ACC

ACC Football News and Notes: First in the Coastal on the line in Virginia

By John Doucette

Posted on October 17, 2019

This weekend all teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be in action. Some big games are scheduled in both divisions as the season moves past the halfway mark. Here is a look at what is going on in the ACC.

In the Coastal Division, two games are on tap with a share of first place on the line. Duke is at Virginia and North Carolina heads to Virginia Tech. The winner of the Blue Devils game will at least have a share of the division lead by the end of the weekend. The Tar Heels can make the same claim if they can get a road win in Blacksburg which is always a tough place for a visiting team to play well in.

For the second straight week, Georgia Tech set a season-high with 379 yards of total offense in their 41-23 loss at Duke. The Yellow Jackets 23 points were the most scored this season against an FBS opponent as Duke heads to Virginia on Friday night for a showdown game. Their defense will need to be better at getting off the field if the Blue Devils are to come out on top.

A wild one took place last Saturday at Wake Forest. Louisville went on the road and put up 62 points against Wake’s defense. The 62-59 victory by the Cardinals was their first road win in the conference since beating Florida State back on October 21, 2017. The 62 points scored were the most ever by a Cardinals team on the road vs a ranked team and matches the most on the road in league play as they dropped 62 on Syracuse on September 9, 2016.

Demons Deacons wide receiver Sage Surratt had a touchdown catch in that game vs Louisville. It marks the eighth straight game that Surratt has had a TD catch. He has broken the school record set by Desmond Clark of six in a row set back in 1998.

Syracuse LB Andrew Armstrong intercepted a pass vs the Wolfpack last Saturday to extend the Orange streak of consecutive games with a takeaway to 20. It’s the second-longest behind Mississippi State’s 22. The pick was Syracuse’s 25th in their last 19 games.

Florida State is one of two teams in the league to play at least one opponent who is ranked in the top three in each of the last seven seasons. The Clemson game was the Seminoles ninth game against a top-three opponent since the beginning of the 2013 season. It is tied for the most in the ACC. Their five different top three opponents are tied for the most in the conference in that span.

In the Atlantic Division, the big game pits Boston College hosting North Carolina State. The Eagles have been a tale of two units. On offense, the Eagles are averaging 32.8 points per game which ranks them fifth in the league. On defense, it’s a different story altogether. The unit ranks 11th giving up 28.8 points per game and is dead last in total defense allowing 6.3 yards per play while the offense is fourth in total offense at 6.2 yards per play.

N.C. State placekicker Christopher Dunn leads the league in scoring with 9.5 points per game and is 15th in the FBS. Last weekend in the Syracuse game, Dunn accounted for 10 of the 16 points the Wolfpack had in their win.

Next week we give you more from the ACC.