ACC Football News & Notes: Week Eight Begins Thursday Night

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Five games are on tap for the Atlantic Coast Conference this weekend. At the top of the menu will be a matchup of two undefeated teams as Clemson plays host to Syracuse. This will be the only game in the country that will feature two teams that have not tasted defeat. This will be the first time that the Tigers and Orange will meet as ranked teams. The undercard to this main event will feature four other games. Let’s take a look at this weekend’s ACC schedule.

Clemson (7-0, 5-0) leads this series with an 8-2 record vs Syracuse (6-0, 3-0). The Tigers are looking for their fifth straight win vs the Orangemen. This will be the eighth time in the last 11 meetings that Clemson will play this game as a Top-5 team. The Tigers enter this game tied with Florida State for the longest ACC home winning streak at 37 games. A win on Saturday will give the Tigers the mark all to themselves. Clemson also brings the nation’s longest current winning streak into this game at 13.

For the first time since 1987 Syracuse is 6-0. The Orangemen have been a difficult team for Clemson to deal with in recent memory having handed the then-defending national champion their only loss in 2017. Both teams will have conference players of the week from last week’s games. For the Tigers, it’s RB Will Shipley and LB Jeremiah Trotter. Syracuse boasted TE Oronde Gadsden who last Saturday caught eight passes for 141 yards and two scores in their win over then #15 N.C. State. It is Gadsden’s third 100-yard game this season, and he is the first receiver to have three 100-yard games. He leads the ACC in touchdowns receptions. His numbers from a week ago were both career highs. OT Matthew Bergeron also made last week’s honor roll.

Thursday night starts league play with Virginia (2-4, 0-3) on the road at Georgia Tech (3-3, 2-1). The Yellow Jackets have started to turn things around under interim head coach Brett Key. The team has won two in a row for the first time since November 2018. A win in this game would keep Tech’s Coastal Division hopes alive. Virginia is looking for their first league win of the season and has won the last two vs the Yellow Jackets. QB Brennan Armstrong has thrown 56 career touchdown passes tying him for the school record with Matt Schaub. Georgia Tech is 17-7 all-time at home vs the Cavaliers. Virginia holds the all-time lead in ACC play at 20-16-1.

Duke (4-2, 1-2) heads to Miami (3-3, 1-1) for a key Coastal Division game. This will be the first time these two have met in Miami since 2018. Both teams have been getting good quarterback play in recent weeks. For the Blue Devils, Riley Lenoard threw for 245 yards and a score, while rushing for another 130 yards and a rushing touchdown in last week’s game vs UNC, which was the Blue Devils’ first league win since October of 2020. Hurricanes QB Tyler Van Dyke has passed for over 350 yards in his last two games including last week’s 351-yard gem in a win at Virginia Tech. Miami has won the last two meetings by a combined score of 95-10.

Pittsburgh (4-2, 1-1) travels to Louisville (3-3, 1-3) for a Saturday night affair. Both teams enter this game coming off bye weeks. The Panthers have won six of the last eight matchups between the two. However, this will be the first time since 2011 that Louisville will be the home team. Pittsburgh’s running game is led by Israel Abanikanda who is fifth in the nation in rushing averaging 138.3 a game. He has rushed for 100 yards in four of his last five games. Last week Israel rushed for 320 yards and six TD in Pitt’s win over Virginia Tech. It was the fourth-highest rushing game in conference history. The six scores tied a league record. Louisville hopes to get QB Malik Cunnigham back as he missed the Virginia game with an injury snapping a streak of 40-game consecutive games played. In his absence, Brock Domann went 17-of-30 for 275 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 71 yards and another score on the ground in his first career start.

After a bye week, Boston College (2-4, 1-3) begins a two-game road trip at #13 Wake Forest (5-1, 1-1). Wake has been ranked for the past 20 straight weeks, the longest active streak in the league. The Eagles have had good success in Winston-Salem where Saturday afternoon’s game will be played. BC has won the last three times playing as the road team. Wake Forest has one of the most potent offenses in the country. The Demon Deacons average 41.2 points per game which places them second in the conference and 14th in the nation. Wake Forest takes a two-game winning streak in this series into this week’s game.

That’s a look at what is ahead for the league this weekend. Next week we will be back with more from the ACC.