Around the ACC: Week Three

If you were keeping tabs on Week 3 of the college football season, chances are that you got to witness the handful of highly entertaining matchups that unfolded around the ACC.

The ACC is entering its first year without divisions within the conference. Meaning that the top two teams in the conference advance to the conference’s title match. This also means that the race towards the top becomes exponentially more thrilling.

At the top of the totem pole sits the Duke Blue Devils, who have done nothing but impress so far this season.

The Blue Devils shocked the country when they conquered the No. 9 Clemson Tigers to kick off the season. Fast forward a few weeks later, and Duke finds itself at a 3-0 record, No. 18 in the AP poll and current leader in the ACC.

Quarterback Riley Leonard hasn’t been posting explosive stats in the air. But his stellar ground attack alongside running back Jordan Waters has been the crux of the Blue Devils’ success.

Looking behind Duke, you’ll find the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles; who just narrowly defeated the Boston College Eagles after leading as much as 31-10 late in the third quarter.

Sloppy offensive play where two fumbles led to Boston College touchdowns paired with little resistance from the defense helped the Eagles crawl back into the match and only lose 31-29.

Outside of a concerning fourth quarter for the Seminoles, Jordan Travis is a highly talented quarterback who has excellent offensive weapons in Keon Coleman, Johnny Wilson and Jaheim Bell. The linebacker corps with Kalen DeLoach and DJ Lundy has also presented Florida State with much-needed defensive stalwarts.

When continuing to sift down the conference in order, Louisville bested Indiana in Bloomington with Jawhar Jordan and Jamari Thrash leading the way to a 21-14 score and a 3-0 record.

No. 22 Miami continues lighting up the scoreboard with a balanced running and passing game. The three-headed monster in the backfield consisting of Henry Parrish Jr., Ajay Allen and Donald Chaney Jr. packaged with Tyler Van Dyke slinging the pigskin to Xavier Restrepo, Colbie Young and Jacolby George makes Miami a serious threat to cement itself toward the top of the conference at some point this season.

The last three unbeatens involve the North Carolina Tar Heels, Syracuse Orange and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Drake Maye and the Tar Heels bounced back from a scare against Appalachian State last week for a comfortable 31-13 victory against Minnesota.

Syracuse topped Purdue on the road thanks to an explosive-rushing performance by quarterback Garrett Shrader, as the Orange are building off of the sporadic moments of great football we saw from them last year.

The Demon Deacons gritted out a 27-24 road matchup against Old Dominion that easily could’ve gone either way.

NC State is 2-1 on the season, with the lone loss being dealt by Notre Dame. NC State followed up that game with a 45-7 rout of VMI.

Pittsburgh has suffered back-to-back losses with defeats from Cincinnati and West Virginia. Quarterback Phil Jurkovec could be replaced by the Penn State transfer Christian Veilleux if things continue to unravel.

Virginia Tech has also faced consecutive losses after being surprisingly crushed 35-16 by Rutgers on the road.

Virginia is the only winless team in the conference following a 42-14 blow from Maryland.

Clemson is still trying to recover from the loss to Duke and has stranded together two wins with much-improved play from Cade Klubnik.

As mentioned earlier, Boston College came so close to topping Florida State in a fantastic comeback attempt. The Eagles sit at 1-2 on the season.

And finally, Georgia Tech is also 1-2 after facing a very challenging road matchup against Ole Miss that saw a 48-23 defeat.

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