ACC Football this week will open like most AEW “Dynamite” shows do, with the main event at the beginning of the show.
Yes, there’s a Top 25 conference matchup on Saturday, but credit where credit is due, West Virginia-Virginia Tech in Lane Stadium on ESPN on a Thursday night is the title match.
West Virginia, you may remember, opened us up in Week 1 with a thriller at Pitt that got tongues wagging about how the ACC needs to pluck WVU out of the Big 12.
Vegas has the Mountaineers as a 1.5-point favorite on the road, kinda surprising considering that they lost at Pitt, and then at Kansas (!).
Tech wins this one, but it’ll be a game into the fourth quarter.
Friday Night Lights
Another non-Top 25 matchup with intriguing storylines has UVA traveling up to Syracuse on Friday night.
This one gives the Syracuse offensive coordinator, Robert Anae, a chance to get some revenge against his former employer.
Backstage word last December was that Anae was so miffed after his long-time boss Bronco Mendenhall stepped down as head coach that he told guys on the offense to transfer.
The O line followed Anae out the door, leaving QB1 Brennan Armstrong with a makeshift line that seems to do well in games against FCS and lower-level FBS teams, but had trouble at Illinois, and will have trouble against the Orange’s changing fronts.
Even so, what to look for here is, does Anae try a lateral to an O lineman, just to prove a point that laterals to O linemen can work?
Of course he will.
Syracuse, a nine-point favorite, is a surprising 3-0, and we probably need them to go over here.
Saturday curtain-jerker
#5 Clemson at #16 Wake Forest gets us started on Saturday at noon.
The Tigers are an eight-point road favorite, but this one will be close. Clemson’s first three wins looked fine from the final-score perspective, but it’s not like they’ve been dominant for four quarters yet.
Wake is coming off a near-upset at home against Liberty that came down to a failed two-point try in the final two minutes.
Should be a good start to the day.
The only other game worth watching on Saturday
Notre Dame travels to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.
The Tar Heels are a 1.5-point favorite here, mainly because they’re a soft 3-0, and the Golden Domers are a soft 1-2.
I’ve got Notre Dame going over.
Don’t watch these two
Duke and Kansas are both 3-0. Just keep up with the score in the bottom line. Seriously, you don’t want to watch this one.
South Florida and Louisville are both 1-2. That’s reason enough not to watch this one.
Not kidding here. If you watch a single play of either of these games, both kicking off at noon, you need to find a new hobby.
Squashes
- Rhode Island (2-1) at No. 24 Pitt (2-1), noon
- Middle Tennessee (2-1) at No. 25/25 Miami (2-1), 3:30 p.m.
- Georgia Tech (1-2) at UCF (2-1), 4 p.m.
- UConn (1-3) at No. 11/12 NC State (3-0), 7:30 p.m.
- Boston College (1-2, 1-1) at Florida State (3-0, 1-0), 8 p.m.
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Chris Graham
