Home ACC Football News and Notes: Week 5
Sports News

ACC Football News and Notes: Week 5

Contributors

accNews from across the world of ACC Football heading into Week 5 of the 2017 season.

  • Week five of the ACC schedule features a pair of games between unbeaten teams. Duke (4-0) and Miami (2-0) kick off the weekend with a Friday night contest at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham at 7 p.m. on ESPN. The Blue Devils are looking to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1994, while Miami is playing its first conference game of the season.
  • Capping the ACC weekend schedule is a Saturday night matchup between No. 2 Clemson (4-0) and No. 12 Virginia Tech (4-0) at 8 p.m. on ABC. This is a rematch of the 2016 ACC Championship Game, which Clemson claimed with a 42-35 victory. ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast from the Virginia Tech campus.
  • Clemson will put its 11-game road win streak on the line when the Tigers visit Blacksburg, Virginia. That is the third-longest road win streak in the nation behind only Oklahoma (13) and Alabama (12).
  • Clemson has won seven straight against teams ranked in the Top 25, and is 9-1 in matchups of top 15 teams over the last three years.
  • NC State, which improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in league play with a 27-21 win at Florida State, returns to Carter-Finley Stadium for a Saturday afternoon game against Syracuse. NC State’s H-back Jaylen Samuels is the only active FBS player with 15 career touchdowns rushing and receiving.
  • Wake Forest is 4-0 and faces Florida State in Winston-Salem on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. The Deacons are looking to improve to 5-0 for the first time since they won the ACC title in 2006, while Florida State is in search of its first win this year.
  • For the first time in history, Duke and Wake Forest have opened the season 4-0 in the same year.
  • Georgia Tech faces North Carolina in a Coastal Division contest. The Yellow Jackets earned their first league win last week over Pitt, while the Tar Heels are seeking to avoid an 0-3 start in ACC action.
  • Four ACC teams are ranked this week in the AP Top 25 Poll – No. 2 Clemson, No. 12 Virginia Tech, No. 14 Miami and No. 17 Louisville. NC State, Duke, Florida State and Wake Forest are all receiving votes.
  • On Saturday, September 30, several schools from the ACC will be wearing special arm patches in honor of the AFCA’s Coach to Cure MD program. This is the 10th year coaches around the country join together to raise funds and awareness for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Fans are encouraged to donate by texting “CURE” to 50555 or visiting CoachtoCureMD.org.
  • Virginia Tech has hosted ESPN’s College GameDay six times previously in Blacksburg. Saturday’sgame will mark the seventh time the iconic pregame show will air from the campus, but first since Sept. 1, 2007. It will also mark the third time in five weeks this year that GameDay has been at the site of an ACC game. Including this Saturday, GameDay has been at the site of a Virginia Tech game 16 times and 17 times for Clemson.
  • In each of the last nine meetings between Clemson and Virginia Tech (dating back to 1999), at least one of the teams has been nationally ranked, and this year’s contest will mark the sixth time that both have been ranked in the AP’s Top 25. This is Clemson’s first visit to Blacksburg since 2011.
  • Clemson has won nine consecutive games since losing to Pitt last season. Clemson and USF are tied for the third-longest streak in the country behind Oklahoma (13) and Southern California (12). Miami’s seven-game win streak is the fifth best in the FBS.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.