So, as we go through another week in the ACC, we shrug our shoulders only slightly less than the week before. Maybe we know a little more about the ACC, but only a little.
We Know a Little More About Clemson
We know that Dabo Swinney smiled a lot more on the sidelines this last Saturday. His Clemson Tigers crushed North Carolina State in South Carolina, 59-35. It was 28-0 after the first quarter and the game was over.
We know that Cade Klubnik has put up huge numbers in the last two weeks. The previous game was against a comparatively bad APP State team. But this last weekend was against an NC State team that many thought would compete for the conference championship. NC State’s shortcomings aside, and there are many, make Klubnik look like the proper heir to the Clemson quarterback legacy.
We Know What We Already Knew About NC State
Speaking of North Carolina State, we now know they are what they are, and that is what they have been year after year. There is plenty of pre-season hype. But the eye test from last weekend says this is an eight to nine-win team in the regular season, followed by a nice bowl win that will start the overhype machine for next Summer.
If Wolfpack fans can accept that it is an annual eight to nine-win team, there will be harmony in Raleigh. If they believe they are more than that, the infatuation with head coach Dave Doeren will wear out in time.
Stanford, Cal, Syracuse, and Florida State
It seems as though Stanford and Cal will not likely meet, 2,600 miles from home, in Charlotte for the ACC championship. It was fun and funny to ponder after Stanford went cross country to beat a then-undefeated Syracuse team Friday night. Or maybe we learned that Syracuse was not as rejuvenated as we previously thought, despite the efforts of new quarterback Kyle McCord.
And Cal had to travel a similar distance to play a winless and battered Florida State team. The Seminoles looked mediocre, a step up from bad. But Cal was three of five in field goal kicks, which was the entire game difference. The Bears are still 3-1 but at 0-1 in ACC play, even their quippy social media play won’t be enough to restore some desired shine.
Cal is now 0-7 against winless teams in the Justin Wilcox era. That is something to know.
Florida State finally gets the most important win it has had in years because it stopped the spiral to a potential 0-4 start. But are the Seminoles improved yet? We don’t know.
The Undefeated
We learned that there are four undefeated teams. But only one of those four teams has even played a conference game yet. Louisville, with its win over Georgia Tech, is in a five-way tie for the conference lead at a hefty 1-0. The Cardinals are 3-0 overall.
Duke and Miami are both 4-0 overall without a conference game played yet. We expected Miami to be near the top of the conference. And with the four teams they have beaten having a combined record of 7-8, we have no idea if they get there or not.
We had no idea what to expect from Duke with a head coaching change, a starting quarterback change, and more. And even at 4-0, having beaten teams with a combined record of 6-10, we still don’t know. The Blue Devils play UNC this week so that still won’t tell us much.
The Tar Heels got abused by James Madison, in Chapel Hill, Saturday, 70-50. And the game was never even really that close. Head coach Mack Brown reportedly quit and then did not quit, all in the course of two hours after the game.
Hey, did we mention that the other undefeated team, yet to play a conference game, is Pitt? Who knew that was going to be coming? Not us.
