ACC Football News & Notes: A Full Weekend for Every Team

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Last weekend saw two members of the ACC begin their seasons. This weekend everyone gets in on the act starting tonight and running through Labor Day night. 16 games will feature 17 teams that are now in the league. For the second straight week, the conference will have a league game on the schedule.

That game will be between Boston College and Florida State. That contest will take place on Labor Day night. This week’s big game will feature the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs playing host to the #14 Clemson Tigers on Saturday afternoon. This game brings into focus the kind of non-conference schedule the league will play this season. The ACC will play 26 contests against teams in Power-4 conferences. That includes those played vs Notre Dame. Nine of those games will be played against teams that were ranked in the final 2023 AP poll. That number is the most of any league in college football. Ten of those games will be played versus teams in ESPN’s way-too-early Top-25 poll. Eleven schools will play two games against teams in Power-4 conferences.

As for last weekend, two games were played that involved three teams in the league. One was making their debut in the ACC. The SMU Mustangs (1-0) scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Nevada Wolf Pack 29-24. This week, they will have their home opener against Houston Christian. The conference game took place in Ireland, as Georgia Tech (1-0, 1-0) got a 44-yard field goal with zeroes on the clock to beat #10 Florida State 24-21. With the win, the Yellow Jackets recorded the first win over a Top-10 team. They are now 5-0 against nationally ranked teams since Brent Key became head coach. It was Georgia Tech’s first win over a ranked team since October 24, 2015, when GT defeated then #9 FSU. Also, this was their first season-opening win over a ranked team since their win over Alabama 24-21 on September 12, 1981. Georgia Tech is now one of five unranked teams to win a game over a Top-10-ranked conference opponent in the last 40 years.

We will focus on a couple of games this weekend. First, the #1 Georgia Bulldogs will play host to the #14 Clemson Tigers on Saturday. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 43-18-4. The last time they faced each other was in 2021, with Georgia winning 10-3. Since Kirby Smart took over at Georgia, they are 8-0 in season openers. Their last season-opening loss was at the hands of the Tigers 38-35 at Death Valley, The Tigers have won 12 of the last 14 season-opening games. Clemson is 30-12 vs Top-25 teams in the College Football Playoff era. They are the only league teams to have 30 wins in that time frame.

The lone league matchup is Florida State (0-1, 0-1) hosting Boston College. The Eagles have a new head coach in Bill O’Brien, whose last head coaching job in the NCAA was at Penn State for two years. He left there with a 15-9 record. BC has a tough time winning against the Seminoles. Overall, FSU has a 16-5 record against the Eagles. The Seminoles have won 12 of the last 13 meetings since 2010. Four of the last five meetings have been decided by one score. Florida State’s loss to Georgia Tech snapped a 12-game league winning streak. In his first game as FSU quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei was 19-of-27 for 193 yards. He completed passes to eight different receivers. One bright spot was PK Ryan Fitzgerald who won Specialist of the Week in the league by hitting two field goals of 54 yards and 59 yards in the first half of the loss to GT. Florida State needs a little work on their run defense after giving up 190 yards on the ground and 5.3 yards a carry.

That’s a look at the ACC for this week. We’ll be back next week with more from the league.