Atlantic Coast Conference Football News and Notes

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It was a pretty good scare for the # 1 ranked team, the Clemson Tigers (7-0, 6-0), as they rallied from down 18 points at the half to defeat the Boston College Eagles (4-3, 3-3). The stage is set for the much talked about game between the Tigers and Notre Dame (6-0, 5-0) who did their part last Saturday afternoon by defeating Georgia Tech (2-5, 2-4) on the road. Welcome to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This will be the sixth all-time Top 5 matchup in league history. The last time this took place was in 2016 when the then # 5 Tigers won over the # 3 ranked Louisville Cardinal by a 42-36 score. A national TV audience will get to enjoy this game from Notre Dame Stadium. Of the previous five meetings, the lower seed has won four of them. This will be the first time that a #1 rank team will meet another Top 5 ranked ACC team. This will be the fourth November meeting between two unbeaten conference teams.

With the virus being something that is on the minds of all conference fans, the Atlantic Coast Conference has done a very good job of playing the schedule that was put together back on September 10. The league constructed an 11-game schedule for all 15 conference programs. So far, 54 of the 58 games schedule (93.1%) have been played. Only three conference games have been rescheduled and only one non-conference opponent was replaced. All teams in the league are still on pace to play their entire eleven game schedule.

As previously mentioned, the Tigers had quite the battle on their hands last weekend vs the Eagles. Two members of the Tigers offense came up large to help fuel the comeback. Running back Travis Etienne gained 264 all-purpose yards over the weekend. He was named to the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll. Etienne had 84 yards rushing, 140 yards receiving, and 40 kickoff return yards. Travis also became the all-time leading rusher in league history with 4,644 yards. His quarterback, D.J. Ulagalele made his first career college start one to remember. He completed 30 of 41 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns. His performance earned him a spot on the Manning Award Star of the Week list. He also ran for a score in the win over Boston College. Both players earned conference weekly awards as well. For Etienne, he was named Running Back of the Week for the first time this season, and Ulagalele was Rookie of the Week.

On Saturday, one streak will come to an end when Clemson and Notre Dame meet. For the Irish, they hold the nation’s longest winning streak at 12 that dates back to last season. They have also won 22 straight at home. Clemson has the longest win streak on Saturday in FBS history. Their win last Saturday over BC now gives them 50 straight wins on that day. Five more than the previous holder of the mark, which is Oklahoma who won 45 from 1953-57.

Some other notes to toss around are home teams being 29-14 in league games (.674) this season. From 2015 thru 2019, home teams have won 53.9 % of conference home games and their record is 151-129. Through his sophomore season, North Carolina QB Sam Howell has thrown 52 touchdowns passes. That puts him third all-time through his second league year. The two in front of him are, at number two, Jameis Winston from Florida State. He threw 65 touchdowns. At number one is Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence who has tossed 66 touchdowns passes.

Pittsburgh place-kicker Alex Kessman has kicked nine field goals of 50 yards or more during his career at Pitt. The number ties him with Wake Forest’s Sam Swank who did it from 2005-08.

Next week, we will look back at the big games plus the rest of the news from the Atlantic Coast Conference.