TIER: We just burnt it down and we haven’t rebuilt yet
17. Stanford went to Hawai’i for a week 0 contest against the Rainbow Warriors. Due to their limitations at QB and WR, they were running an old school TE-heavy run-centric offensive with almost no explosive capability. They’ll chew clock, shorten games, and try to out-physical you. They remind me of the early years bad Brad Brownell basketball teams that just didn’t have the talent to do much in the ACC, but sometimes punched above their weight
class. They’ll likely be in this bottom tier all year.
16.Wake Forest beat Kennesaw State 10-9 and it wasn’t pretty. Both offenses leave a lot to be desired. Wake Forest was lucky to escape with a win.
TIER: ACC Middle Class
15. Syracuse fell behind Tennessee 17-0, which is about what I expected, but they battled to keep is respectable before eventually losing by 19.
14. California beat Oregon State 34-15. While I have no illusions that the Beavers are world-beaters, they were favored over the Bears. Cal was able to move the ball and stop the run.
13. Virginia Tech hung around and kept it close with South Carolina before losing by two scores. It was about what most expected, so it doesn’t really change my view of the Hokies.
12. NC State slogged their way to a 24-17 home win over ECU, avenging their bowl game loss. They averaged under 3.0 YPC as they somehow still can’t run the ball for the seemingly 10th straight year. Their defense looked really salty which will keep them in games, but the loss of star WR KC Conception has seemed to leave their offense rather plodding and boring.
11. North Carolina hosts TCU at 8pm on Labor Day. They’d shift up or down spots in either direction with a reasonably close win or loss so I’ll put them here for now.
10. Boston College blew out Fordham 66-10. It doesn’t mean much, but at least QB Dylan Lonergan had 4 TDs and 0 INTs, because the QB they benched and eventually lost to the portal, Thomas Castellanos, was excellent for FSU.
9. Virginia dominated a Group of 5 team in Coastal Carolina, 48-7. Again, it doesn’t mean much, but they only beat the Chanticleers in Conway last season.
8. Pittsburgh blew out Dusquesne 61-9. Again, we don’t learn much, but that’s about as good as it could have been.
TIER: Playoff Contenders
7. Duke and Elon were tied at halftime, but the Blue Devils won 45-17 as new QB Darien Mensah threw for 389 with 3 TDs. They host Illinois at noon on Saturday. I lean towards Illinois winning that game, but if Duke wins it, they are a very serious playoff contender.
6. Georgia Tech went to Boulder and won 27-20. It is all the more impressive when you realize they lost two fumbles and threw a pick to start the contest. Their defense prevented it from becoming a total disaster and their run game largely controlled the game once they settled in. They may have the most dangerous run game in the ACC. Jamal Haynes is electric at RB and Haynes King is evidently way harder to stop that it seems like he should be.
5. SMU took care of business 42-17 vs. East Texas A&M.
4. Louisville likewise took care of business 51-17 vs. EKU. RB Isaac Brown had 126 rushing yards on just 6 carries. Scary!
3. Clemson seems to have fixed their defense thanks to new coordinator Tom Allen, but the offense looks a lot more like it did against Georgia and South Carolina than against Texas. They’ve got a bad case of disappearing in big games or at least for long stretches like the first half against Louisville and the second half against SMU a season ago. The offensive line doesn’t seem to have taken any strides from a year ago and perhaps misses Marcus Tate. They didn’t open big lanes for the new running back corps who also didn’t do anything special. I didn’t think Klubnik was bad. In fact, he bailed out the offensive line with some nimbleness in the pocket, but he didn’t light the world on fire either.
2. Florida State earned the biggest upset of the weekend by beating Alabama 31-17. Given their heavy transfer philosophy, you can’t base any expectations on what happened the prior year. They couldn’t run the ball at all last year, but they ran it for 236 against Alabama. Gus and Castellanos look like a match made in heaven. FSU has three fairly easy games before hosting Miami. They should be in the top five for that showdown and now have to be considered a major playoff contender.
1. Miami hung on to beat Notre Dame. Carson Beck was efficient and their offensive and defensive lines were everything they were supposed to be. The Hurricanes are very likely to make the playoff and should be considered favorites in the ACC.
