ACC Football Notebook: Week 2

Clemson vs. Texas A&M highlights weekend schedule

The ACC returns to primetime in week two when second-ranked Clemson travels to Texas A&M on Saturday, Sept. 8, for a 7 p.m. showdown on ESPN. Clemson, which has won 99 games in the last 10 years (2009-18), will face former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, who won 82 games and the 2013 national championship as coach of the Seminoles before departing for College Station, Texas. This is the second consecutive year Clemson has played an SEC team in week two. Last year, the Tigers knocked off Auburn, 14-6, in Death Valley.

GameDay on-site

ESPN’s College GameDay show will be on site for the Clemson at Texas A&M game. This is the 18th time he show has broadcast from a Clemson game and the Tigers are 11-7 in College GameDay contests. Clemson has won its last six games featured on College Gameday, dating back to 2016.

ACC-Big Ten Challenge

The ACC and Big Ten square off in three games this weekend when Duke plays at Northwestern, Virginia travels to Indiana and Pitt plays host to No. 13/10 Penn State. Over the last three seasons, the ACC is 12-10 against the Big Ten. A win over the Hoosiers would give Virginia its first 2-0 start since 2012.

Mobile QBs

Only nine quarterbacks in the country rushed for at 100-or-more yards in the first week of the season and three of those hail from the ACC. Syracuse’s Eric Dungey became just the fourth signal caller in ACC history to rush for 200 yards in a game in a 55-42 win over Western Michigan. Wake Forest true freshman QB Sam Hartman rushed for 128 yards in an overtime win at Tulane, and Virginia transfer Bryce Perkins posted 108 rushing yards and two scores in a win over Richmond.

Winning

• The ACC has seven of the top 25 active coaches nationally in career victories – all of them with 100 or more – which is by far the most of any conference. The next closest league has four coaches in the top 25.
• An ACC football player has won the Heisman Trophy or the Campbell Trophy – commonly referred to as the “Academic Heisman” – in four of the last five years, something no other league can claim.