consecutive plays he overthrew a wide-open receiver in the end zone and then underthrew another open receiver turning a sure touchdown into an interception. He settled in after that and helped Clemson win the field position battle most of the day, but still had misses in the second half, just none as catastrophic as LaNorris Sellers’.
Sammy Brown did a great job keeping Seller in the pocket and had a game-high 9 tackles. Wade Woodaz had his best game of the year, making several key tackles. Avien Terrell forced yet another fumble, which TJ Parker recovered. Parker had 3 sacks after only gathering 2 all season. Will Heldt had 2.5 TFLs and was impactful all day. Safety Ricardo Jones had two interceptions including the game-winner he returned for a touchdown, the only touchdown by either team in the second half. That ball looked like it was tipped by Sammy Brown.
Nolan Hauser was 2/2 on field goals which was the difference in the game before the pick-six and subsequent two-point conversion sealed the win.
With the win, Clemson has ended their regular season with four straight wins. While a lot of that was aided by blunders and mediocrity by opponents, hopefully it brings some much needed joy and momentum without obscuring the need for some significant changes over the offseason.
5. SMU (8-4 [6-2] Prev 2): I thought the trip out west to Cal could be tricky, but I didn’t think SMU would actually lose. They fell behind by 17 and came all the way back, but their defense couldn’t stop the fun Cal offensive attack. The ACC is wonky this year. SMU beat Miami, but lost to Cal. Cal lost to Stanford, but beat SMU. Miami beat Notre Dame, but lost to Louisville who turned around and lost to Cal.
4. Georgia Tech (9-3 [6-2] Prev 5): In a weird version of Clean, Old-Fashion Hate on Friday afternoon, neither QB had a banner day and only one touchdown was scored. Georgia secured the 16-9 win after a GT Hail Mary was smacked down with 0:00 remaining.
QB Haynes King has carried the offense for much of the season, but he’s been taking his lumps as of late. In their loss to Pittsburgh last week, he threw 2 INTs. This week against Georgia it was only one, but the Bulldogs held him to just 161 yards passing and 39 yards rushing. Both are his lowest marks since week 3 when he played only limited snaps in a blowout win over Temple. 9-3 is a good season for the Yellow Jackets, but it is not historic and their best wins are over 8-win Wake Forest and 7-win Clemson.
3. Pittsburgh (8-4 [6-2] Prev 4): Pitt was out-rushed 140-30 as Miami proved superior at the lines of scrimmage. Carson Beck out-dueled Mason Heintschel and Pitt has now lost two of three with the high-profile win in Atlanta sandwiched between blowout losses to Notre Dame (37-15) and Miami (38-7).
ACC’s Top Tier
2. Miami (10-2 [6-2] Prev 3): Miami has been getting the good version of Carson Beck lately and when that happens, they’re the best team in the league. They went on the road playing in a cold weather environment and dominated no. 22 Pittsburgh. Freshman WR Malachi Toney had 126 receiving yards and now has 970 on the season. Like Wesco for Clemson last year, his addition through old school local high school recruiting made a huge impact for Miami.
Miami is likely done in the playoff race as they will finish no higher than 11th in the rankings but get jumped by the 4th and 5th best conference champs (two of Tulane, North Texas, James Madison, and Virginia).
1. Virginia (10-2 [7-1] Prev 1): With SMU, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech losing, Coach Tony Elliott should get every single vote for coach of the year. They were bad last year, and he self-acknowledged it and heavily used the portal to fix it. QB Chandler Morris was the biggest piece of the puzzle.
In their 27-7 rivalry win over Viriginia Tech, it was the defense that led the way holding the Hokies under 200 total yards. Virginia and Miami are the two best teams in the conference, and it is a shame we won’t get to see them duke it out. Miami has a higher ceiling, but Virginia has been more consistent for more of the year sans the Wake Forest game when QB Chandler Morris was out.
