ACC Football News & Notes: It's Syracuse at the Top

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Week 4 of the college football season is here and for the Atlantic Coast Conference, a bit of history will take place this weekend. Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley will play their first games as league members. In comparison, the Clemson Tigers hope to reach a milestone that no other program in the conference has ever reached. For the first time since the season began, there will be league games to look at. Four of them, in fact. So let’s see what is happening in the ACC.

The league has three members in this week’s Top 25 Associated Press Poll. Miami is at #8, it’s the second straight week inside the top ten. Louisville is at #19 and Clemson is at #21. The same three teams are also ranked in the US LBM Coaches Poll. For the Tigers, this could be a special weekend. They sit at 799 total wins in program history. On Saturday at home, they will have a chance to reach a milestone that no other program in the league has reached, 800 wins. They will meet North Carolina State (2-1). The Tigers (1-1) hold the all-time season series over the Wolfpack at 60-30-1. State did win last year’s game 24-17.

If Clemson can claim a win, they will become the 14th FBS program to have 800 wins. They have won eight of their last nine conference opening games. For the Wolfpack, they will have freshmen at QB. CJ Bailey was forced into action last week, due to injury vs Louisiana Tech. He was 13-of-20 for 156 yards and ran the ball four times for another 27 yards, averaging 6.8 yards a carry. This will be Bailey’s first career start and only the third appearance of his career.

The #19 Louisville Cardinals (2-0) begin conference play at home vs Georgia Tech (3-1, 1-1) The Cardinals are ranked in the Top 10 in the country in total offense (590.5 good for 4th in the country), and in total defense (198 yards, 7th), They are third in scoring offense (55.5 points) and in scoring defense (7.0 7th). They have been very good at protecting the football as they are one of six teams in the nation to have zero turnovers on the year. The Yellow Jackets are one of eight teams that have not allowed a sack so far. It is a big reason why Georgia Tech is off to its best start since 2017.

The Florida State Seminoles (0-3, 0-2) will host California (3-0) on Saturday night. Dating back to last season, the Golden Bears have won six in a row. It is their longest streak since the 2006 season when they won five in a row and the first game of the 07 season. It’s their best start since the 2019 year when they started 4-0. Under head coach Justin Wilcox, it’s the fourth time starting 3-0, (2017, 2018, 2019, 2024). Florida State is one of four ACC teams and 29 overall who are perfect in the red zone going 5-for-5. They have scored points 20 of their last 23 times inside the red zone.

The Syracuse Orangemen (2-0, 1-0) will host the Cardinals (1-2) on Friday night. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Stanford is the best in the ACC and the 12th-ranked team in rushing defense holding teams to 54.5 yards on the ground. Syracuse has the 15th-best offense in the nation. They have averaged 497.5 yards in their first two games. QB Kyle McCord leads the country in touchdowns per game at four. He is second in passing yards per game at 367.6 yards and total offense at 372.0 per contest.

The rest of the schedule is of the non-conference variety. To date, the ACC is 31-9. They have six wins over Power 4 teams and they are 5-3 on the road vs the Power 4

Next week, we will look ahead to the final week’s worth of games in September.