Around the ACC: Week 9 Recap

It took us almost nine weeks to get to this point, but someone will finally pull away from the pack and win a second #GoACC Moment of the Week award for an outstanding week eight effort. My hat is off to the world’s finest conference, which really spreads the love when it comes to sucking. It was a truly spectacular run, now’s the time to vote on who ended it.

Wake Forest 56, Louisville 35

If you read this article in its entirety, you’ll see that defense was hardly the theme of the week for the ACC. This game was (predictably) no exception.

I’ll spare you my usual Bobby Petrino vitriol this time around and let Wake Forest running back Matt Colburn give it to you instead: the Deacon halfback ran for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Cardinals after Petrino pulled his scholarship offer 48 hours before signing day back in 2015. Oops.

It turns out that Petrino tried to get Colburn to grayshirt, but old Bobby forgot that you have to be named Nick Saban to do that without being criticized by the media.

North Carolina 21, Virginia 31

This is just getting embarrassing, everyone. As of right this moment, it appears to be a two-team race between Virginia Tech and Virginia for the Coastal crown, meaning that any modicum of self respect you had at the beginning of the season should now be completely gone. The Hokies and Hoos both control their own destinies for the privilege of getting stomped by Clemson.

UNC, meanwhile, is stuck under Larry Fedora’s contract. If they can find a way to pony up $14 million for that buyout, I’ll be quite impressed.

Duke 45, Pittsburgh 54

Of course they stopped at 99 points, just to spite me.

Pitt managed to pull away from Duke in the We Are Better Than Georgia Tech Bowl (sponsored by Pepsi, for those who love second place) by dropping 634 yards of offense compared to just 619 for the Blue Devils. If you know what this says about Tech’s defense, enlighten me.

NC State 41, Syracuse 51

Go ahead and file this one under unsurprising, once again. Ryan Finley threw for 473 yards in a game that NC State lost... by two scores. At the Carrier Dome. To Syracuse. In 2018. Jacoby Brissett isn’t walking through that door.

Georgia Tech 49, Virginia Tech 28: #GoACC Moment of the Week Candidate

We’ve finally reached the three candidates for #GoACC Moment of the Week, and I just had to give Virginia Tech a shot at the prize for their performance against the Jackets. Losing a game is bad, but losing a game wherein your opponent’s backup quarterback drops north of 400 rushing yards on you without completing a single pass is cause for concern. You’re better than this, Bud Foster. The jury is still out on Justin Fuente, but Bud for sure.

Miami 14, Boston College 27: #GoACC Moment of the Week Candidate

Mark Richt has lost control of The U.

In all seriousness though (note: not actually), Miami is a team that rarely underachieves when faced with high expectations. Year in and year out they prove themselves worthy of a top-5 ranking, only to lose to most everyone shortly thereafter. I blame Derek Jeter, but no number of gift baskets can fix the many messes that currently exist down in Miami.

Clemson 59, Florida State 10: #GoACC Moment of the Week Candidate

Things went incredibly poorly for Florida State over the weekend, in case you can’t tell. In all seriousness though (note: for real this time), I can’t think of many programs that fell from the top of the world to 5th in the Atlantic in such a short time period. Clemson is gonna own that division for a long, long time.

#GoACC Moment of the Week Scoreboard:

Miami - 1

North Carolina - 1

Florida State - 1

Virginia Tech - 1

Clemson - 1

Louisville - 1

Georgia Tech - 1

Duke - 1