Around the ACC: Week One

To say the least, it was an absolute monster week for ACC football to open the season. The ACC brought college football fans some amazing games including upsets and thrillers.

The ACC had two teams play last Thursday night. One was Wake Forest who played Elon and NC State who played UConn.

Wake Forest took care of business convincingly with a score of 37-17 led by their sophomore quarterback Mitch Griffis who threw for 329 yards and 3 touchdowns. NC State’s game was a little bit closer but nonetheless, the Wolfpack still beat Uconn by a score of 24-14.

The conference would deliver once again on Friday night with two exciting matchups as UMiami would take on Miami of Ohio and Louisville took on Georgia Tech in some ACC play.

A good amount of hype surrounded the battle between the two Miami schools as Miami Ohio quarterback Brett Gabbert said in an interview leading up to the game that the real Miami is in “Oxford, Ohio.” Gabbert went 12-21 for 127 yards in the game and Miami Ohio lost 38-3.

As for the other Friday night lights game, Louisville and Georgia Tech gave fans a back-and-forth thriller with Louisville coming out on top 39-34. Junior wide receiver Jamari Thrash had seven catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns for Louisville.

Saturday brought the first of the big three matchups that included ACC teams, this one being North Carolina vs. South Carolina. College Gameday was in Charlotte, NC, for the fierce environment.

After a close first half and UNC up 17-14 at the half they pulled away in the second winning by a final score of 31-17 and were led by their star sophomore quarterback Drake Maye who had 269 yards and two touchdowns handing their rival and Spencer Rattler a loss to start the year.

Then came the most anticipated game of week one, No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 5 LSU in Orlando, Florida. Once again the game was close in the first half with LSU looking like the better team and holding a halftime lead of 17-14.

But then it was Jordan Travis's time in the second half as Florida State would go on to win 45-24 with Travis throwing for 342 yards and four touchdowns and running in another touchdown on the ground. The win has set the tone that FSU could be a real playoff contender this year.

Last but not least No. 9 Clemson rolled into Durham, NC, to take on unranked Duke in what they hoped to be the start of a run that got them back to the College Football Playoff. But Duke had other plans as they took advantage of the many mistakes Clemson made and upset the Tigers 28-7.

Overall it was very exciting for the ACC which they can hopefully follow up this weekend with a big matchup between Miami and No. 23 Texas A&M in Coral Gables, FL.

Rob Cardini is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email rvc5706@psu.edu