ACC Football News & Notes: Week 3 Has a Top-25 Matchup

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It was another solid week of results for the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was helped out by the fact that the league did not schedule any games against that mid-major power Sun Belt Conference. Through two weeks, the league boasts a record of 19-4 vs non-conference foes and 11-4 vs teams from FBS, The 19 overall wins are the best mark in two weeks since the 2014 season when the league went 20-3. The ACC will have another opportunity to improve its record in non-league play this week with 11 more games, including four vs Power-5 teams. Here is how week three stacks up in the ACC.

As was the case last week, there is only one league game. It takes place on Friday night when Florida State (2-0, 0-0) heads to Louisville (1-1, 0-0) to meet the Cardinals. Louisville has won the last two meetings between the schools. Against teams from the state of Florida, the Cardinals have won four straight. Last week was a come-from-behind version against UCF, the first time they had done that since 2016 against Wake Forest. Florida State is 6-3 when the teams meet in Louisville and 4-4 in ACC play. The Seminoles had last weekend off after playing on Labor Day weekend vs LSU.

The marquee game of the week, #13 Miami (2-0, 0-0) heading to College Station to face #24 Texas A&M (2-0, 0-0). This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs. Miami has won two of three. This will be the first road game of the season for the Hurricanes in 2022. Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher is 7-1 all-time vs Miami. This is the first of a two-game series with A&M visiting Miami next September. The Hurricanes place-kicker Andres Borregales was named Specialist of the Week in the ACC.

Syracuse (2-0,1-0) kicks off a four-game homestand this Saturday vs Purdue (1-1, 0-1). This is just the second time they have played each other. The previous time was in 2004 with the Boilermakers winning 54-0. Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader has a quarterback rating of 84.4 after two weeks which is 14th in the country. Last week vs UConn, he was 20-of-23 for 287 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two more scores. #20 Ole Miss (2-0,0-0) visits Georgia Tech (1-1, 0-1). The Yellow Jackets asked for this series to be moved after games scheduled for 2017 and 2018 were not played. This will be the first regular season game since 1946. These teams have met in three different bowl games. This game finishes a season-opening three-game homestand for Georgia Tech.

Two teams coming off rough losses a week ago meet this Saturday as #23 Pittsburgh (1-1, 0-0) meets Western Michigan (0-2, 0-0) in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Pittsburgh will be looking to avenge a loss to Western Michigan a year ago. Last year’s game was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. It was the Broncos’ first win over a Power-5 team since 2017. The Panthers will be looking to bounce back from last week’s overtime loss to Tennessee, while Western Michigan will look to do the same after a one-point loss to Ball State. #16 North Carolina State (2-0, 0-0) has Texas Tech (2-0, 0-0) at home on Saturday. This will be the sixth overall meeting with the Wolfpack winning the last two, and four straight. The Raiders are led by first-year head coach Jay McGuire who was a very successful high school coach in the state of Texas before entering the college ranks.

The ACC quarterback of the Week is Sam Hartman of Wake Forest. He threw for 300 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions in last week’s road win at Vanderbilt. His favorite target was A.T. Perry who caught five passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. Perry was named Receiver of the Week for his efforts. North Carolina QB Drake Maye has thrown 11 TD passes in a three-game span. He tied Mitch Trubinsky who did it in 2016 for the most in a three-game period. Duke is now 7-1 in Power-5 non-conference games in the months of August and September. It’s the most wins by a Power-5 team in those two months.

That’s a look at the ACC for this week. We will be back next week with more from the Atlantic Coast Conference.