Around the ACC: Week 8

ACC football brought forth some of the most exciting and baffling games for Week 8 of the college football season. With five games occurring within the conference last weekend, let’s delve into each one.

First for the primetime matchup of the Duke Blue Devils taking on the Florida State Seminoles.

The Blue Devils started hot in this one with a Jaquez Moore 42-yard run to the house along with a field goal to open up the scoring at 10-0. Duke would lead by as much as 17-7 early in the second quarter until things changed.

With the Seminoles’ offense only mustering one offensive touchdown in the first half, quarterback Jordan Travis rallied the troops and torched a talented Duke defense.

Three trips to the end zone were made by Florida State’s offense in the fourth quarter alone to propel the Seminoles to a 38-20 victory and their 13th-straight win.

Duke quarterback Riley Leonard had to exit in the third quarter due to ankle complications and didn’t return.

The Blue Devils’ offense stalled for most of the night outside of 110 yards and a touchdown by Moore.

Travis went 27-36 for 268 yards and two touchdowns. He also scampered for 62 yards on the ground and ran for a score.

Florida State sits comfortably atop the ACC standings now that there’s less pressure being applied from the North Carolina Tar Heels due to some shocking events.

The 6-0 Tar Heels had what seemed to be a “cupcake game” against a 1-5 Virginia Cavaliers team. It was anything but that.

Despite Virginia being abysmal in the running department, Mike Hollins gouged North Carolina’s defense for 66 yards and three touchdowns.

Outside of the ground attack, quarterback Tony Muskett connected with Malik Washington for a hard-fought go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to let Virginia take the 31-27 lead.

The score would remain the same the rest of the way, as Tar Heels’ quarterback Drake Maye threw an interception on the final drive for a stunning home defeat.

Speaking of stunning defeat, that’s how the Pitt Panthers felt when they suffered a heartbreaker in the final moments of a matchup against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Pitt quarterback Christian Veilleux found Bob Means for a 22-yard go-ahead score of 17-14 with just 1:30 remaining.

Wake Forest’s signal caller Santino Marucci threw an interception on the subsequent drive for what you think would ice the game.

With the Panthers trying to milk away the clock, a third-down run by Veilleux seemed to pick up the first down for the dagger. Until the officials ruled that he started his slide before the line to gain, meaning it was now fourth down.

Pitt would have to punt, and Marucci would redeem himself by leading the Demon Deacons down the field with a touchdown throw to Cameron Hite with seven seconds remaining. Wake Forest would prevail at home and improve to 4-3 on the season with the 21-17 victory. Pitt now stands with a 2-5 record.

There was overtime action between the Clemson Tigers and Miami Hurricanes, as the Hurricanes would overcome a 10-point deficit in the final quarter to tie the game.

Ajay Allen of Miami would reach the end zone in the second overtime, followed by the Tigers’ offense being stopped on fourth down to seal an impressive-28-20 win for the Hurricanes despite being without their starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.

Finally, the Boston College Eagles defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 38-23 thanks to domination in the rushing game from Eagles’ running backs Kye Robichaux and Thomas Castellanos. The pair rushed for 293 of Boston College’s 308 rushing yards and each accounted for two touchdowns.

The Eagles have won three straight games since starting off the year 1-3. The Yellow Jackets fall to 3-4 on the campaign.

Jake Irwin is a fourth-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jpi5089@psu.edu.