
As we begin the second month of ACC play, we look back at an interesting month in the league. Clemson is still the class of the league and maybe the country. Wake Forest and Virginia are making strong cases for themselves as well. There were the tough losses in Week 3 like the Citadel 27-24 OT win at Georgia Tech. In Week 4 there was Appalachian State’s 34-31 victory over North Carolina. All in all. it was a good first month in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Clemson had their hands full last Saturday against the Tar Heels. They had to stop a two-point try to win the game late. The victory gives the Tigers 20 consecutive wins. This is the second-longest streak in the ACC history and the longest active streak in the country. The league record is 29 set by Florida State back in 2012-14.
Boston College running back A.J. Dillon has been named ACC Running Back of the week for the third this season, and eighth time in his career. Dillon now has 3,324 rushing yards which rank him third among active players. He is ranked 30th in the league in career rushing yards. Dillon ran for 159 yards vs Wake Forest last weekend, the third straight week of 150 yards or more. It’s the 15th 100-yard game of his career and he has five more 100-yard rushing games than any other player in the league during that span.
On Saturday, the Eagles head to Louisville to take on the Cardinal. The game will feature two very good backs. Dillon, who is first in the league and third in the country with 125.4 yards per game, and Cardinal running back Javian Hawkins who is averaging 97.5 yards per game which ranks him third in the league.
The Eagles have now picked off at least one pass in 13 straight games. They have 44 since the start of the 2017 season. That number ties them with Iowa of the Big-10 for the national lead for the most INT since 2017.
The Wake Forest win at BC puts them at 5-0 for the season. It’s the first time the Demon Deacons have been 5-0 to begin a year since 2006 and it’s their seventh straight win dating back to 2018. They have now beaten the Eagles three straight times. Wake finds themselves as a ranked team for the first time since October 2006. Wake Forest leads the ACC in passing with an average of 330 yards per game. That also put them fifth in the nation. In their win at Boston College, Wake was only able to throw for 243 yards.
Duke handed Virginia Tech their worst home conference loss since 1950, 45-10 last Friday night. In addition, the Blue Devils posted their largest road win in the conference since 1989 (41-0 over UNC).
North Carolina’s defense was in the Florida State backfield all game long last weekend. The group recorded eight sacks in the game. The most ever allowed by the Seminoles in a game.
Syracuse tallied a fumble recovery in their win vs Holy Cross. It extends a streak of consecutive games with a takeaway to 19. It’s the second-longest active streak in FBS football behind Mississippi State’s 21. However, their streak of intercept a pass ended at 17.
Next week, we will have more from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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