By: Nate Muprhy (@bigmurph23)
A Ménage à Trois of Action
You usually have to pay extra for this kind of action, Cotton. But not in the CFSL.
With two weeks left to play, the ACC is far from being decided. The Miami victory over Clemson in Week 6 and UNC winning again pushed the ACC deeper into chaos, with Miami, Clemson, and UNC all having 2-1 conference records. What makes this even more exciting is the fact that UNC lost to Clemson but beat Miami, Clemson then lost to Miami after beating UNC earlier in the season, and obviously, Miami has the win over Clemson but lost to UNC.
Thankfully, I don’t have to try and go into all the goings on as far as tiebreakers and who needs what to happen to win the conference. Ryan does an excellent job of that in his articles designed for that specific topic. All I have to say is strap in, enjoy the ride, because for those three teams, the next two weeks will decide it all, and they probably aren’t going to enjoy a second of it like we can.
Miami has a tough road ahead with games against VT this week and closing with FSU during rivalry week. Clemson has to beat a hungry FSU team this week, but they close with Notre Dame, where they will be heavily favored. UNC gets Notre Dame this week and has to close out with VT in Week 8. So Miami has the toughest final two on paper. Can UNC and Clemson take advantage?
Doing (Almost) Everything Right
Look through the stat lines of the Florida State and North Carolina matchup. Pretend you didn’t watch the game or check who won if you did happen to miss this instant classic, and make sure you don’t look at the score line. Go ahead, I’ll wait…now, who won that game? If you said North Carolina, you either cheated or you assumed that because FSU was 3 for 4 on fourth down conversion attempts that they spent a lot of time in the trail position in this game.
Statistically, FSU was the better team. They had more first downs, they ran more plays, and they out-gained the Tar Heels offensively. They had one more redzone trip and one more redzone score than North Carolina. They even had some divine intervention on the final play of the game, completing a Hail Mary for the game-tying touchdown.
But look a little deeper at the red zone numbers and you’ll see that they converted just one of their five redzone trips into touchdowns. This kept them behind most of the game. And yes, Florida State rallied from down 15 to tie the game and get it to overtime, but they turned it over on their first possession of OT after giving up what turned into the game-winning touchdown. It has been that kind of season for Florida State. But let’s not take anything away from North Carolina. They came out with a plan, executed and then held on. And when things went sideways at the end of the game, they gathered themselves heading into overtime and came away with a big win to set the stage for a wild finish in the ACC.
Okay, But What About the Hokies?
Don’t worry, Hokie fans, I didn’t forget about the fact that Virginia Tech is also sitting at 2-1 in conference play. Miami, North Carolina, and Clemson have all already matched up against each other, setting up wild scenarios assuming all three teams win their final two games. But I listed the final two games for the three aforementioned teams. And if you noticed, both Miami and North Carolina have yet to play those Maroon and Orange-clad Turkeys from Blacksburg, Virginia.
A win in either of their final two games can make things interesting. But winning both games would turn the conference on its head. That would put Virginia Tech at second with their only conference loss being to Clemson. It would effectively eliminate Miami from an automatic qualifier with their loss to UNC. Did Virginia Tech know this going into their game against Notre Dame?
I’m not sure if they did that they would have ever even discussed it. But they went out and took care of business like they knew they still had it all laid out in front of them.
They jumped all over the Fighting Irish, leading 21-0 after the first quarter. They never looked back after that, and when the clock read all zeros, the final score was 62-14. The Hokie offense had racked up nearly 700 yards of offense, and the defense allowed Notre Dame to convert only 9% of their third downs on the night, nearly shutting out the Irish. It was the kind of team performance they will be looking for in the next two weeks to earn themselves the second seed out of the ACC.
ACC Results Week
Miami defeats Clemson 45-31
North Carolina defeats Florida State 34-27 (ot)
Virginia Tech defeats Notre Dame 62-14
ACC Week 7 Schedule
Monday, June 16, 2025
Miami at Virginia Tech (6:30 CST Twitch)
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Clemson at Florida State (8:30 CST Twitch)
Thursday, June 12, 2025
North Carolina at Notre Dame (8:30 Twitch)
Potential ACC Game of the Week
Yes, the Clemson/FSU game on Wednesday is going to have big implications on the way the conference standings shake out. But there isn’t a game on this list in my opinion as big as the one in Blacksburg on Monday night. Both teams enter the game with a 2-1 conference record. But as I mentioned before, the Hokies can really mess things up and completely rewrite how the conference plays out over the last couple of weeks.
Can Saint Major and the high-powered passing attack of Virginia Tech throw the ball against the likes of Devin Yost (four INTs in the last two games), Veronica Ware, and the rest of the ball-hawking Miami secondary? Can the Miami offense keep rolling? They can throw it with TJ Cunnington or run it with Bo Wyatt. So if you are at Virginia Tech, pick your poison. Can you play coverage all night and hope to just slow down Wyatt? Can you load up against the run and hope the passing game doesn’t beat you? Or can you find a way to corral them just enough to at least allow your offense a chance to outscore them? Well…I guess we are all going to have to tune in on Monday on Twitch to find out.
