ACC Football Conference Round Up

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Week 2 of the ACC Conference season has arrived and teams are already making early statements both good and bad about the year ahead. Let’s take a look.

Because of Hurricane Irma, some reshuffling of the conference schedule needed to be done. The Miami at Florida State game will now be played on Saturday, October 7. It was to have been played on September 28. With the change of date, both teams will have equal time to rest and prepare. The Georgia Tech at Miami game has also been moved from Thursday, October 12 to Saturday, October 24. The Hurricanes will be on the field this coming Saturday at home vs Toledo, a 21-day break between games.

Meanwhile, Florida State will be in action at home vs North Carolina State on September 23. They will have the same time frame as the Hurricanes with regards to breaks between games. They will also be debuting a new quarterback as well.

The Atlantic Coast Conference came into the weekend as the only league that could boast as many as five teams among the top 17 in the AP top 25 poll. Quite a statement to make so early in the season.

The defending national champion is showing no signs of slowing down. In their win vs Auburn, it was their defense that attracted all the attention. They posted 11 sacks on the evening, the most by any ACC team since the NCAA began keeping track of single-game sack totals in 2000. Defensive end Austin Bryant had four in the game and was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation Defensive Player of the Week.

One team that is off to a good start that is not in the top 25 is the Duke Blue Devils. In their first two games, both wins against North Carolina Central and Northwestern, the Blue Devils outscored their opponents by a combined 77 points. The 101 points in their first two games are the most by a Duke team in any two-game stretch since 1945.

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson continues to put up pinball-like numbers. In the Cardinal win against North Carolina, Jackson accounted for 525 yards of total offense. He now owns two of the top 10, and three of the top 20 single game offensive performances in ACC history. He needs just 37 yards to set a league career mark for rushing by a QB.

Speaking of quarterbacks., Virginia Tech redshirt Freshman Josh Jackson got off to a good start back on opening night vs West Virginia. He totaled 336 yards against the then 22nd ranked team in the country. He became the first player to record 200 or more passing yards (235) and 100 yards on the ground (111) in his first start since at least 2000.

We will be back next week with more news and notes on the ACC.